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diff --git a/old/8spt110.txt b/old/8spt110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..16a1b4a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8spt110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,37529 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spectator, Volume 1 +by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele +#2 in our series by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Spectator, Volume 1 + Eighteenth-Century Periodical Essays + +Author: Joseph Addison and Richard Steele + +Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9334] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPECTATOR, VOLUME 1 *** + + + + +Produced by Jon Ingram, Clytie Sidall and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE SPECTATOR + + + + +A NEW EDITION + +REPRODUCING THE ORIGINAL TEXT BOTH AS FIRST ISSUED +AND AS CORRECTED BY ITS AUTHORS + +WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND INDEX + +BY + +HENRY MORLEY + +PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON + + + +IN THREE VOLUMES + +VOL. I. + + + +1891 + + + + + +[advertisement] + + +EACH IN THREE VOLS., PRICE 10s. 6d. + + CHARLES KNIGHT'S SHAKSPERE. + + NAPIER'S HISTORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. With Maps and Plans. + + LONGFELLOW'S WORKS--Poems--Prose--Dante. + + BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON. With Illustrations. + + MOTLEY'S RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC. + + BYRON'S POETICAL WORKS. + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +When Richard Steele, in number 555 of his 'Spectator', signed its last +paper and named those who had most helped him + + 'to keep up the spirit of so long and approved a performance,' + +he gave chief honour to one who had on his page, as in his heart, no +name but Friend. This was + + 'the gentleman of whose assistance I formerly boasted in the Preface + and concluding Leaf of my 'Tatlers'. I am indeed much more proud of + his long-continued Friendship, than I should be of the fame of being + thought the author of any writings which he himself is capable of + producing. I remember when I finished the 'Tender Husband', I told him + there was nothing I so ardently wished, as that we might some time or + other publish a work, written by us both, which should bear the name + of THE MONUMENT, in Memory of our Friendship.' + +Why he refers to such a wish, his next words show. The seven volumes of +the 'Spectator', then complete, were to his mind The Monument, and of +the Friendship it commemorates he wrote, + + 'I heartily wish what I have done here were as honorary to that sacred + name as learning, wit, and humanity render those pieces which I have + taught the reader how to distinguish for his.' + +So wrote Steele; and the 'Spectator' will bear witness how religiously +his friendship was returned. In number 453, when, paraphrasing David's +Hymn on Gratitude, the 'rising soul' of Addison surveyed the mercies of +his God, was it not Steele whom he felt near to him at the Mercy-seat as +he wrote + + Thy bounteous hand with worldly bliss + Has made my cup run o'er, + And in a kind and faithful Friend + Has doubled all my store? + +The _Spectator_, Steele-and-Addison's _Spectator_, is a monument +befitting the most memorable friendship in our history. Steele was its +projector, founder, editor, and he was writer of that part of it which +took the widest grasp upon the hearts of men. His sympathies were with +all England. Defoe and he, with eyes upon the future, were the truest +leaders of their time. It was the firm hand of his friend Steele that +helped Addison up to the place in literature which became him. It was +Steele who caused the nice critical taste which Addison might have spent +only in accordance with the fleeting fashions of his time, to be +inspired with all Addison's religious earnestness, and to be enlivened +with the free play of that sportive humour, delicately whimsical and +gaily wise, which made his conversation the delight of the few men with +whom he sat at ease. It was Steele who drew his friend towards the days +to come, and made his gifts the wealth of a whole people. Steele said in +one of the later numbers of his _Spectator_, No. 532, to which he +prefixed a motto that assigned to himself only the part of whetstone to +the wit of others, + + 'I claim to myself the merit of having extorted excellent productions + from a person of the greatest abilities, who would not have let them + appear by any other means.' + +There were those who argued that he was too careless of his own fame in +unselfish labour for the exaltation of his friend, and, no doubt, his +rare generosity of temper has been often misinterpreted. But for that +Addison is not answerable. And why should Steele have defined his own +merits? He knew his countrymen, and was in too genuine accord with the +spirit of a time then distant but now come, to doubt that, when he was +dead, his whole life's work would speak truth for him to posterity. + +The friendship of which this work is the monument remained unbroken from +boyhood until death. Addison and Steele were schoolboys together at the +Charterhouse. Addison was a dean's son, and a private boarder; Steele, +fatherless, and a boy on the foundation. They were of like age. The +register of Steele's baptism, corroborated by the entry made on his +admission to the Charterhouse (which also implies that he was baptized +on the day of his birth) is March 12, 1671, Old Style; New Style, 1672. +Addison was born on May-day, 1672. Thus there was a difference of only +seven weeks. + +Steele's father according to the register, also named Richard, was an +attorney in Dublin. Steele seems to draw from experience--although he is +not writing as of himself or bound to any truth of personal detail--when +in No. 181 of the 'Tatler' he speaks of his father as having died when +he was not quite five years of age, and of his mother as 'a very +beautiful woman, of a noble spirit.' The first Duke of Ormond is +referred to by Steele in his Dedication to the 'Lying Lover' as the +patron of his infancy; and it was by this nobleman that a place was +found for him, when in his thirteenth year, among the foundation boys at +the Charterhouse, where he first met with Joseph Addison. Addison, who +was at school at Lichfield in 1683-4-5, went to the Charterhouse in +1686, and left in 1687, when he was entered of Queen's College, Oxford. +Steele went to Oxford two years later, matriculating at Christ Church, +March 13, 1689-90, the year in which Addison was elected a Demy of +Magdalene. A letter of introduction from Steele, dated April 2, 1711, +refers to the administration of the will of 'my uncle Gascoigne, to +whose bounty I owe a liberal education.' This only representative of the +family ties into which Steele was born, an 'uncle' whose surname is not +that of Steele's mother before marriage, appears, therefore, to have +died just before or at the time when the 'Spectator' undertook to +publish a sheetful of thoughts every morning, and--Addison here speaking +for him--looked forward to + + 'leaving his country, when he was summoned out of it, with the secret + satisfaction of thinking that he had not lived in vain.' + +To Steele's warm heart Addison's friendship stood for all home blessings +he had missed. The sister's playful grace, the brother's love, the +mother's sympathy and simple faith in God, the father's guidance, where +were these for Steele, if not in his friend Addison? + +Addison's father was a dean; his mother was the sister of a bishop; and +his ambition as a schoolboy, or his father's ambition for him, was only +that he should be one day a prosperous and pious dignitary of the +Church. But there was in him, as in Steele, the genius which shaped +their lives to its own uses, and made them both what they are to us now. +Joseph Addison was born into a home which the steadfast labour of his +father, Lancelot, had made prosperous and happy. Lancelot Addison had +earned success. His father, Joseph's grandfather, had been also a +clergyman, but he was one of those Westmoreland clergy of whose +simplicity and poverty many a joke has been made. Lancelot got his +education as a poor child in the Appleby Grammar School; but he made his +own way when at College; was too avowed a Royalist to satisfy the +Commonwealth, and got, for his zeal, at the Restoration, small reward in +a chaplaincy to the garrison at Dunkirk. This was changed, for the +worse, to a position of the same sort at Tangier, where he remained +eight years. He lost that office by misadventure, and would have been +left destitute if Mr. Joseph Williamson had not given him a living of +£120 a-year at Milston in Wiltshire. Upon this Lancelot Addison married +Jane Gulstone, who was the daughter of a Doctor of Divinity, and whose +brother became Bishop of Bristol. In the little Wiltshire parsonage +Joseph Addison and his younger brothers and sisters were born. The +essayist was named Joseph after his father's patron, afterwards Sir +Joseph Williamson, a friend high in office. While the children grew, the +father worked. He showed his ability and loyalty in books on West +Barbary, and Mahomet, and the State of the Jews; and he became one of +the King's chaplains in ordinary at a time when his patron Joseph +Williamson was Secretary of State. Joseph Addison was then but three +years old. Soon afterwards the busy father became Archdeacon of +Salisbury, and he was made Dean of Lichfield in 1683, when his boy +Joseph had reached the age of 11. When Archdeacon of Salisbury, the Rev. +Lancelot Addison sent Joseph to school at Salisbury; and when his father +became Dean of Lichfield, Joseph was sent to school at Lichfield, as +before said, in the years 1683-4-5. And then he was sent as a private +pupil to the Charterhouse. The friendship he there formed with Steele +was ratified by the approval of the Dean. The desolate boy with the warm +heart, bright intellect, and noble aspirations, was carried home by his +friend, at holiday times, into the Lichfield Deanery, where, Steele +wrote afterwards to Congreve in a Dedication of the 'Drummer', + + 'were things of this nature to be exposed to public view, I could show + under the Dean's own hand, in the warmest terms, his blessing on the + friendship between his son and me; nor had he a child who did not + prefer me in the first place of kindness and esteem, as their father + loved me like one of them.' + +Addison had two brothers, of whom one traded and became Governor of Fort +George in India, and the other became, like himself, a Fellow of +Magdalene College, Oxford. Of his three sisters two died young, the +other married twice, her first husband being a French refugee minister +who became a Prebendary of Westminster. Of this sister of Addison's, +Swift said she was 'a sort of wit, very like him. I was not fond of her.' + + +In the latter years of the seventeenth century, when Steele and Addison +were students at Oxford, most English writers were submissive to the new +strength of the critical genius of France. But the English nation had +then newly accomplished the great Revolution that secured its liberties, +was thinking for itself, and calling forth the energies of writers who +spoke for the people and looked to the people for approval and support. +A new period was then opening, of popular influence on English +literature. They were the young days of the influence now full grown, +then slowly getting strength and winning the best minds away from an +imported Latin style adapted to the taste of patrons who sought credit +for nice critical discrimination. In 1690 Addison had been three years, +Steele one year, at Oxford. Boileau was then living, fifty-four years +old; and Western Europe was submissive to his sway as the great monarch +of literary criticism. Boileau was still living when Steele published +his 'Tatler', and died in the year of the establishment of the +'Spectator'. Boileau, a true-hearted man, of genius and sense, advanced +his countrymen from the nice weighing of words by the Précieuses and the +grammarians, and by the French Academy, child of the intercourse between +those ladies and gentlemen. He brought ridicule on the inane politeness +of a style then in its decrepitude, and bade the writers of his time +find models in the Latin writers who, like Virgil and Horace, had +brought natural thought and speech to their perfection. In the preceding +labour for the rectifying of the language, preference had been given to +French words of Latin origin. French being one of those languages in +which Latin is the chief constituent, this was but a fair following of +the desire to make it run pure from its source. + +If the English critics who, in Charles the Second's time, submitted to +French law, had seen its spirit, instead of paying blind obedience to +the letter, they also would have looked back to the chief source of +their language. Finding this to be not Latin but Saxon, they would have +sought to give it strength and harmony, by doing then what, in the +course of nature, we have learnt again to do, now that the patronage of +literature has gone from the cultivated noble who appreciates in much +accordance with the fashion of his time, and passed into the holding of +the English people. Addison and Steele lived in the transition time +between these periods. They were born into one of them and--Steele +immediately, Addison through Steele's influence upon him--they were +trusty guides into the other. Thus the 'Spectator' is not merely the +best example of their skill. It represents also, perhaps best +represents, a wholesome Revolution in our Literature. The essential +character of English Literature was no more changed than characters of +Englishmen were altered by the Declaration of Right which Prince William +of Orange had accepted with the English Crown, when Addison had lately +left and Steele was leaving Charterhouse for Oxford. Yet change there +was, and Steele saw to the heart of it, even in his College days. + +Oxford, in times not long past, had inclined to faith in divine right of +kings. Addison's father, a church dignitary who had been a Royalist +during the Civil War, laid stress upon obedience to authority in Church +and State. When modern literature was discussed or studied at Oxford +there would be the strongest disposition to maintain the commonly +accepted authority of French critics, who were really men of great +ability, correcting bad taste in their predecessors, and conciliating +scholars by their own devout acceptance of the purest Latin authors as +the types of a good style or proper method in the treatment of a +subject. Young Addison found nothing new to him in the temper of his +University, and was influenced, as in his youth every one must and +should be, by the prevalent tone of opinion in cultivated men. But he +had, and felt that he had, wit and genius of his own. His sensitive mind +was simply and thoroughly religious, generous in its instincts, and +strengthened in its nobler part by close communion with the mind of his +friend Steele. + +May we not think of the two friends together in a College chamber, +Addison of slender frame, with features wanting neither in dignity nor +in refinement, Steele of robust make, with the radiant 'short face' of +the 'Spectator', by right of which he claimed for that worthy his +admission to the Ugly Club. Addison reads Dryden, in praise of whom he +wrote his earliest known verse; or reads endeavours of his own, which +his friend Steele warmly applauds. They dream together of the future; +Addison sage, but speculative, and Steele practical, if rash. Each is +disposed to find God in the ways of life, and both avoid that outward +show of irreligion, which, after the recent Civil Wars, remains yet +common in the country, as reaction from an ostentatious piety which laid +on burdens of restraint; a natural reaction which had been intensified +by the base influence of a profligate King. Addison, bred among the +preachers, has a little of the preacher's abstract tone, when talk +between the friends draws them at times into direct expression of the +sacred sense of life which made them one. + +Apart also from the mere accidents of his childhood, a speculative turn +in Addison is naturally stronger than in Steele. He relishes analysis of +thought. Steele came as a boy from the rough world of shame and sorrow; +his great, kindly heart is most open to the realities of life, the state +and prospects of his country, direct personal sympathies; actual wrongs, +actual remedies. Addison is sensitive, and has among strangers the +reserve of speech and aspect which will pass often for coldness and +pride, but is, indeed, the shape taken by modesty in thoughtful men +whose instinct it is to speculate and analyze, and who become +self-conscious, not through conceit, but because they cannot help +turning their speculations also on themselves. Steele wholly comes out +of himself as his heart hastens to meet his friend. He lives in his +surroundings, and, in friendly intercourse, fixes his whole thought on +the worth of his companion. Never abating a jot of his ideal of a true +and perfect life, or ceasing to uphold the good because he cannot live +to the full height of his own argument, he is too frank to conceal the +least or greatest of his own shortcomings. Delight and strength of a +friendship like that between Steele and Addison are to be found, as many +find them, in the charm and use of a compact where characters differ so +much that one lays open as it were a fresh world to the other, and each +draws from the other aid of forces which the friendship makes his own. +But the deep foundations of this friendship were laid in the religious +earnestness that was alike in both; and in religious earnestness are +laid also the foundations of this book, its Monument. + +Both Addison and Steele wrote verse at College. From each of them we +have a poem written at nearly the same age: Addison's in April, 1694, +Steele's early in 1695. Addison drew from literature a metrical 'Account +of the Greatest English Poets.' Steele drew from life the grief of +England at the death of William's Queen, which happened on the 28th of +December, 1694. + +Addison, writing in that year, and at the age of about 23, for a College +friend, + + A short account of all the Muse-possest, + That, down from Chaucer's days to Dryden's times + Have spent their noble rage in British rhymes, + +was so far under the influence of French critical authority, as accepted +by most cultivators of polite literature at Oxford and wherever +authority was much respected, that from 'An Account of the Greatest +English Poets' he omitted Shakespeare. Of Chaucer he then knew no better +than to say, what might have been said in France, that + + ... age has rusted what the Poet writ, + Worn out his language, and obscured his wit: + In vain he jests in his unpolish'd strain, + And tries to make his readers laugh in vain. + Old Spenser next, warm'd with poetic rage, + In ancient tales amused a barb'rous age; + But now the mystic tale, that pleased of yore, + Can charm an understanding age no more. + +It cost Addison some trouble to break loose from the critical cobweb of +an age of periwigs and patches, that accounted itself 'understanding,' +and the grand epoch of our Elizabethan literature, 'barbarous.' Rymer, +one of his critics, had said, that + + 'in the neighing of an horse, or in the growling of a mastiff, there + is a meaning, there is as lively expression, and, may I say, more + humanity than many times in the tragical flights of Shakespeare.' + +Addison, with a genius of his own helped to free movement by the +sympathies of Steele, did break through the cobwebs of the critics; but +he carried off a little of their web upon his wings. We see it when in +the 'Spectator' he meets the prejudices of an 'understanding age,' and +partly satisfies his own, by finding reason for his admiration of 'Chevy +Chase' and the 'Babes in the Wood', in their great similarity to works +of Virgil. We see it also in some of the criticisms which accompany his +admirable working out of the resolve to justify his true natural +admiration of the poetry of Milton, by showing that 'Paradise Lost' was +planned after the manner of the ancients, and supreme even in its +obedience to the laws of Aristotle. In his 'Spectator' papers on +Imagination he but half escapes from the conventions of his time, which +detested the wildness of a mountain pass, thought Salisbury Plain one of +the finest prospects in England, planned parks with circles and straight +lines of trees, despised our old cathedrals for their 'Gothic' art, and +saw perfection in the Roman architecture, and the round dome of St. +Paul's. Yet in these and all such papers of his we find that Addison had +broken through the weaker prejudices of the day, opposing them with +sound natural thought of his own. Among cultivated readers, lesser +moulders of opinion, there can be no doubt that his genius was only the +more serviceable in amendment of the tastes of his own time, for +friendly understanding and a partial sharing of ideas for which it gave +itself no little credit. + +It is noticeable, however, that in his Account of the Greatest English +Poets, young Addison gave a fifth part of the piece to expression of the +admiration he felt even then for Milton. That his appreciation became +critical, and, although limited, based on a sense of poetry which +brought him near to Milton, Addison proved in the 'Spectator' by his +eighteen Saturday papers upon 'Paradise Lost'. But it was from the +religious side that he first entered into the perception of its +grandeur. His sympathy with its high purpose caused him to praise, in +the same pages that commended 'Paradise Lost' to his countrymen, another +'epic,' Blackmore's 'Creation', a dull metrical treatise against +atheism, as a work which deserved to be looked upon as + + 'one of the most useful and noble productions of our English verse. + The reader,' he added, of a piece which shared certainly with + Salisbury Plain the charms of flatness and extent of space, 'the + reader cannot but be pleased to find the depths of philosophy + enlivened with all the charms of poetry, and to see so great a + strength of reason amidst so beautiful a redundancy of the + imagination.' + +The same strong sympathy with Blackmore's purpose in it blinded Dr. +Johnson also to the failure of this poem, which is Blackmore's best. +From its religious side, then, it may be that Addison, when a student at +Oxford, first took his impressions of the poetry of Milton. At Oxford he +accepted the opinion of France on Milton's art, but honestly declared, +in spite of that, unchecked enthusiasm: + + Whate'er his pen describes I more than see, + Whilst every verse, arrayed in majesty, + Bold and sublime, my whole attention draws, + And seems above the critic's nicer laws. + +This chief place among English poets Addison assigned to Milton, with +his mind fresh from the influences of a father who had openly contemned +the Commonwealth, and by whom he had been trained so to regard Milton's +service of it that of this he wrote: + + Oh, had the Poet ne'er profaned his pen, + To varnish o'er the guilt of faithless men; + His other works might have deserved applause + But now the language can't support the cause, + While the clean current, tho' serene and bright, + Betrays a bottom odious to the sight. + + +If we turn now to the verse written by Steele in his young Oxford days, +and within twelve months of the date of Addison's lines upon English +poets, we have what Steele called 'The Procession.' It is the procession +of those who followed to the grave the good Queen Mary, dead of +small-pox, at the age of 32. Steele shared his friend Addison's delight +in Milton, and had not, indeed, got beyond the sixth number of the +'Tatler' before he compared the natural beauty and innocence of Milton's +Adam and Eve with Dryden's treatment of their love. But the one man for +whom Steele felt most enthusiasm was not to be sought through books, he +was a living moulder of the future of the nation. Eagerly intent upon +King William, the hero of the Revolution that secured our liberties, the +young patriot found in him also the hero of his verse. Keen sense of the +realities about him into which Steele had been born, spoke through the +very first lines of this poem: + + The days of man are doom'd to pain and strife, + Quiet and ease are foreign to our life; + No satisfaction is, below, sincere, + Pleasure itself has something that's severe. + +Britain had rejoiced in the high fortune of King William, and now a +mourning world attended his wife to the tomb. The poor were her first +and deepest mourners, poor from many causes; and then Steele pictured, +with warm sympathy, form after form of human suffering. Among those +mourning poor were mothers who, in the despair of want, would have +stabbed infants sobbing for their food, + + But in the thought they stopp'd, their locks they tore, + Threw down the steel, and cruelly forbore. + The innocents their parents' love forgive, + Smile at their fate, nor know they are to live. + +To the mysteries of such distress the dead queen penetrated, by her +'cunning to be good.' After the poor, marched the House of Commons in +the funeral procession. Steele gave only two lines to it: + + With dread concern, the awful Senate came, + Their grief, as all their passions, is the same. + The next Assembly dissipates our fears, + The stately, mourning throng of British Peers. + +A factious intemperance then characterized debates of the Commons, while +the House of Lords stood in the front of the Revolution, and secured the +permanency of its best issues. Steele describes, as they pass, Ormond, +Somers, Villars, who leads the horse of the dead queen, that 'heaves +into big sighs when he would neigh'--the verse has in it crudity as well +as warmth of youth--and then follow the funeral chariot, the jewelled +mourners, and the ladies of the court, + + Their clouded beauties speak man's gaudy strife, + The glittering miseries of human life. + +I yet see, Steele adds, this queen passing to her coronation in the +place whither she now is carried to her grave. On the way, through +acclamations of her people, to receive her crown, + + She unconcerned and careless all the while + Rewards their loud applauses with a smile, + With easy Majesty and humble State + Smiles at the trifle Power, and knows its date. + +But now + + What hands commit the beauteous, good, and just, + The dearer part of William, to the dust? + In her his vital heat, his glory lies, + In her the Monarch lived, in her he dies. + ... + No form of state makes the Great Man forego + The task due to her love and to his woe; + Since his kind frame can't the large suffering bear + In pity to his People, he's not here: + For to the mighty loss we now receive + The next affliction were to see him grieve. + +If we look from these serious strains of their youth to the literary +expression of the gayer side of character in the two friends, we find +Addison sheltering his taste for playful writing behind a Roman Wall of +hexameter. For among his Latin poems in the Oxford 'Musæ Anglicanæ' are +eighty or ninety lines of resonant Latin verse upon 'Machinæ +Gesticulantes, 'anglice' A Puppet-show.' Steele, taking life as he found +it, and expressing mirth in his own way of conversation, wrote an +English comedy, and took the word of a College friend that it was +valueless. There were two paths in life then open to an English writer. +One was the smooth and level way of patronage; the other a rough up-hill +track for men who struggled in the service of the people. The way of +patronage was honourable. The age had been made so very discerning by +the Romans and the French that a true understanding of the beauties of +literature was confined to the select few who had been taught what to +admire. Fine writing was beyond the rude appreciation of the multitude. +Had, therefore, the reading public been much larger than it was, men of +fastidious taste, who paid as much deference to polite opinion as +Addison did in his youth, could have expected only audience fit but few, +and would have been without encouragement to the pursuit of letters +unless patronage rewarded merit. The other way had charms only for the +stout-hearted pioneer who foresaw where the road was to be made that now +is the great highway of our literature. Addison went out into the world +by the way of his time; Steele by the way of ours. + +Addison, after the campaign of 1695, offered to the King the homage of a +paper of verses on the capture of Namur, and presented them through Sir +John Somers, then Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. To Lord Somers he sent +with them a flattering dedicatory address. Somers, who was esteemed a +man of taste, was not unwilling to 'receive the present of a muse +unknown.' He asked Addison to call upon him, and became his patron. +Charles Montagu, afterwards Earl of Halifax, critic and wit himself, +shone also among the statesmen who were known patrons of letters. Also +to him, who was a prince of patrons 'fed with soft dedication all day +long,' Addison introduced himself. To him, in 1697, as it was part of +his public fame to be a Latin scholar, Addison, also a skilful Latinist, +addressed, in Latin, a paper of verses on the Peace of Ryswick. With +Somers and Montagu for patrons, the young man of genius who wished to +thrive might fairly commit himself to the service of the Church, for +which he had been bred by his father; but Addison's tact and refinement +promised to be serviceable to the State, and so it was that, as Steele +tells us, Montagu made Addison a layman. + + 'His arguments were founded upon the general pravity and corruption of + men of business, who wanted liberal education. And I remember, as if I + had read the letter yesterday, that my Lord ended with a compliment, + that, however he might be represented as no friend to the Church, he + never would do it any other injury than keeping Mr. Addison out of + it.' + +To the good offices of Montagu and Somers, Addison was indebted, +therefore, in 1699, for a travelling allowance of £300 a year. The grant +was for his support while qualifying himself on the continent by study +of modern languages, and otherwise, for diplomatic service. It dropped +at the King's death, in the spring of 1702, and Addison was cast upon +his own resources; but he throve, and lived to become an Under-Secretary +of State in days that made Prior an Ambassador, and rewarded with +official incomes Congreve, Rowe, Hughes, Philips, Stepney, and others. +Throughout his honourable career prudence dictated to Addison more or +less of dependence on the friendship of the strong. An honest friend of +the popular cause, he was more ready to sell than give his pen to it; +although the utmost reward would at no time have tempted him to throw +his conscience into the bargain. The good word of Halifax obtained him +from Godolphin, in 1704, the Government order for a poem on the Battle +of Blenheim, with immediate earnest of payment for it in the office of a +Commissioner of Appeal in the Excise worth £200 a year. For this +substantial reason Addison wrote the 'Campaign'; and upon its success, +he obtained the further reward of an Irish Under-secretaryship. + +The 'Campaign' is not a great poem. Reams of 'Campaigns' would not have +made Addison's name, what it now is, a household word among his +countrymen. The 'Remarks on several Parts of Italy, &c.,' in which +Addison followed up the success of his 'Campaign' with notes of foreign +travel, represent him visiting Italy as 'Virgil's Italy,' the land of +the great writers in Latin, and finding scenery or customs of the people +eloquent of them at every turn. He crammed his pages with quotation from +Virgil and Horace, Ovid and Tibullus, Propertius, Lucan, Juvenal and +Martial, Lucretius, Statius, Claudian, Silius Italicus, Ausonius, +Seneca, Phædrus, and gave even to his 'understanding age' an overdose of +its own physic for all ills of literature. He could not see a pyramid of +jugglers standing on each other's shoulders, without observing how it +explained a passage in Claudian which shows that the Venetians were not +the inventors of this trick. But Addison's short original accounts of +cities and states that he saw are pleasant as well as sensible, and here +and there, as in the space he gives to a report of St. Anthony's sermon +to the fishes, or his short account of a visit to the opera at Venice, +there are indications of the humour that was veiled, not crushed, under +a sense of classical propriety. In his account of the political state of +Naples and in other passages, there is mild suggestion also of the love +of liberty, a part of the fine nature of Addison which had been slightly +warmed by contact with the generous enthusiasm of Steele. In his +poetical letter to Halifax written during his travels Addison gave the +sum of his prose volume when he told how he felt himself + + ... on classic ground. + For here the Muse so oft her harp hath strung, + That not a mountain rears its head unsung; + Renown'd in verse each shady thicket grows, + And ev'ry stream in heav'nly numbers flows. + +But he was writing to a statesman of the Revolution, who was his +political patron, just then out of office, and propriety suggested such +personal compliment as calling the Boyne a Tiber, and Halifax an +improvement upon Virgil; while his heart was in the closing emphasis, +also proper to the occasion, which dwelt on the liberty that gives their +smile to the barren rocks and bleak mountains of Britannia's isle, while +for Italy, rich in the unexhausted stores of nature, proud Oppression in +her valleys reigns, and tyranny usurps her happy plains. Addison's were +formal raptures, and he knew them to be so, when he wrote, + + I bridle in my struggling Muse with pain, + That longs to launch into a bolder strain. + +Richard Steele was not content with learning to be bold. Eager, at that +turning point of her national life, to serve England with strength of +arm, at least, if not with the good brains which he was neither +encouraged nor disposed to value highly, Steele's patriotism impelled +him to make his start in the world, not by the way of patronage, but by +enlisting himself as a private in the Coldstream Guards. By so doing he +knew that he offended a relation, and lost a bequest. As he said of +himself afterwards, + + 'when he mounted a war-horse, with a great sword in his hand, and + planted himself behind King William III against Louis XIV, he lost the + succession to a very good estate in the county of Wexford, in Ireland, + from the same humour which he has preserved, ever since, of preferring + the state of his mind to that of his fortune.' + +Steele entered the Duke of Ormond's regiment, and had reasons for +enlistment. James Butler, the first Duke, whom his father served, had +sent him to the Charterhouse. That first Duke had been Chancellor of the +University at Oxford, and when he died, on the 21st of July, 1688, nine +months before Steele entered to Christchurch, his grandson, another +James Butler, succeeded to the Dukedom. This second Duke of Ormond was +also placed by the University of Oxford in his grandfather's office of +Chancellor. He went with King William to Holland in 1691, shared the +defeat of William in the battle of Steinkirk in August, 1692, and was +taken prisoner in July, 1693, when King William was defeated at Landen. +These defeats encouraged the friends of the Stuarts, and in 1694, +Bristol, Exeter and Boston adhered to King James. Troops were raised in +the North of England to assist his cause. In 1696 there was the +conspiracy of Sir George Barclay to seize William on the 15th of +February. Captain Charnock, one of the conspirators, had been a Fellow +of Magdalene. On the 23rd of February the plot was laid before +Parliament. There was high excitement throughout the country. Loyal +Associations were formed. The Chancellor of the University of Oxford was +a fellow-soldier of the King's, and desired to draw strength to his +regiment from the enthusiasm of the time. Steele's heart was with the +cause of the Revolution, and he owed also to the Ormonds a kind of +family allegiance. What was more natural than that he should be among +those young Oxford men who were tempted to enlist in the Chancellor's +own regiment for the defence of liberty? Lord Cutts, the Colonel of the +Regiment, made Steele his Secretary, and got him an Ensign's commission. +It was then that he wrote his first book, the 'Christian Hero', of which +the modest account given by Steele himself long afterwards, when put on +his defence by the injurious violence of faction, is as follows: + + 'He first became an author when an Ensign of the Guards, a way of life + exposed to much irregularity; and being thoroughly convinced of many + things, of which he often repented, and which he more often repeated, + he writ, for his own private use, a little book called the 'Christian + Hero', with a design principally to fix upon his own mind a strong + impression of virtue and religion, in opposition to a stronger + propensity towards unwarrantable pleasures. This secret admiration was + too weak; he therefore printed the book with his name, in hopes that a + standing testimony against himself, and the eyes of the world (that is + to say, of his acquaintance) upon him in a new light, would make him + ashamed of understanding and seeming to feel what was virtuous, and + living so contrary a life.' + +Among his brother soldiers, and fresh from the Oxford worship of old +classical models, the religious feeling that accompanies all true +refinement, and that was indeed part of the English nature in him as in +Addison, prompted Steele to write this book, in which he opposed to the +fashionable classicism of his day a sound reflection that the heroism of +Cato or Brutus had far less in it of true strength, and far less +adaptation to the needs of life, than the unfashionable Christian +Heroism set forth by the Sermon on the Mount. + +According to the second title of this book it is 'an Argument, proving +that no Principles but those of Religion are sufficient to make a Great +Man.' It is addressed to Lord Cutts in a dedication dated from the +Tower-Yard, March 23, 1701, and is in four chapters, of which the first +treats of the heroism of the ancient world, the second connects man with +his Creator, by the Bible Story and the Life and Death of Christ, the +third defines the Christian as set forth by the character and teaching +of St. Paul, applying the definition practically to the daily life of +Steele's own time. In the last chapter he descends from the +consideration of those bright incentives to a higher life, and treats of +the ordinary passions and interests of men, the common springs of action +(of which, he says, the chief are Fame and Conscience) which he declares +to be best used and improved when joined with religion; and here all +culminates in a final strain of patriotism, closing with the character +of King William, 'that of a glorious captain, and (what he much more +values than the most splendid titles) that of a sincere and honest man.' +This was the character of William which, when, in days of meaner public +strife, Steele quoted it years afterwards in the _Spectator_, he broke +off painfully and abruptly with a + + ... Fuit Ilium, et ingens + Gloria. + +Steele's 'Christian Hero' obtained many readers. Its fifth edition was +appended to the first collection of the 'Tatler' into volumes, at the +time of the establishment of the 'Spectator'. The old bent of the +English mind was strong in Steele, and he gave unostentatiously a lively +wit to the true service of religion, without having spoken or written to +the last day of his life a word of mere religious cant. One officer +thrust a duel on him for his zeal in seeking to make peace between him +and another comrade. Steele, as an officer, then, or soon afterwards, +made a Captain of Fusiliers, could not refuse to fight, but stood on the +defensive; yet in parrying a thrust his sword pierced his antagonist, +and the danger in which he lay quickened that abiding detestation of the +practice of duelling, which caused Steele to attack it in his plays, in +his 'Tatler', in his 'Spectator', with persistent energy. + +Of the 'Christian Hero' his companions felt, and he himself saw, that +the book was too didactic. It was indeed plain truth out of Steele's +heart, but an air of superiority, freely allowed only to the +professional man teaching rules of his own art, belongs to a too +didactic manner. Nothing was more repugnant to Steele's nature than the +sense of this. He had defined the Christian as 'one who is always a +benefactor, with the mien of a receiver.' And that was his own +character, which was, to a fault, more ready to give than to receive, +more prompt to ascribe honour to others than to claim it for himself. To +right himself, Steele wrote a light-hearted comedy, 'The Funeral', or +'Grief à la Mode'; but at the core even of that lay the great +earnestness of his censure against the mockery and mummery of grief that +should be sacred; and he blended with this, in the character of Lawyer +Puzzle, a protest against mockery of truth and justice by the +intricacies of the law. The liveliness of this comedy made Steele +popular with the wits; and the inevitable touches of the author's +patriotism brought on him also the notice of the Whigs. Party men might, +perhaps, already feel something of the unbending independence that was +in Steele himself, as in this play he made old Lord Brumpton teach it to +his son: + + 'But be them honest, firm, impartial; + Let neither love, nor hate, nor faction move thee; + Distinguish words from things, and men from crimes.' + +King William, perhaps, had he lived, could fairly have recognized in +Steele the social form of that sound mind which in Defoe was solitary. +In a later day it was to Steele a proud recollection that his name, to +be provided for, 'was in the last table-book ever worn by the glorious +and immortal William III.' + +The 'Funeral', first acted with great success in 1702, was followed in +the next year by 'The Tender Husband', to which Addison contributed some +touches, for which Addison wrote a Prologue, and which Steele dedicated +to Addison, who would 'be surprised,' he said, 'in the midst of a daily +and familiar conversation, with an address which bears so distant an air +as a public dedication.' Addison and his friend were then thirty-one +years old. Close friends when boys, they are close friends now in the +prime of manhood. It was after they had blended wits over the writing of +this comedy that Steele expressed his wish for a work, written by both, +which should serve as THE MONUMENT to their most happy friendship. When +Addison and Steele were amused together with the writing of this comedy, +Addison, having lost his immediate prospect of political employment, and +his salary too, by King William's death in the preceding year, had come +home from his travels. On his way home he had received, in September, at +the Hague, news of his father's death. He wrote from the Hague, to Mr. +Wyche, + + 'At my first arrival I received the news of my father's death, and + ever since have been engaged in so much noise and company, that it was + impossible for me to think of rhyming in it.' + +As his father's eldest son, he had, on his return to England, family +affairs to arrange, and probably some money to receive. Though attached +to a party that lost power at the accession of Queen Anne, and waiting +for new employment, Addison--who had declined the Duke of Somerset's +over-condescending offer of a hundred a year and all expenses as +travelling tutor to his son, the Marquis of Hertford--was able, while +lodging poorly in the Haymarket, to associate in London with the men by +whose friendship he hoped to rise, and was, with Steele, admitted into +the select society of wits, and men of fashion who affected wit and took +wits for their comrades, in the Kitcat Club. When in 1704 Marlborough's +victory at Blenheim revived the Whig influence, the suggestion of +Halifax to Lord Treasurer Godolphin caused Addison to be applied to for +his poem of the 'Campaign'. It was after the appearance of this poem +that Steele's play was printed, with the dedication to his friend, in +which he said, + + 'I look upon my intimacy with you as one of the most valuable + enjoyments of my life. At the same time I make the town no ill + compliment for their kind acceptance of this comedy, in acknowledging + that it has so far raised my opinion of it, as to make me think it no + improper memorial of an inviolable Friendship. I should not offer it + to you as such, had I not been very careful to avoid everything that + might look ill-natured, immoral, or prejudicial to what the better + part of mankind hold sacred and honourable.' + +This was the common ground between the friends. Collier's 'Short View of +the Profaneness and Immorality of the English Stage' had been published +in 1698; it attacked a real evil, if not always in the right way, and +Congreve's reply to it had been a failure. Steele's comedies with all +their gaiety and humour were wholly free from the garnish of oaths and +unwholesome expletives which his contemporaries seemed to think +essential to stage emphasis. Each comedy of his was based on +seriousness, as all sound English wit has been since there have been +writers in England. The gay manner did not conceal all the earnest +thoughts that might jar with the humour of the town; and thus Steele was +able to claim, by right of his third play, 'the honour of being the only +English dramatist who had had a piece damned for its piety.' + +This was the 'Lying Lover', produced in 1704, an adaptation from +Corneille in which we must allow that Steele's earnestness in upholding +truth and right did cause him to spoil the comedy. The play was +afterwards re-adapted by Foote as the 'Liar', and in its last form, with +another change or two, has been revived at times with great success. It +is worth while to note how Steele dealt with the story of this piece. +Its original is a play by Alarcon, which Corneille at first supposed to +have been a play by Lope de Vega. Alarcon, or, to give him his full +style, Don Juan Ruiz de Alarcon y Mendoza, was a Mexican-born Spaniard +of a noble family which had distinguished itself in Mexico from the time +of the conquest, and took its name of Alarcon from a village in New +Castile. The poet was a humpbacked dwarf, a thorough, but rather +haughty, Spanish gentleman, poet and wit, who wrote in an unusually pure +Spanish style; a man of the world, too, who came to Spain in or about +the year 1622, and held the very well-paid office of reporter to the +Royal Council of the Indies. When Alarcon, in 1634, was chosen by the +Court to write a festival drama, and, at the same time, publishing the +second part of his dramatic works, vehemently reclaimed plays for which, +under disguised names, some of his contemporaries had taken credit to +themselves, there was an angry combination against him, in which Lope de +Vega, Gongora, and Quevedo were found taking part. All that Alarcon +wrote was thoroughly his own, but editors of the 17th century boldly +passed over his claims to honour, and distributed his best works among +plays of other famous writers, chiefly those of Rojas and Lope de Vega. +This was what deceived Corneille, and caused him to believe and say that +Alarcon's 'la Verdad sospechosa', on which, in 1642, he founded his +'Menteur', was a work of Lope de Vega's. Afterwards Corneille learnt how +there had been in this matter lying among editors. He gave to Alarcon +the honour due, and thenceforth it is chiefly by this play that Alarcon +has been remembered out of Spain. In Spain, when in 1852 Don Juan +Hartzenbusch edited Alarcon's comedies for the Biblioteca de Autores +Españoles, he had to remark on the unjust neglect of that good author in +Spain also, where the poets and men of letters had long wished in vain +for a complete edition of his works. Lope de Vega, it may be added, was +really the author of a sequel to 'la Verdad sospechosa', which Corneille +adapted also as a sequel to his 'Menteur', but it was even poorer than +such sequels usually are. + +The 'Lying Lover' in Alarcon's play is a Don Garcia fresh from his +studies in Salamanca, and Steele's Latine first appears there as a +Tristan, the gracioso of old Spanish comedy. The two ladies are a +Jacinta and Lucrecia. Alarcon has in his light and graceful play no less +than three heavy fathers, of a Spanish type, one of whom, the father of +Lucrecia, brings about Don Garcia's punishment by threatening to kill +him if he will not marry his daughter; and so the Liar is punished for +his romancing by a marriage with the girl he does not care for, and not +marrying the girl he loves. + +Corneille was merciful, and in the fifth act bred in his 'Menteur' a new +fancy for Lucrece, so that the marriage at cross purposes was rather +agreeable to him. + +Steele, in adapting the 'Menteur' as his 'Lying Lover', altered the +close in sharp accordance with that 'just regard to a reforming age,' +which caused him (adapting a line in his 'Procession' then unprinted) to +write in his Prologue to it, 'Pleasure must still have something that's +severe.' Having translated Corneille's translations of Garcia and +Tristan (Dorante and Cliton) into Young Bookwit and Latine, he +transformed the servant into a college friend, mumming as servant +because, since 'a prating servant is necessary in intrigues,' the two +had 'cast lots who should be the other's footman for the present +expedition.' Then he adapted the French couplets into pleasant prose +comedy, giving with a light touch the romancing of feats of war and of +an entertainment on the river, but at last he turned desperately +serious, and sent his Young Bookwit to Newgate on a charge of killing +the gentleman--here called Lovemore--who was at last to win the hand of +the lady whom the Liar loved. In his last act, opening in Newgate, +Steele started with blank verse, and although Lovemore of course was not +dead, and Young Bookwit got at last more than a shadow of a promise of +the other lady in reward for his repentance, the changes in construction +of the play took it beyond the bounds of comedy, and were, in fact, +excellent morality but not good art. And this is what Steele means when +he says that he had his play damned for its piety. + +With that strong regard for the drama which cannot well be wanting to +the man who has an artist's vivid sense of life, Steele never withdrew +his good will from the players, never neglected to praise a good play, +and, I may add, took every fair occasion of suggesting to the town the +subtlety of Shakespeare's genius. But he now ceased to write comedies, +until towards the close of his life he produced with a remarkable +success his other play, the 'Conscious Lovers'. And of that, by the way, +Fielding made his Parson Adams say that 'Cato' and the 'Conscious +Lovers' were the only plays he ever heard of, fit for a Christian to +read, 'and, I must own, in the latter there are some things almost +solemn enough for a sermon.' + +Perhaps it was about this time that Addison wrote his comedy of the +'Drummer', which had been long in his possession when Steele, who had +become a partner in the management of Drury Lane Theatre, drew it from +obscurity, suggested a few changes in it, and produced it--not openly as +Addison's--upon the stage. The published edition of it was recommended +also by a preface from Steele in which he says that he liked this +author's play the better + + 'for the want of those studied similies and repartees which we, who + have writ before him, have thrown into our plays, to indulge and gain + upon a false taste that has prevailed for many years in the British + theatre. I believe the author would have condescended to fall into + this way a little more than he has, had he before the writing of it + been often present at theatrical representations. I was confirmed in + my thoughts of the play by the opinion of better judges to whom it was + communicated, who observed that the scenes were drawn after Molière's + manner, and that an easy and natural vein of humour ran through the + whole. I do not question but the reader will discover this, and see + many beauties that escaped the audience; the touches being too + delicate for every taste in a popular assembly. My brother-sharers' + (in the Drury Lane patent) 'were of opinion, at the first reading of + it, that it was like a picture in which the strokes were not strong + enough to appear at a distance. As it is not in the common way of + writing, the approbation was at first doubtful, but has risen every + time it has been acted, and has given an opportunity in several of its + parts for as just and good actions as ever I saw on the stage.' + +Addison's comedy was not produced till 1715, the year after his +unsuccessful attempt to revive the 'Spectator', which produced what is +called the eighth volume of that work. The play, not known to be his, +was so ill spoken of that he kept the authorship a secret to the last, +and Tickell omitted it from the collection of his patron's works. But +Steele knew what was due to his friend, and in 1722 manfully republished +the piece as Addison's, with a dedication to Congreve and censure of +Tickell for suppressing it. If it be true that the 'Drummer' made no +figure on the stage though excellently acted, 'when I observe this,' +said Steele, 'I say a much harder thing of this than of the comedy.' +Addison's Drummer is a gentleman who, to forward his suit to a soldier's +widow, masquerades as the drumbeating ghost of her husband in her +country house, and terrifies a self-confident, free-thinking town +exquisite, another suitor, who believes himself brought face to face +with the spirit world, in which he professes that he can't believe. 'For +my part, child, I have made myself easy in those points.' The character +of a free-thinking exquisite is drawn from life without exaggeration, +but with more than a touch of the bitter contempt Addison felt for the +atheistic coxcomb, with whom he was too ready to confound the sincere +questioner of orthodox opinion. The only passages of his in the +'Spectator' that border on intolerance are those in which he deals with +the free-thinker; but it should not be forgotten that the commonest type +of free-thinker in Queen Anne's time was not a thoughtful man who +battled openly with doubt and made an independent search for truth, but +an idler who repudiated thought and formed his character upon tradition +of the Court of Charles the Second. And throughout the 'Spectator' we +may find a Christian under-tone in Addison's intolerance of infidelity, +which is entirely wanting when the moralist is Eustace Budgell. Two or +three persons in the comedy of the 'Drummer' give opportunity for good +character-painting in the actor, and on a healthy stage, before an +audience able to discriminate light touches of humour and to enjoy +unstrained although well-marked expression of varieties of character, +the 'Drummer' would not fail to be a welcome entertainment. + +But our sketch now stands at the year 1705, when Steele had ceased for a +time to write comedies. Addison's 'Campaign' had brought him fame, and +perhaps helped him to pay, as he now did, his College debts, with +interest. His 'Remarks on Italy', now published, were, as Tickell says, +'at first but indifferently relished by the bulk of readers;' and his +'Drummer' probably was written and locked in his desk. There were now +such days of intercourse as Steele looked back to when with undying +friendship he wrote in the preface to that edition of the 'Drummer' +produced by him after Addison's death: + + 'He was above all men in that talent we call humour, and enjoyed it in + such perfection, that I have often reflected, after a night spent with + him apart from all the world, that I had had the pleasure of + conversing with an intimate acquaintance of Terence and Catullus, who + had all their wit and nature, heightened with humour more exquisite + and delightful than any other man ever possessed.' And again in the + same Preface, Steele dwelt upon 'that smiling mirth, that delicate + satire and genteel raillery, which appeared in Mr. Addison when he was + free from that remarkable bashfulness which is a cloak that hides and + muffles merit; and his abilities were covered only by modesty, which + doubles the beauties which are seen, and gives credit and esteem to + all that are concealed.' + +Addison had the self-consciousness of a sensitive and speculative mind. +This, with a shy manner among those with whom he was not intimate, +passed for cold self-assertion. The 'little senate' of his intimate +friends was drawn to him by its knowledge of the real warmth of his +nature. And his friendships, like his religion, influenced his judgment. +His geniality that wore a philosophic cloak before the world, caused him +to abandon himself in the 'Spectator', even more unreservedly than +Steele would have done, to iterated efforts for the help of a friend +like Ambrose Philips, whose poems to eminent babies, 'little subject, +little wit,' gave rise to the name of Namby-pamby. Addison's quietness +with strangers was against a rapid widening of his circle of familiar +friends, and must have made the great-hearted friendship of Steele as +much to him as his could be to Steele. In very truth it 'doubled all his +store.' Steele's heart was open to enjoyment of all kindly intercourse +with men. In after years, as expression of thought in the literature of +nations gained freedom and sincerity, two types of literature were +formed from the types of mind which Addison and Steele may be said to +have in some measure represented. Each sought advance towards a better +light, one part by dwelling on the individual duties and +responsibilities of man, and his relation to the infinite; the other by +especial study of man's social ties and liberties, and his relation to +the commonwealth of which he is a member. Goethe, for instance, inclined +to one study; Schiller to the other; and every free mind will incline +probably to one or other of these centres of opinion. Addison was a cold +politician because he was most himself when analyzing principles of +thought, and humours, passions, duties of the individual. Steele, on the +contrary, braved ruin for his convictions as a politician, because his +social nature turned his earnestness into concern for the well-being of +his country, and he lived in times when it was not yet certain that the +newly-secured liberties were also finally secured. The party was strong +that desired to re-establish ancient tyrannies, and the Queen herself +was hardly on the side of freedom. + +In 1706, the date of the union between England and Scotland, Whig +influence had been strengthened by the elections of the preceding year, +and Addison was, early in 1706, made Under-Secretary of State to Sir +Charles Hedges, a Tory, who was superseded before the end of the year by +Marlborough's son-in-law, the Earl of Sunderland, a Whig under whom +Addison, of course, remained in office, and who was, thenceforth, his +active patron. In the same year the opera of _Rosamond_ was produced, +with Addison's libretto. It was but the third, or indeed the second, +year of operas in England, for we can hardly reckon as forming a year of +opera the Italian intermezzi and interludes of singing and dancing, +performed under Clayton's direction, at York Buildings, in 1703. In +1705, Clayton's _Arsinoe_, adapted and translated from the Italian, was +produced at Drury Lane. Buononcini's _Camilla_ was given at the house in +the Haymarket, and sung in two languages, the heroine's part being in +English and the hero's in Italian. Thomas Clayton, a second-rate +musician, but a man with literary tastes, who had been introducer of the +opera to London, argued that the words of an opera should be not only +English, but the best of English, and that English music ought to +illustrate good home-grown literature. Addison and Steele agreed +heartily in this. Addison was persuaded to write words for an opera by +Clayton--his _Rosamond_--and Steele was persuaded afterwards to +speculate in some sort of partnership with Clayton's efforts to set +English poetry to music in the entertainments at York Buildings, though +his friend Hughes warned him candidly that Clayton was not much of a +musician. _Rosamond_ was a failure of Clayton's and not a success of +Addison's. There is poor jesting got by the poet from a comic Sir +Trusty, who keeps Rosamond's bower, and has a scolding wife. But there +is a happy compliment to Marlborough in giving to King Henry a vision at +Woodstock of the glory to come for England, and in a scenic realization +of it by the rising of Blenheim Palace, the nation's gift to +Marlborough, upon the scene of the Fair Rosamond story. Indeed there can +be no doubt that it was for the sake of the scene at Woodstock, and the +opportunity thus to be made, that Rosamond was chosen for the subject of +the opera. Addison made Queen Eleanor give Rosamond a narcotic instead +of a poison, and thus he achieved the desired happy ending to an opera. + + Believe your Rosamond alive. + + 'King.' O happy day! O pleasing view! + My Queen forgives-- + + 'Queen.' --My lord is true. + + 'King.' No more I'll change. + + 'Queen.' No more I'll grieve. + + 'Both.' But ever thus united live. + + +That is to say, for three days, the extent of the life of the opera. But +the literary Under-Secretary had saved his political dignity with the +stage tribute to Marlborough, which backed the closet praise in the +'Campaign.' + +In May, 1707, Steele received the office of Gazetteer, until then worth +£60, but presently endowed by Harley with a salary of £300 a-year. At +about the same time he was made one of the gentlemen ushers to Queen +Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark. In the same year Steele +married. Of his most private life before this date little is known. He +had been married to a lady from Barbadoes, who died in a few months. +From days referred to in the 'Christian Hero' he derived a daughter of +whom he took fatherly care. In 1707 Steele, aged about 35, married Miss +(or, as ladies come of age were then called, Mrs.) Mary Scurlock, aged +29. It was a marriage of affection on both sides. Steele had from his +first wife an estate in Barbadoes, which produced, after payment of the +interest on its encumbrances, £670 a-year. His appointment as Gazetteer, +less the £45 tax on it, was worth £255 a-year, and his appointment on +the Prince Consort's household another hundred. Thus the income upon +which Steele married was rather more than a thousand a-year, and Miss +Scurlock's mother had an estate of about £330 a-year. Mary Scurlock had +been a friend of Steele's first wife, for before marriage she recalls +Steele to her mother's mind by saying, 'It is the survivor of the person +to whose funeral I went in my illness.' + + 'Let us make our regards to each other,' Steele wrote just before + marriage, 'mutual and unchangeable, that whilst the world around us is + enchanted with the false satisfactions of vagrant desires, our persons + may be shrines to each other, and sacred to conjugal faith, unreserved + confidence, and heavenly society.' + +There remains also a prayer written by Steele before first taking the +sacrament with his wife, after marriage. There are also letters and +little notes written by Steele to his wife, treasured by her love, and +printed by a remorseless antiquary, blind to the sentence in one of the +first of them: + + 'I beg of you to shew my letters to no one living, but let us be + contented with one another's thoughts upon our words and actions, + without the intervention of other people, who cannot judge of so + delicate a circumstance as the commerce between man and wife.' + +But they are printed for the frivolous to laugh at and the wise to +honour. They show that even in his most thoughtless or most anxious +moments the social wit, the busy patriot, remembered his 'dear Prue,' +and was her lover to the end. Soon after marriage, Steele took his wife +to a boarding-school in the suburbs, where they saw a young lady for +whom Steele showed an affection that caused Mrs. Steele to ask, whether +she was not his daughter. He said that she was. 'Then,' said Mrs. +Steele, 'I beg she may be mine too.' Thenceforth she lived in their home +as Miss Ousley, and was treated as a daughter by Steele's wife. Surely +this was a woman who deserved the love that never swerved from her. True +husband and true friend, he playfully called Addison her rival. In the +_Spectator_ there is a paper of Steele's (No. 142) representing some of +his own love-letters as telling what a man said and should be able to +say of his wife after forty years of marriage. Seven years after +marriage he signs himself, 'Yours more than you can imagine, or I +express.' He dedicates to her a volume of the _Lady's Library_, and +writes of her ministrations to him: + + 'if there are such beings as guardian angels, thus are they employed. + I will no more believe one of them more good in its inclinations than + I can conceive it more charming in its form than my wife.' + +In the year before her death he was signing his letters with 'God bless +you!' and 'Dear Prue, eternally yours.' That Steele made it a duty of +his literary life to contend against the frivolous and vicious ridicule +of the ties of marriage common in his day, and to maintain their sacred +honour and their happiness, readers of the 'Spectator' cannot fail to +find. + +Steele, on his marriage in 1707, took a house in Bury Street, St. +James's, and in the following year went to a house at Hampton, which he +called in jest the Hovel. Addison had lent him a thousand pounds for +costs of furnishing and other immediate needs. This was repaid within a +year, and when, at the same time, his wife's mother was proposing a +settlement of her money beneficial to himself, Steele replied that he +was far from desiring, if he should survive his wife, 'to turn the +current of the estate out of the channel it would have been in, had I +never come into the family.' Liberal always of his own to others, he was +sometimes without a guinea, and perplexed by debt. But he defrauded no +man. When he followed his Prue to the grave he was in no man's debt, +though he left all his countrymen his debtors, and he left more than +their mother's fortune to his two surviving children. One died of +consumption a year afterwards, the other married one of the Welsh +Judges, afterwards Lord Trevor. + +The friendship--equal friendship--between Steele and Addison was as +unbroken as the love between Steele and his wife. Petty tales may have +been invented or misread. In days of malicious personality Steele braved +the worst of party spite, and little enough even slander found to throw +against him. Nobody in their lifetime doubted the equal strength and +sincerity of the relationship between the two friends. Steele was no +follower of Addison's. Throughout life he went his own way, leading +rather than following; first as a playwright; first in conception and +execution of the scheme of the 'Tatler', 'Spectator', and 'Guardian'; +following his own sense of duty against Addison's sense of expediency in +passing from the 'Guardian' to the 'Englishman', and so to energetic +movement upon perilous paths as a political writer, whose whole heart +was with what he took to be the people's cause. + +When Swift had been writing to Addison that he thought Steele 'the +vilest of mankind,' in writing of this to Swift, Steele complained that +the 'Examiner',--in which Swift had a busy hand,--said Addison had +'bridled him in point of politics,' adding, + + 'This was ill hinted both in relation to him and me. I know no party; + but the truth of the question is what I will support as well as I can, + when any man I honour is attacked.' + +John Forster, whose keen insight into the essentials of literature led +him to write an essay upon each of the two great founders of the latest +period of English literature, Defoe and Steele, has pointed out in his +masterly essay upon Steele that Swift denies having spoken of Steele as +bridled by his friend, and does so in a way that frankly admits Steele's +right to be jealous of the imputation. Mr. Forster justly adds that +throughout Swift's intimate speech to Stella, + + 'whether his humours be sarcastic or polite, the friendship of Steele + and Addison is for ever suggesting some annoyance to himself, some + mortification, some regret, but never once the doubt that it was not + intimate and sincere, or that into it entered anything inconsistent + with a perfect equality.' + +Six months after Addison's death Steele wrote (in No. 12 of the +'Theatre', and I am again quoting facts cited by John Forster), + + 'that there never was a more strict friendship than between himself + and Addison, nor had they ever any difference but what proceeded from + their different way of pursuing the same thing; the one waited and + stemmed the torrent, while the other too often plunged into it; but + though they thus had lived for some years past, shunning each other, + they still preserved the most passionate concern for their mutual + welfare; and when they met they were as unreserved as boys, and talked + of the greatest affairs, upon which they saw where they differed, + without pressing (what they knew impossible) to convert each other.' + +As to the substance or worth of what thus divided them, Steele only adds +the significant expression of his hope that, if his family is the worse, +his country may be the better, 'for the mortification _he_ has +undergone.' + + +Such, then, was the Friendship of which the 'Spectator' is the abiding +Monument. The 'Spectator' was a modified continuation of the 'Tatler', +and the 'Tatler' was suggested by a portion of Defoe's 'Review'. The +'Spectator' belongs to the first days of a period when the people at +large extended their reading power into departments of knowledge +formerly unsought by them, and their favour was found generally to be +more desirable than that of the most princely patron. This period should +date from the day in 1703 when the key turned upon Defoe in Newgate, the +year of the production of Steele's 'Tender Husband', and the time when +Addison was in Holland on the way home from his continental travels. +Defoe was then forty-two years old, Addison and Steele being about +eleven years younger. + +In the following year, 1704, the year of Blenheim--Defoe issued, on the +19th of February, No. 1 of 'A Weekly Review of the Affairs of France: +Purg'd from the Errors and Partiality of 'News-Writers' and +'Petty-Statesmen', of all Sides,' and in the introductory sketch of its +plan, said: + + 'After our Serious Matters are over, we shall at the end of every + Paper, Present you with a little Diversion, as anything occurs to make + the World Merry; and whether Friend or Foe, one Party or another, if + anything happens so scandalous as to require an open Reproof, the + World may meet with it there.' + +Here is the first 'little Diversion'; the germ of 'Tatlers' and +'Spectators' which in after years amused and edified the town. + + + 'Mercure Scandale: + + or, + + ADVICE from the Scandalous CLUB. 'Translated out of French'. + + + This Society is a Corporation long since established in 'Paris', and + we cannot compleat our Advices from 'France', without entertaining the + World with everything we meet with from that Country. + + And, tho Corresponding with the Queens Enemies is prohibited; yet + since the Matter will be so honest, as only to tell the World of what + everybody will own to be scandalous, we reckon we shall be welcome. + + This Corporation has been set up some months, and opend their first + Sessions about last 'Bartholomew' Fair; but having not yet obtaind a + Patent, they have never, till now, made their Resolves publick. + + The Business of this Society is to censure the Actions of Men, not of + Parties, and in particular, those Actions which are made publick so by + their Authors, as to be, in their own Nature, an Appeal to the general + Approbation. + + They do not design to expose Persons but things; and of them, none but + such as more than ordinarily deserve it; they who would not be censurd + by this Assembly, are desired to act with caution enough, not to fall + under their Hands; for they resolve to treat Vice, and Villanous + Actions, with the utmost Severity. + + The First considerable Matter that came before this Society, was about + 'Bartholomew' Fair; but the Debates being long, they were at last + adjourned to the next Fair, when we suppose it will be decided; so + being not willing to trouble the World with anything twice over, we + refer that to next 'August'. + + On the 10th of September last, there was a long Hearing, before the + Club, of a Fellow that said he had killd the Duke of 'Bavaria'. Now as + David punishd the Man that said he had killd King 'Saul', whether it + was so or no, twas thought this Fellow ought to be delivered up to + Justice, tho the Duke of 'Bavaria' was alive. + + Upon the whole, twas voted a scandalous Thing, That News. Writers + shoud kill Kings and Princes, and bring them to life again at + pleasure; and to make an Example of this Fellow, he was dismissd, upon + Condition he should go to the Queens-bench once a Day, and bear + Fuller, his Brother of the Faculty, company two hours for fourteen + Days together; which cruel Punishment was executed with the utmost + Severity. + + The Club has had a great deal of trouble about the News-Writers, who + have been continually brought before them for their ridiculous + Stories, and imposing upon Mankind; and tho the Proceedings have been + pretty tedious, we must give you the trouble of a few of them in our + next. + +The addition to the heading, 'Translated out of French,' appears only in +No. 1, and the first title 'Mercure Scandale' (adopted from a French +book published about 1681) having been much criticized for its grammar +and on other grounds, was dropped in No. 18. Thenceforth Defoe's +pleasant comment upon passing follies appeared under the single head of +'Advice from the Scandalous Club.' Still the verbal Critics exercised +their wits upon the title. + + 'We have been so often on the Defence of our Title,' says Defoe, in + No. 38, 'that the world begins to think Our Society wants + Employment ... If Scandalous must signify nothing but Personal + Scandal, respecting the Subject of which it is predicated; we desire + those gentlemen to answer for us how 'Post-Man' or 'Post-Boy' can + signify a News-Paper, the Post Man or Post Boy being in all my reading + properly and strictly applicable, not to the Paper, but to the Person + bringing or carrying the News? Mercury also is, if I understand it, by + a Transmutation of Meaning, from a God turned into a Book--From hence + our Club thinks they have not fair Play, in being deny'd the Privilege + of making an Allegory as well as other People.' + +In No. 46 Defoe made, in one change more, a whimsical half concession of +a syllable, by putting a sign of contraction in its place, and +thenceforth calling this part of his Review, Advice from the Scandal +Club. Nothing can be more evident than the family likeness between this +forefather of the 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' and its more familiar +descendants. There is a trick of voice common to all, and some papers of +Defoe's might have been written for the 'Spectator'. Take the little +allegory, for instance, in No. 45, which tells of a desponding young +Lady brought before the Society, as found by Rosamond's Pond in the Park +in a strange condition, taken by the mob for a lunatic, and whose +clothes were all out of fashion, but whose face, when it was seen, +astonished the whole society by its extraordinary sweetness and majesty. +She told how she had been brought to despair, and her name proved to +be--Modesty. In letters, questions, and comments also which might be +taken from Defoe's Monthly Supplementary Journal to the Advice from the +Scandal Club, we catch a likeness to the spirit of the 'Tatler' and +'Spectator' now and then exact. Some censured Defoe for not confining +himself to the weightier part of his purpose in establishing the +'Review'. He replied, in the Introduction to his first Monthly +Supplement, that many men + + 'care but for a little reading at a time,' and said, 'thus we wheedle + them in, if it may be allow'd that Expression, to the Knowledge of the + World, who rather than take more Pains, would be content with their + Ignorance, and search into nothing.' + +Single-minded, quick-witted, and prompt to act on the first suggestion +of a higher point of usefulness to which he might attain, Steele saw the +mind of the people ready for a new sort of relation to its writers, and +he followed the lead of Defoe. But though he turned from the more +frivolous temper of the enfeebled playhouse audience, to commune in free +air with the country at large, he took fresh care for the restraint of +his deep earnestness within the bounds of a cheerful, unpretending +influence. Drop by drop it should fall, and its strength lie in its +persistence. He would bring what wit he had out of the playhouse, and +speak his mind, like Defoe, to the people themselves every post-day. But +he would affect no pedantry of moralizing, he would appeal to no +passions, he would profess himself only 'a Tatler.' Might he not use, he +thought, modestly distrustful of the charm of his own mind, some of the +news obtained by virtue of the office of Gazetteer that Harley had given +him, to bring weight and acceptance to writing of his which he valued +only for the use to which it could be put. For, as he himself truly says +in the 'Tatler', + + 'wit, if a man had it, unless it be directed to some useful end, is + but a wanton, frivolous quality; all that one should value himself + upon in this kind is that he had some honourable intention in it.' + +Swift, not then a deserter to the Tories, was a friend of Steele's, who, +when the first 'Tatler' appeared, had been amusing the town at the +expense of John Partridge, astrologer and almanac-maker, with +'Predictions for the year 1708,' professing to be written by Isaac +Bickerstaff, Esq. The first prediction was of the death of Partridge, + + 'on the 29th of March next, about eleven at night, of a raging fever.' + +Swift answered himself, and also published in due time + + 'The Accomplishment of the first of Mr. Bickerstaff's Predictions: + being an account of the death of Mr. Partridge, the almanack-maker, + upon the 29th instant.' + +Other wits kept up the joke, and, in his next year's almanac (that for +1709), Partridge advertised that, + + 'whereas it has been industriously given out by Isaac Bickerstaff, + Esq., and others, to prevent the sale of this year's almanack, that + John Partridge is dead, this may inform all his loving countrymen that + he is still living, in health, and they are knaves that reported it + otherwise.' + +Steele gave additional lightness to the touch of his 'Tatler', which +first appeared on the 12th of April, 1709, by writing in the name of +Isaac Bickerstaff, and carrying on the jest, that was to his serious +mind a blow dealt against prevailing superstition. Referring in his +first 'Tatler' to this advertisement of Partridge's, he said of it, + + 'I have in another place, and in a paper by itself, sufficiently + convinced this man that he is dead; and if he has any shame, I do not + doubt but that by this time he owns it to all his acquaintance. For + though the legs and arms and whole body of that man may still appear + and perform their animal functions, yet since, as I have elsewhere + observed, his art is gone, the man is gone.' + +To Steele, indeed, the truth was absolute, that a man is but what he can +do. + +In this spirit, then, Steele began the 'Tatler', simply considering that +his paper was to be published 'for the use of the good people of +England,' and professing at the outset that he was an author writing for +the public, who expected from the public payment for his work, and that +he preferred this course to gambling for the patronage of men in office. +Having pleasantly shown the sordid spirit that underlies the +mountebank's sublime professions of disinterestedness, + + 'we have a contempt,' he says, 'for such paltry barterers, and have + therefore all along informed the public that we intend to give them + our advices for our own sakes, and are labouring to make our + lucubrations come to some price in money, for our more convenient + support in the service of the public. It is certain that many other + schemes have been proposed to me, as a friend offered to show me in a + treatise he had writ, which he called, "The whole Art of Life; or, The + Introduction to Great Men, illustrated in a Pack of Cards." But being + a novice at all manner of play, I declined the offer.' + +Addison took these cards, and played an honest game with them +successfully. When, at the end of 1708, the Earl of Sunderland, +Marlborough's son-in-law, lost his secretaryship, Addison lost his place +as under-secretary; but he did not object to go to Ireland as chief +secretary to Lord Wharton, the new Lord-lieutenant, an active party man, +a leader on the turf with reputation for indulgence after business hours +according to the fashion of the court of Charles II. + +Lord Wharton took to Ireland Clayton to write him musical +entertainments, and a train of parasites of quality. He was a great +borough-monger, and is said at one critical time to have returned thirty +members. He had no difficulty, therefore, in finding Addison a seat, and +made him in that year, 1709, M.P. for Malmesbury. Addison only once +attempted to speak in the House of Commons, and then, embarrassed by +encouraging applause that welcomed him he stammered and sat down. But +when, having laid his political cards down for a time, and at ease in +his own home, pen in hand, he brought his sound mind and quick humour to +the aid of his friend Steele, he came with him into direct relation with +the English people. Addison never gave posterity a chance of knowing +what was in him till, following Steele's lead, he wrote those papers in +'Tatler', 'Spectator', and 'Guardian', wherein alone his genius abides +with us, and will abide with English readers to the end. The 'Tatler', +the 'Spectator', and the 'Guardian' were, all of them, Steele's, begun +and ended by him at his sole discretion. In these three journals Steele +was answerable for 510 papers; Addison for 369. Swift wrote two papers, +and sent about a dozen fragments. Congreve wrote one article in the +'Tatler'; Pope wrote thrice for the 'Spectator', and eight times for the +'Guardian'. Addison, who was in Ireland when the 'Tatler' first +appeared, only guessed the authorship by an expression in an early +number; and it was not until eighty numbers had been issued, and the +character of the new paper was formed and established, that Addison, on +his return to London, joined the friend who, with his usual complete +absence of the vanity of self-assertion, finally ascribed to the ally he +dearly loved, the honours of success. + +It was the kind of success Steele had desired--a widely-diffused +influence for good. The 'Tatlers' were penny papers published three +times a week, and issued also for another halfpenny with a blank +half-sheet for transmission by post, when any written scraps of the +day's gossip that friend might send to friend could be included. It was +through these, and the daily 'Spectators' which succeeded them, that the +people of England really learnt to read. The few leaves of sound reason +and fancy were but a light tax on uncultivated powers of attention. +Exquisite grace and true kindliness, here associated with familiar ways +and common incidents of everyday life, gave many an honest man fresh +sense of the best happiness that lies in common duties honestly +performed, and a fresh energy, free as Christianity itself from +malice--for so both Steele and Addison meant that it should be--in +opposing themselves to the frivolities and small frauds on the +conscience by which manliness is undermined. + +A pamphlet by John Gay--'The Present State of Wit, in a Letter to a +Friend in the Country'--was dated May 3, 1711, about two months after +the 'Spectator' had replaced the 'Tatler'. And thus Gay represents the +best talk of the town about these papers: + + "Before I proceed further in the account of our weekly papers, it will + be necessary to inform you that at the beginning of the winter, to the + infinite surprise of all the Town, Mr. Steele flung up his 'Tatler', + and instead of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire, subscribed himself Richard + Steele to the last of those papers, after a handsome compliment to the + Town for their kind acceptance of his endeavours to divert them. + + The chief reason he thought fit to give for his leaving off writing + was, that having been so long looked on in all public places and + companies as the Author of those papers, he found that his most + intimate friends and acquaintance were in pain to speak or act before + him. + + The Town was very far from being satisfied with this reason, and most + people judged the true cause to be, either + + That he was quite spent, and wanted matter to continue his + undertaking any longer; or + That he laid it down as a sort of submission to, and composition + with, the Government for some past offences; or, lastly, + That he had a mind to vary his Shape, and appear again in some new + light. + + However that were, his disappearance seemed to be bewailed as some + general calamity. Every one wanted so agreeable an amusement, and the + Coffee-houses began to be sensible that the Esquire's 'Lucubrations' + alone had brought them more customers than all their other newspapers + put together. + + It must indeed be confessed that never man threw up his pen, under + stronger temptations to have employed it longer. His reputation was at + a greater height, than I believe ever any living author's was before + him. It is reasonable to suppose that his gains were proportionably + considerable. Every one read him with pleasure and good-will; and the + Tories, in respect to his other good qualities, had almost forgiven + his unaccountable imprudence in declaring against them. + + Lastly, it was highly improbable that, if he threw off a Character, + the ideas of which were so strongly impressed in every one's mind, + however finely he might write in any new form, that he should meet + with the same reception. + + To give you my own thoughts of this gentleman's writings I shall, in + the first place, observe, that there is a noble difference between him + and all the rest of our gallant and polite authors. The latter have + endeavoured to please the Age by falling in with them, and encouraging + them in their fashionable vices and false notions of things. It would + have been a jest, some time since, for a man to have asserted that + anything witty could be said in praise of a married state, or that + Devotion and Virtue were any way necessary to the character of a Fine + Gentleman. 'Bickerstaff' ventured to tell the Town that they were a + parcel of fops, fools, and coquettes; but in such a manner as even + pleased them, and made them more than half inclined to believe that he + spoke truth. + + Instead of complying with the false sentiments or vicious tastes of + the Age--either in morality, criticism, or good breeding--he has + boldly assured them that they were altogether in the wrong; and + commanded them, with an authority which perfectly well became him, to + surrender themselves to his arguments for Virtue and Good Sense. + + It is incredible to conceive the effect his writings have had on the + Town; how many thousand follies they have either quite banished or + given a very great check to; how much countenance they have added to + Virtue and Religion; how many people they have rendered happy, by + shewing them it was their own fault if they were not so; and, lastly, + how entirely they have convinced our young fops and young fellows of + the value and advantages of Learning. + + He has indeed rescued it out of the hands of pedants and fools, and + discovered the true method of making it amiable and lovely to all + mankind. In the dress he gives it, it is a most welcome guest at + tea-tables and assemblies, and is relished and caressed by the + merchants on the Change. Accordingly there is not a Lady at Court, nor + a Banker in Lombard Street, who is not verily persuaded that Captain + Steele is the greatest scholar and best Casuist of any man in England. + + Lastly, his writings have set all our Wits and men of letters on a new + way of thinking, of which they had little or no notion before: and, + although we cannot say that any of them have come up to the beauties + of the original, I think we may venture to affirm, that every one of + them writes and thinks much more justly than they did some time since. + + The vast variety of subjects which Mr. Steele has treated of, in so + different manners, and yet all so perfectly well, made the World + believe that it was impossible they should all come from the same + hand. This set every one upon guessing who was the Esquire's friend? + and most people at first fancied it must be Doctor Swift; but it is + now no longer a secret, that his only great and constant assistant was + Mr. Addison. + + This is that excellent friend to whom Mr. Steele owes so much; and who + refuses to have his name set before those pieces, which the greatest + pens in England would be proud to own. Indeed, they could hardly add + to this Gentleman's reputation: whose works in Latin and English + poetry long since convinced the World, that he was the greatest Master + in Europe in those two languages. + + I am assured, from good hands, that all the visions, and other tracts + of that way of writing, with a very great number of the most exquisite + pieces of wit and raillery through the 'Lucubrations' are entirely of + this Gentleman's composing: which may, in some measure, account for + that different Genius, which appears in the winter papers, from those + of the summer; at which time, as the 'Examiner' often hinted, this + friend of Mr. Steele was in Ireland. + + Mr. Steele confesses in his last Volume of the 'Tatlers' that he is + obliged to Dr. Swift for his 'Town Shower', and the 'Description of + the Morn', with some other hints received from him in private + conversation. + + I have also heard that several of those 'Letters', which came as from + unknown hands, were written by Mr. Henley: which is an answer to your + query, 'Who those friends are whom Mr. Steele speaks of in his last + 'Tatler?'' + + But to proceed with my account of our other papers. The expiration of + 'Bickerstaff's Lucubrations' was attended with much the same + consequences as the death of Meliboeus's 'Ox' in Virgil: as the latter + engendered swarms of bees, the former immediately produced whole + swarms of little satirical scribblers. + + One of these authors called himself the 'Growler', and assured us + that, to make amends for Mr. Steele's silence, he was resolved to + 'growl' at us weekly, as long as we should think fit to give him any + encouragement. Another Gentleman, with more modesty, called his paper + the 'Whisperer'; and a third, to please the Ladies, christened his the + 'Tell tale'. + + At the same-time came out several 'Tatlers'; each of which, with equal + truth and wit, assured us that he was the genuine 'Isaac Bickerstaff'. + + It may be observed that when the 'Esquire' laid down his pen; though + he could not but foresee that several scribblers would soon snatch it + up, which he might (one would think) easily have prevented: he scorned + to take any further care about it, but left the field fairly open to + any worthy successor. Immediately, some of our Wits were for forming + themselves into a Club, headed by one Mr. Harrison, and trying how + they could shoot in this Bow of Ulysses; but soon found that this sort + of writing requires so fine and particular a manner of thinking, with + so exact a knowledge of the World, as must make them utterly despair + of success. + + They seemed indeed at first to think that what was only the garnish of + the former 'Tatlers', was that which recommended them; and not those + Substantial Entertainments which they everywhere abound in. According + they were continually talking of their 'Maid', 'Night Cap', + 'Spectacles', and Charles Lillie. However there were, now and then, + some faint endeavours at Humour and sparks of Wit: which the Town, for + want of better entertainment, was content to hunt after through a heap + of impertinences; but even those are, at present, become wholly + invisible and quite swallowed up in the blaze of the 'Spectator'. + + You may remember, I told you before, that one cause assigned for the + laying down the 'Tatler' was, Want of Matter; and, indeed, this was + the prevailing opinion in Town: when we were surprised all at once by + a paper called the 'Spectator', which was promised to be continued + every day; and was written in so excellent a style, with so nice a + judgment, and such a noble profusion of wit and humour, that it was + not difficult to determine it could come from no other hands but those + which had penned the 'Lucubrations'. + + This immediately alarmed these gentlemen, who, as it is said Mr. + Steele phrases it, had 'the Censorship in Commission.' They found the + new 'Spectator' came on like a torrent, and swept away all before him. + They despaired ever to equal him in wit, humour, or learning; which + had been their true and certain way of opposing him: and therefore + rather chose to fall on the Author; and to call out for help to all + good Christians, by assuring them again and again that they were the + First, Original, True, and undisputed 'Isaac Bickerstaff'. + + Meanwhile, the 'Spectator', whom we regard as our Shelter from that + flood of false wit and impertinence which was breaking in upon us, is + in every one's hands; and a constant for our morning conversation at + tea-tables and coffee-houses. We had at first, indeed, no manner of + notion how a diurnal paper could be continued in the spirit and style + of our present 'Spectators': but, to our no small surprise, we find + them still rising upon us, and can only wonder from whence so + prodigious a run of Wit and Learning can proceed; since some of our + best judges seem to think that they have hitherto, in general, + outshone even the 'Esquire's' first 'Tatlers'. + + Most people fancy, from their frequency, that they must be composed by + a Society: I withal assign the first places to Mr. Steele and his + Friend. + +So far John Gay, whose discussion of the 'Tatlers' and 'Spectators' +appeared when only fifty-five numbers of the 'Spectator' had been +published. + +There was high strife of faction; and there was real peril to the +country by a possible turn of affairs after Queen Anne's death, that +another Stuart restoration, in the name of divine right of kings, would +leave rights of the people to be reconquered in civil war. The chiefs of +either party were appealing to the people, and engaging all the wit they +could secure to fight on their side in the war of pamphlets. Steele's +heart was in the momentous issue. Both he and Addison had it in mind +while they were blending their calm playfulness with all the clamour of +the press. The spirit in which these friends worked, young Pope must +have felt; for after Addison had helped him in his first approach to +fame by giving honour in the 'Spectator' to his 'Essay on Criticism,' +and when he was thankful for that service, he contributed to the +'Spectator' his 'Messiah.' Such offering clearly showed how Pope +interpreted the labour of the essayists. + +In the fens of Lincolnshire the antiquary Maurice Johnson collected his +neighbours of Spalding. + + 'Taking care,' it is said, 'not to alarm the country gentlemen by any + premature mention of antiquities, he endeavoured at first to allure + them into the more flowery paths of literature. In 1709 a few of them + were brought together every post-day at the coffee-house in the Abbey + Yard; and after one of the party had read aloud the last published + number of the 'Tatler', they proceeded to talk over the subject among + themselves.' + +Even in distant Perthshire + + 'the gentlemen met after church on Sunday to discuss the news of the + week; the 'Spectators' were read as regularly as the 'Journal'.' + +So the political draught of bitterness came sweetened with the wisdom of +good-humour. The good-humour of the essayists touched with a light and +kindly hand every form of affectation, and placed every-day life in the +light in which it would be seen by a natural and honest man. A sense of +the essentials of life was assumed everywhere for the reader, who was +asked only to smile charitably at its vanities. Steele looked through +all shams to the natural heart of the Englishman, appealed to that, and +found it easily enough, even under the disguise of the young gentleman +cited in the 77th 'Tatler', + + 'so ambitious to be thought worse than he is that in his degree of + understanding he sets up for a free-thinker, and talks atheistically + in coffee-houses all day, though every morning and evening, it can be + proved upon him, he regularly at home says his prayers.' + +But as public events led nearer to the prospect of a Jacobite triumph +that would have again brought Englishmen against each other sword to +sword, there was no voice of warning more fearless than Richard +Steele's. He changed the 'Spectator' for the 'Guardian', that was to be, +in its plan, more free to guard the people's rights, and, standing +forward more distinctly as a politician, he became member for +Stockbridge. In place of the 'Guardian', which he had dropped when he +felt the plan of that journal unequal to the right and full expression +of his mind, Steele took for a periodical the name of 'Englishman', and +under that name fought, with then unexampled abstinence from +personality, against the principles upheld by Swift in his 'Examiner'. +Then, when the Peace of Utrecht alarmed English patriots, Steele in a +bold pamphlet on 'The Crisis' expressed his dread of arbitrary power and +a Jacobite succession with a boldness that cost him his seat in +Parliament, as he had before sacrificed to plain speaking his place of +Gazetteer. + +Of the later history of Steele and Addison a few words will suffice. +This is not an account of their lives, but an endeavour to show why +Englishmen must always have a living interest in the 'Spectator', their +joint production. Steele's 'Spectator' ended with the seventh volume. +The members of the Club were all disposed of, and the journal formally +wound up; but by the suggestion of a future ceremony of opening the +'Spectator's' mouth, a way was made for Addison, whenever he pleased, to +connect with the famous series an attempt of his own for its revival. A +year and a half later Addison made this attempt, producing his new +journal with the old name and, as far as his contributions went, not +less than the old wit and earnestness, three times a week instead of +daily. But he kept it alive only until the completion of one volume. +Addison had not Steele's popular tact as an editor. He preached, and he +suffered drier men to preach, while in his jest he now and then wrote +what he seems to have been unwilling to acknowledge. His eighth volume +contains excellent matter, but the subjects are not always well chosen +or varied judiciously, and one understands why the 'Spectator' took a +firmer hold upon society when the two friends in the full strength of +their life, aged about forty, worked together and embraced between them +a wide range of human thought and feeling. It should be remembered also +that Queen Anne died while Addison's eighth volume was appearing, and +the change in the Whig position brought him other occupation of his time. + +In April, 1713, in the interval between the completion of the true +'Spectator' and the appearance of the supplementary volume, Addison's +tragedy of 'Cato', planned at College; begun during his foreign travels, +retouched in England, and at last completed, was produced at Drury Lane. +Addison had not considered it a stage play, but when it was urged that +the time was proper for animating the public with the sentiments of +Cato, he assented to its production. Apart from its real merit the play +had the advantage of being applauded by the Whigs, who saw in it a Whig +political ideal, and by the Tories, who desired to show that they were +as warm friends of liberty as any Whig could be. + +Upon the death of Queen Anne Addison acted for a short time as secretary +to the Regency, and when George I. appointed Addison's patron, the Earl +of Sunderland, to the Lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, Sunderland took +Addison with him as chief secretary. Sunderland resigned in ten months, +and thus Addison's secretaryship came to an end in August, 1716. Addison +was also employed to meet the Rebellion of 1715 by writing the +'Freeholder'. He wrote under this title fifty-five papers, which were +published twice a week between December, 1715, and June, 1716; and he +was rewarded with the post of Commissioner for Trade and Colonies. In +August, 1716, he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, mother to the +young Earl of Warwick, of whose education he seems to have had some +charge in 1708. Addison settled upon the Countess £4000 in lieu of an +estate which she gave up for his sake. Henceforth he lived chiefly at +Holland House. In April, 1717, Lord Sunderland became Secretary of +State, and still mindful of Marlborough's illustrious supporter, he made +Addison his colleague. Eleven months later, ill health obliged Addison +to resign the seals; and his death followed, June 17, 1719, at the age +of 47. + +Steele's political difficulties ended at the death of Queen Anne. The +return of the Whigs to power on the accession of George I. brought him +the office of Surveyor of the Royal Stables at Hampton Court; he was +also first in the Commission of the peace for Middlesex, and was made +one of the deputy lieutenants of the county. At the request of the +managers Steele's name was included in the new patent required at Drury +Lane by the royal company of comedians upon the accession of a new +sovereign. Steele also was returned as M.P. for Boroughbridge, in +Yorkshire, was writer of the Address to the king presented by the +Lord-lieutenant and the deputy lieutenants of Middlesex, and being +knighted on that occasion, with two other of the deputies, became in the +spring of the year, 1714, Sir Richard Steele. Very few weeks after the +death of his wife, in December, 1718, Sunderland, at a time when he had +Addison for colleague, brought in a bill for preventing any future +creations of peers, except when an existing peerage should become +extinct. Steele, who looked upon this as an infringement alike of the +privileges of the crown and of the rights of the subject, opposed the +bill in Parliament, and started in March, 1719, a paper called the +'Plebeian', in which he argued against a measure tending, he said, to +the formation of an oligarchy. Addison replied in the 'Old Whig', and +this, which occurred within a year of the close of Addison's life, was +the main subject of political difference between them. The bill, +strongly opposed, was dropped for that session, and reintroduced (after +Addison's death) in the December following, to be thrown out by the +House of Commons. + +Steele's argument against the government brought on him the hostility of +the Duke of Newcastle, then Lord Chamberlain; and it was partly to +defend himself and his brother patentees against hostile action +threatened by the Duke, that Steele, in January, 1720, started his paper +called the 'Theatre'. But he was dispossessed of his government of the +theatre, to which a salary of £600 a-year had been attached, and +suffered by the persecution of the court until Walpole's return to +power. Steele was then restored to his office, and in the following +year, 1722, produced his most successful comedy, 'The Conscious Lovers'. +After this time his health declined; his spirits were depressed. He left +London for Bath. His only surviving son, Eugene, born while the +'Spectator' was being issued, and to whom Prince Eugene had stood +godfather, died at the age of eleven or twelve in November, 1723. The +younger also of his two daughters was marked for death by consumption. +He was broken in health and fortune when, in 1726, he had an attack of +palsy which was the prelude to his death. He died Sept. 1, 1729, at +Carmarthen, where he had been boarding with a mercer who was his agent +and receiver of rents. There is a pleasant record that + + 'he retained his cheerful sweetness of temper to the last; and would + often be carried out, of a summer's evening, where the country lads + and lasses were assembled at their rural sports,--and, with his + pencil, gave an order on his agent, the mercer, for a new gown to the + best dancer.' + + +Two editions of the 'Spectator', the tenth and eleventh, were published +by Tonson in the year of Steele's death. These and the next edition, +dated 1739, were without the translations of the mottos, which appear, +however, in the edition of 1744. Notes were first added by Dr. Percy, +the editor of the 'Reliques of Ancient Poetry', and Dr. Calder. Dr. John +Calder, a native of Aberdeen, bred to the dissenting ministry, was for +some time keeper of Dr. Williams's Library in Redcross Street. He was a +candidate for the office given to Dr. Abraham Rees, of editor and +general super-intendent of the new issue of Chambers's Cyclopædia, +undertaken by the booksellers in 1776, and he supplied to it some new +articles. The Duke of Northumberland warmly patronized Dr. Calder, and +made him his companion in London and at Alnwick Castle as Private +Literary Secretary. Dr. Thomas Percy, who had constituted himself cousin +and retainer to the Percy of Northumberland, obtained his bishopric of +Dromore in 1782, in the following year lost his only son, and suffered +from that failure in eyesight, which resulted in a total blindness. + +Having become intimately acquainted with Dr. Calder when at +Northumberland House and Alnwick, Percy intrusted to him the notes he +had collected for illustrating the 'Tatler', 'Spectator', and +'Guardian'. These were after-wards used, with additions by Dr. Calder, +in the various editions of those works, especially in the six-volume +edition of the 'Tatler', published by John Nichols in 1786, where +Percy's notes have a P. attached to them, and Dr. Calder's are signed +'Annotator.' The 'Tatler' was annotated fully, and the annotated +'Tatler' has supplied some pieces of information given in the present +edition of the 'Spectator'. Percy actually edited two volumes for R. +Tonson in 1764, but the work was stopped by the death of the bookseller, +and the other six were added to them in 1789. They were slightly +annotated, both as regards the number and the value of the notes; but +Percy and Calder lived when 'Spectator' traditions were yet fresh, and +oral information was accessible as to points of personal allusion or as +to the authorship of a few papers or letters which but for them might +have remained anonymous. Their notes are those of which the substance +has run through all subsequent editions. Little, if anything, was added +to them by Bisset or Chalmers; the energies of those editors having been +chiefly directed to the preserving or multiplying of corruptions of the +text. Percy, when telling Tonson that he had completed two volumes of +the 'Spectator', said that he had corrected 'innumerable corruptions' +which had then crept in, and could have come only by misprint. Since +that time not only have misprints been preserved and multiplied, but +punctuation has been deliberately modernized, to the destruction of the +freshness of the original style, and editors of another 'understanding +age' have also taken upon themselves by many a little touch to correct +Addison's style or grammar. + +This volume reprints for the first time in the present century the text +of the 'Spectator' as its authors left it. A good recent edition +contains in the first 18 papers, which are a fair sample of the whole, +88 petty variations from the proper text (at that rate, in the whole +work more than 3000) apart from the recasting of the punctuation, which +is counted as a defect only in two instances, where it has changed the +sense. Chalmers's text, of 1817, was hardly better, and about two-thirds +of the whole number of corruptions had already appeared in Bisset's +edition of 1793, from which they were transferred. Thus Bisset as well +as Chalmers in the Dedication to Vol. I. turned the 'polite _parts_ of +learning' into the 'polite _arts_ of learning,' and when the silent +gentleman tells us that many to whom his person is well known speak of +him 'very currently by Mr. What-d'ye-call him,' Bisset before Chalmers +rounded the sentence into 'very correctly by _the appellation_ of Mr. +What-d'ye-call him.' But it seems to have been Chalmers who first +undertook to correct, in the next paper, Addison's grammar, by turning +'have laughed _to have seen_' into 'have laughed _to see_' and +transformed a treaty '_with_ London and Wise,'--a firm now of historical +repute,--for the supply of flowers to the opera, into a treaty +'_between_ London and Wise,' which most people would take to be a very +different matter. If the present edition has its own share of misprints +and oversights, at least it inherits none; and it contains no wilful +alteration of the text. + +The papers as they first appeared in the daily issue of a penny (and +after the stamp was imposed two-penny) folio half-sheet, have been +closely compared with the first issue in guinea octavos, for which they +were revised, and with the last edition that appeared before the death +of Steele. The original text is here given precisely as it was left +after revision by its authors; and there is shown at the same time the +amount and character of the revision. + +Sentences added in the reprint are placed between square brackets [ ], +without any appended note. + +Sentences omitted, or words altered, are shown by bracketing the revised +version, and giving the text as it stood in the original daily issue +within corresponding brackets as a foot-note.[1] + +Thus the reader has here both the original texts of the 'Spectator'. The +Essays, as revised by their authors for permanent use, form the main +text of the present volume. + +But if the words or passages in brackets be omitted; the words or +passages in corresponding foot-notes,--where there are such +foot-notes,--being substituted for them; the text becomes throughout +that of the 'Spectator' as it first came out in daily numbers. + +As the few differences between good spelling in Queen Anne's time and +good spelling now are never of a kind to obscure the sense of a word, or +lessen the enjoyment of the reader, it has been thought better to make +the reproduction perfect, and thus show not only what Steele and Addison +wrote, but how they spelt, while restoring to their style the proper +harmony of their own methods of punctuating, and their way of sometimes +getting emphasis by turning to account the use of capitals, which in +their hands was not wholly conventional. + +The original folio numbers have been followed also in the use of +_italics_ [_shown between underscored thus_] and other little details of +the disposition of the type; for example, in the reproduction of those +rows of single inverted commas, which distinguish what a correspondent +called the parts 'laced down the side with little c's.' [This last +detail of formatting has not been reproduced in this file. Text Ed.] + +The translation of the mottos and Latin quotations, which Steele and +Addison deliberately abstained from giving, and which, as they were +since added, impede and sometimes confound and contradict the text, are +here placed in a body at the end, for those who want them. Again and +again the essayists indulge in banter on the mystery of the Latin and +Greek mottos; and what confusion must enter into the mind of the unwary +reader who finds Pope's Homer quoted at the head of a 'Spectator' long +before Addison's word of applause to the young poet's 'Essay on +Criticism.' The mottos then are placed in an Appendix. + +There is a short Appendix also of advertisements taken from the original +number of the 'Spectator', and a few others, where they seem to +illustrate some point in the text, will be found among the notes. + +In the large number of notes here added to a revision of those +bequeathed to us by Percy and Calder, the object has been to give +information which may contribute to some nearer acquaintance with the +writers of the book, and enjoyment of allusions to past manners and +events. + +Finally, from the 'General Index to the Spectators, &c.,' published as a +separate volume in 1760, there has been taken what was serviceable, and +additions have been made to it with a desire to secure for this edition +of the 'Spectator' the advantages of being handy for reference as well +as true to the real text. + +H. M. + + + +[Footnote 1: "Sentences omitted, or words altered;" not, of course, the +immaterial variations of spelling into which compositors slipped in the +printing office. In the 'Athenaeum' of May 12, 1877, is an answer to +misapprehensions on this head by the editor of a Clarendon Press volume +of 'Selections from Addison'.] + + + + + +TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +JOHN LORD SOMMERS, + +BARON OF EVESHAM. [1] + + +My LORD, + +I should not act the Part of an impartial Spectator, if I Dedicated the +following Papers to one who is not of the most consummate and most +acknowledged Merit. + +None but a person of a finished Character can be the proper Patron of a +Work, which endeavours to Cultivate and Polish Human Life, by promoting +Virtue and Knowledge, and by recommending whatsoever may be either +Useful or Ornamental to Society. + +I know that the Homage I now pay You, is offering a kind of Violence to +one who is as solicitous to shun Applause, as he is assiduous to deserve +it. But, my Lord, this is perhaps the only Particular in which your +Prudence will be always disappointed. + +While Justice, Candour, Equanimity, a Zeal for the Good of your Country, +and the most persuasive Eloquence in bringing over others to it, are +valuable Distinctions, You are not to expect that the Publick will so +far comply with your Inclinations, as to forbear celebrating such +extraordinary Qualities. It is in vain that You have endeavoured to +conceal your Share of Merit, in the many National Services which You +have effected. Do what You will, the present Age will be talking of your +Virtues, tho' Posterity alone will do them Justice. + +Other Men pass through Oppositions and contending Interests in the ways +of Ambition, but Your Great Abilities have been invited to Power, and +importuned to accept of Advancement. Nor is it strange that this should +happen to your Lordship, who could bring into the Service of Your +Sovereign the Arts and Policies of Ancient 'Greece' and 'Rome'; as well +as the most exact knowledge of our own Constitution in particular, and +of the interests of 'Europe' in general; to which I must also add, a +certain Dignity in Yourself, that (to say the least of it) has been +always equal to those great Honours which have been conferred upon You. + +It is very well known how much the Church owed to You in the most +dangerous Day it ever saw, that of the Arraignment of its Prelates; and +how far the Civil Power, in the Late and present Reign, has been +indebted to your Counsels and Wisdom. + +But to enumerate the great Advantages which the publick has received +from your Administration, would be a more proper Work for an History, +than an Address of this Nature. + +Your Lordship appears as great in your Private Life, as in the most +Important Offices which You have born. I would therefore rather chuse to +speak of the Pleasure You afford all who are admitted into your +Conversation, of Your Elegant Taste in all the Polite Parts of Learning, +of Your great Humanity and Complacency of Manners, and of the surprising +Influence which is peculiar to You in making every one who Converses +with your Lordship prefer You to himself, without thinking the less +meanly of his own Talents. But if I should take notice of all that might +be observed in your Lordship, I should have nothing new to say upon any +other Character of Distinction. + +I am, + +My Lord, + +Your Lordship's + +Most Obedient, + +Most Devoted + +Humble Servant, + +THE SPECTATOR. + + + +[Footnote 1: In 1695, when a student at Oxford, aged 23, Joseph Addison +had dedicated 'to the Right Honourable Sir George Somers, Lord Keeper of +the Great Seal,' a poem written in honour of King William III. after his +capture of Namur in sight of the whole French Army under Villeroi. This +was Addison's first bid for success in Literature; and the twenty-seven +lines in which he then asked Somers to 'receive the present of a Muse +unknown,' were honourably meant to be what Dr. Johnson called 'a kind of +rhyming introduction to Lord Somers.' If you, he said to Somers then-- + + 'If you, well pleas'd, shall smile upon my lays, + Secure of fame, my voice I'll boldly raise, + For next to what you write, is what you praise.' + +Somers did smile, and at once held out to Addison his helping hand. +Mindful of this, and of substantial friendship during the last seventeen +years, Addison joined Steele in dedicating to his earliest patron the +first volume of the Essays which include his best security of fame. + +At that time, John Somers, aged 61, and retired from political life, was +weak in health and high in honours earned by desert only. He was the son +of an attorney at Worcester, rich enough to give him a liberal education +at his City Grammar School and at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was +entered as a Gentleman Commoner. He left the University, without taking +a degree, to practise law. Having a strong bent towards Literature as +well as a keen, manly interest in the vital questions which concerned +the liberties of England under Charles the Second, he distinguished +himself by political tracts which maintained constitutional rights. He +rose at the bar to honour and popularity, especially after his pleading +as junior counsel for Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Six +Bishops, Lloyd, Turner, Lake, Ken, White, and Trelawney, who signed the +petition against the King's order for reading in all churches a +Declaration for Liberty of Conscience, which they said 'was founded upon +such a dispensing power as hath been often declared illegal in +Parliament.' Somers earned the gratitude of a people openly and loudly +triumphing in the acquittal of the Seven Bishops. He was active also in +co-operation with those who were planning the expulsion of the Stuarts +and the bringing over of the Prince of Orange. During the Interregnum +he, and at the same time also Charles Montague, afterwards Lord Halifax, +first entered Parliament. He was at the conference with the Lords upon +the question of declaring the Throne vacant. As Chairman of the +Committee appointed for the purpose, it was Somers who drew up the +Declaration of Right, which, in placing the Prince and Princess of +Orange on the throne, set forth the grounds of the Revolution and +asserted against royal encroachment the ancient rights and liberties of +England. For these services and for his rare ability as a constitutional +lawyer, King William, in the first year of his reign, made Somers +Solicitor-General. In 1692 he became Attorney-General as Sir John +Somers, and soon afterwards, in March 1692-3, the Great Seal, which had +been four years in Commission, was delivered to his keeping, with a +patent entitling him to a pension of £2000 a year from the day he +quitted office. He was then also sworn in as Privy Councillor. In April +1697 Somers as Lord Keeper delivered up the Great Seal, and received it +back with the higher title of Lord Chancellor. He was at the same time +created Baron Somers of Evesham; Crown property was also given to him to +support his dignity. One use that he made of his influence was to +procure young Addison a pension, that he might be forwarded in service +of the State. Party spirit among his political opponents ran high +against Somers. At the close of 1699 they had a majority in the Commons, +and deprived him of office, but they failed before the Lords in an +impeachment against him. In Queen Anne's reign, between 1708 and 1710, +the constitutional statesman, long infirm of health, who had been in +retirement serving Science as President of the Royal Society, was +serving the State as President of the Council. But in 1712, when Addison +addressed to him this Dedication of the first Volume of the first +reprint of 'the Spectator', he had withdrawn from public life, and four +years afterwards he died of a stroke of apoplexy. + +Of Somers as a patron Lord Macaulay wrote: + + 'He had traversed the whole vast range of polite literature, ancient + and modern. He was at once a munificent and a severely judicious + patron of genius and learning. Locke owed opulence to Somers. By + Somers Addison was drawn forth from a cell in a college. In distant + countries the name of Somers was mentioned with respect and gratitude + by great scholars and poets who had never seen his face. He was the + benefactor of Leclerc. He was the friend of Filicaja. Neither + political nor religious differences prevented him from extending his + powerful protection to merit. Hickes, the fiercest and most intolerant + of all the non-jurors, obtained, by the influence of Somers, + permission to study Teutonic antiquities in freedom and safety. + Vertue, a Strict Roman Catholic, was raised, by the discriminating and + liberal patronage of Somers, from poverty and obscurity to the first + rank among the engravers of the age.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 1. Thursday, March 1, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem + Cogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat.' + + Hor. + + + +I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure 'till +he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or a fair Man, of a mild or +cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of +the like nature, that conduce very much to the right Understanding of an +Author. To gratify this Curiosity, which is so natural to a Reader, I +design this Paper, and my next, as Prefatory Discourses to my following +Writings, and shall give some Account in them of the several persons +that are engaged in this Work. As the chief trouble of Compiling, +Digesting, and Correcting will fall to my Share, I must do myself the +Justice to open the Work with my own History. + +I was born to a small Hereditary Estate, which [according to the +tradition of the village where it lies, [1]] was bounded by the same +Hedges and Ditches in _William_ the Conqueror's Time that it is at +present, and has been delivered down from Father to Son whole and +entire, without the Loss or Acquisition of a single Field or Meadow, +during the Space of six hundred Years. There [runs [2]] a Story in the +Family, that when my Mother was gone with Child of me about three +Months, she dreamt that she was brought to Bed of a Judge. Whether this +might proceed from a Law-suit which was then depending in the Family, or +my Father's being a Justice of the Peace, I cannot determine; for I am +not so vain as to think it presaged any Dignity that I should arrive at +in my future Life, though that was the Interpretation which the +Neighbourhood put upon it. The Gravity of my Behaviour at my very first +Appearance in the World, and all the Time that I sucked, seemed to +favour my Mother's Dream: For, as she has often told me, I threw away my +Rattle before I was two Months old, and would not make use of my Coral +till they had taken away the Bells from it. + +As for the rest of my Infancy, there being nothing in it remarkable, I +shall pass it over in Silence. I find that, during my Nonage, I had the +reputation of a very sullen Youth, but was always a Favourite of my +School-master, who used to say, _that my parts were solid, and would +wear well_. I had not been long at the University, before I +distinguished myself by a most profound Silence: For, during the Space +of eight Years, excepting in the publick Exercises of the College, I +scarce uttered the Quantity of an hundred Words; and indeed do not +remember that I ever spoke three Sentences together in my whole Life. +Whilst I was in this Learned Body, I applied myself with so much +Diligence to my Studies, that there are very few celebrated Books, +either in the Learned or the Modern Tongues, which I am not acquainted +with. + +Upon the Death of my Father I was resolved to travel into Foreign +Countries, and therefore left the University, with the Character of an +odd unaccountable Fellow, that had a great deal of Learning, if I would +but show it. An insatiable Thirst after Knowledge carried me into all +the Countries of _Europe_, [in which [3]] there was any thing new or +strange to be seen; nay, to such a Degree was my curiosity raised, that +having read the controversies of some great Men concerning the +Antiquities of _Egypt_, I made a Voyage to _Grand Cairo_, on purpose to +take the Measure of a Pyramid; and, as soon as I had set my self right +in that Particular, returned to my Native Country with great +Satisfaction. [4] + +I have passed my latter Years in this City, where I am frequently seen +in most publick Places, tho' there are not above half a dozen of my +select Friends that know me; of whom my next Paper shall give a more +particular Account. There is no place of [general [5]] Resort wherein I +do not often make my appearance; sometimes I am seen thrusting my Head +into a Round of Politicians at _Will's_ [6] and listning with great +Attention to the Narratives that are made in those little Circular +Audiences. Sometimes I smoak a Pipe at _Child's_; [7] and, while I seem +attentive to nothing but the _Post-Man_, [8] over-hear the Conversation +of every Table in the Room. I appear on _Sunday_ nights at _St. James's_ +Coffee House, [9] and sometimes join the little Committee of Politicks +in the Inner-Room, as one who comes there to hear and improve. My Face +is likewise very well known at the _Grecian_, [10] the _Cocoa-Tree_, +[11] and in the Theaters both of _Drury Lane_ and the _Hay-Market_. [12] +I have been taken for a Merchant upon the _Exchange_ for above these ten +Years, and sometimes pass for a _Jew_ in the Assembly of Stock-jobbers +at _Jonathan's_. [13] In short, where-ever I see a Cluster of People, I +always mix with them, tho' I never open my Lips but in my own Club. + +Thus I live in the World, rather as a Spectator of Mankind, than as one +of the Species; by which means I have made my self a Speculative +Statesman, Soldier, Merchant, and Artizan, without ever medling with any +Practical Part in Life. I am very well versed in the Theory of an +Husband, or a Father, and can discern the Errors in the Oeconomy, +Business, and Diversion of others, better than those who are engaged in +them; as Standers-by discover Blots, which are apt to escape those who +are in the Game. I never espoused any Party with Violence, and am +resolved to observe an exact Neutrality between the Whigs and Tories, +unless I shall be forc'd to declare myself by the Hostilities of either +side. In short, I have acted in all the parts of my Life as a Looker-on, +which is the Character I intend to preserve in this Paper. + +I have given the Reader just so much of my History and Character, as to +let him see I am not altogether unqualified for the Business I have +undertaken. As for other Particulars in my Life and Adventures, I shall +insert them in following Papers, as I shall see occasion. In the mean +time, when I consider how much I have seen, read, and heard, I begin to +blame my own Taciturnity; and since I have neither Time nor Inclination +to communicate the Fulness of my Heart in Speech, I am resolved to do it +in Writing; and to Print my self out, if possible, before I Die. I have +been often told by my Friends that it is Pity so many useful Discoveries +which I have made, should be in the Possession of a Silent Man. For this +Reason therefore, I shall publish a Sheet full of Thoughts every +Morning, for the Benefit of my Contemporaries; and if I can any way +contribute to the Diversion or Improvement of the Country in which I +live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with the secret +Satisfaction of thinking that I have not Lived in vain. + +There are three very material Points which I have not spoken to in this +Paper, and which, for several important Reasons, I must keep to my self, +at least for some Time: I mean, an Account of my Name, my Age, and my +Lodgings. I must confess I would gratify my Reader in any thing that is +reasonable; but as for these three Particulars, though I am sensible +they might tend very much to the Embellishment of my Paper, I cannot yet +come to a Resolution of communicating them to the Publick. They would +indeed draw me out of that Obscurity which I have enjoyed for many +Years, and expose me in Publick Places to several Salutes and +Civilities, which have been always very disagreeable to me; for the +greatest [pain] I can suffer, [is [14]] the being talked to, and being +stared at. It is for this Reason likewise, that I keep my Complexion and +Dress, as very great Secrets; tho' it is not impossible, but I may make +Discoveries of both in the Progress of the Work I have undertaken. + +After having been thus particular upon my self, I shall in to-Morrow's +Paper give an Account of those Gentlemen who are concerned with me in +this Work. For, as I have before intimated, a Plan of it is laid and +concerted (as all other Matters of Importance are) in a Club. However, +as my Friends have engaged me to stand in the Front, those who have a +mind to correspond with me, may direct their Letters _To the Spectator_, +at Mr. _Buckley's_, in _Little Britain_ [15]. For I must further +acquaint the Reader, that tho' our Club meets only on _Tuesdays_ and +_Thursdays_, we have appointed a Committee to sit every Night, for the +Inspection of all such Papers as may contribute to the Advancement of +the Public Weal. + +C. [16] + + + +[Footnote 1: I find by the writings of the family,] + + +[Footnote 2: goes] + + +[Footnote 3: where] + + +[Footnote 4: This is said to allude to a description of the Pyramids of +Egypt, by John Greaves, a Persian scholar and Savilian Professor of +Astronomy at Oxford, who studied the principle of weights and measures +in the Roman Foot and the Denarius, and whose visit to the Pyramids in +1638, by aid of his patron Laud, was described in his 'Pyramidographia.' +That work had been published in 1646, sixty-five years before the +appearance of the 'Spectator', and Greaves died in 1652. But in 1706 +appeared a tract, ascribed to him by its title-page, and popular enough +to have been reprinted in 1727 and 1745, entitled, 'The Origine and +Antiquity of our English Weights and Measures discovered by their near +agreement with such Standards that are now found in one of the Egyptian +Pyramids.' It based its arguments on measurements in the +'Pyramidographia,' and gave to Professor Greaves, in Addison's time, the +same position with regard to Egypt that has been taken in our time by +the Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, Professor Piazzi Smyth.] + + +[Footnote 5: publick] + + +[Footnote 6: 'Will's' Coffee House, which had been known successively as +the 'Red Cow' and the 'Rose' before it took a permanent name from Will +Urwin, its proprietor, was the corner house on the north side of Russell +Street, at the end of Bow Street, now No. 21. Dryden's use of this +Coffee House caused the wits of the town to resort there, and after +Dryden's death, in 1700, it remained for some years the Wits' Coffee +House. There the strong interest in current politics took chiefly the +form of satire, epigram, or entertaining narrative. Its credit was +already declining in the days of the 'Spectator'; wit going out and +card-play coming in.] + + +[Footnote 7: 'Child's' Coffee House was in St. Paul's Churchyard. +Neighbourhood to the Cathedral and Doctors' Commons made it a place of +resort for the Clergy. The College of Physicians had been first +established in Linacre's House, No. 5, Knightrider Street, Doctors' +Commons, whence it had removed to Amen Corner, and thence in 1674 to the +adjacent Warwick Lane. The Royal Society, until its removal in 1711 to +Crane Court, Fleet Street, had its rooms further east, at Gresham +College. Physicians, therefore, and philosophers, as well as the clergy, +used 'Child's' as a convenient place of resort.] + + +[Footnote 8: The 'Postman', established and edited by M. Fonvive, a +learned and grave French Protestant, who was said to make £600 a year by +it, was a penny paper in the highest repute, Fonvive having secured for +his weekly chronicle of foreign news a good correspondence in Italy, +Spain, Portugal, Germany, Flanders, Holland. John Dunton, the +bookseller, in his 'Life and Errors,' published in 1705, thus +characterized the chief newspapers of the day: + + 'the 'Observator' is best to towel the Jacks, the 'Review' is best to + promote peace, the 'Flying Post' is best for the Scotch news, the + 'Postboy' is best for the English and Spanish news, the 'Daily + Courant' is the best critic, the 'English Post' is the best collector, + the 'London Gazette' has the best authority, and the 'Postman' is the + best for everything.'] + + +[Footnote 9: 'St. James's' Coffee House was the last house but one on +the south-west corner of St. James's Street; closed about 1806. On its +site is now a pile of buildings looking down Pall Mall. Near St. James's +Palace, it was a place of resort for Whig officers of the Guards and men +of fashion. It was famous also in Queen Anne's reign, and long after, as +the house most favoured Whig statesmen and members of Parliament, who +could there privately discuss their party tactics.] + + +[Footnote 10: The 'Grecian' Coffee House was in Devereux Court, Strand, +and named from a Greek, Constantine, who kept it. Close to the Temple, +it was a place of resort for the lawyers. Constantine's Greek had +tempted also Greek scholars to the house, learned Professors and Fellows +of the Royal Society. Here, it is said, two friends quarrelled so +bitterly over a Greek accent that they went out into Devereux Court and +fought a duel, in which one was killed on the spot.] + + +[Footnote 11: The 'Cocoa Tree' was a Chocolate House in St. James's +Street, used by Tory statesmen and men of fashion as exclusively as 'St. +James's' Coffee House, in the same street, was used by Whigs of the same +class. It afterwards became a Tory club.] + + +[Footnote 12: Drury Lane had a theatre in Shakespeare's time, 'the +Phoenix,' called also 'the Cockpit.' It was destroyed in 1617 by a +Puritan mob, re-built, and occupied again till the stoppage of +stage-plays in 1648. In that theatre Marlowe's 'Jew of Malta,' +Massinger's 'New Way to Pay Old Debts,' and other pieces of good +literature, were first produced. Its players under James I. were 'the +Queen's servants.' In 1656 Davenant broke through the restriction upon +stage-plays, and took actors and musicians to 'the Cockpit,' from +Aldersgate Street. After the Restoration, Davenant having obtained a +patent, occupied, in Portugal Row, the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, and +afterwards one on the site of Dorset House, west of Whitefriars, the +last theatre to which people went in boats. Sir William Davenant, under +the patronage of the Duke of York, called his the Duke's Players. Thomas +Killigrew then had 'the Cockpit' in Drury Lane, his company being that +of the King's Players, and it was Killigrew who, dissatisfied with the +old 'Cockpit,' opened, in 1663, the first 'Drury Lane Theatre', nearly +upon the site now occupied by D.L. No. 4. The original theatre, burnt in +1671-2, was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, and opened in 1674 with a +Prologue by Dryden. That (D.L. No. 2) was the house visited by 'the +Spectator'. It required rebuilding in 1741 (D.L. No. 3); and was burnt +down, and again rebuilt, in 1809, as we now have it (D.L. No. 4). There +was no Covent Garden Theatre till after 'the Spectator's' time, in 1733, +when that house was first opened by Rich, the harlequin, under the +patent granted to the Duke's Company. + +In 1711 the other great house was the theatre in the Haymarket, recently +built by Sir John Vanbrugh, author of 'The Provoked Wife,' and architect +of Blenheim. This 'Haymarket Theatre', on the site of that known as 'Her +Majesty's,' was designed and opened by Vanbrugh in 1706, thirty persons +of quality having subscribed a hundred pounds each towards the cost of +it. He and Congreve were to write the plays, and Betterton was to take +charge of their performance. The speculation was a failure; partly +because the fields and meadows of the west end of the town cut off the +poorer playgoers of the City, who could not afford coach-hire; partly +because the house was too large, and its architecture swallowed up the +voices of the actors. Vanbrugh and Congreve opened their grand west-end +theatre with concession to the new taste of the fashionable for Italian +Opera. They began with a translated opera set to Italian music, which +ran only for three nights. Sir John Vanbrugh then produced his comedy of +'The Confederacy,' with less success than it deserved. In a few months +Congreve abandoned his share in the undertaking. Vanbrugh proceeded to +adapt for his new house three plays of Molière. Then Vanbrugh, still +failing, let the Haymarket to Mr. Owen Swiney, a trusted agent of the +manager of 'Drury Lane', who was to allow him to draw what actors he +pleased from 'Drury Lane' and divide profits. The recruited actors in +the 'Haymarket' had better success. The secret league between the two +theatres was broken. In 1707 the 'Haymarket' was supported by a +subscription headed by Lord Halifax. But presently a new joint patentee +brought energy into the counsels of 'Drury Lane'. Amicable restoration +was made to the Theatre Royal of the actors under Swiney at the +'Haymarket'; and to compensate Swiney for his loss of profit, it was +agreed that while 'Drury Lane' confined itself to the acting of plays, +he should profit by the new taste for Italian music, and devote the +house in the 'Haymarket' to opera. Swiney was content. The famous singer +Nicolini had come over, and the town was impatient to hear him. This +compact held for a short time. It was broken then by quarrels behind the +scenes. In 1709 Wilks, Dogget, Cibber, and Mrs. Oldfield treated with +Swiney to be sharers with him in the 'Haymarket' as heads of a dramatic +company. They contracted the width of the theatre, brought down its +enormously high ceiling, thus made the words of the plays audible, and +had the town to themselves, till a lawyer, Mr. William Collier, M.P. for +Truro, in spite of the counter-attraction of the trial of Sacheverell, +obtained a license to open 'Drury Lane', and produced an actress who +drew money to Charles Shadwell's comedy, 'The Fair Quaker of Deal.' At +the close of the season Collier agreed with Swiney and his +actor-colleagues to give up to them 'Drury Lane' with its actors, take +in exchange the 'Haymarket' with its singers, and be sole Director of +the Opera; the actors to pay Collier two hundred a year for the use of +his license, and to close their house on the Wednesdays when an opera +was played. + +This was the relative position of 'Drury Lane' and the 'Haymarket' +theatres when the 'Spectator' first appeared. 'Drury Lane' had entered +upon a long season of greater prosperity than it had enjoyed for thirty +years before. Collier, not finding the 'Haymarket' as prosperous as it +was fashionable, was planning a change of place with Swiney, and he so +contrived, by lawyer's wit and court influence, that in the winter +following 1711 Collier was at Drury Lane with a new license for himself, +Wilks, Dogget, and Cibber; while Swiney, transferred to the Opera, was +suffering a ruin that caused him to go abroad, and be for twenty years +afterwards an exile from his country.] + + + +[Footnote 13: 'Jonathan's' Coffee House, in Change Alley, was the place +of resort for stock-jobbers. It was to 'Garraway's', also in Change +Alley, that people of quality on business in the City, or the wealthy +and reputable citizens, preferred to go.] + + +[Footnote 14: pains ... are.] + + +[Footnote 15: 'The Spectator' in its first daily issue was 'Printed for +'Sam. Buckley', at the 'Dolphin' in 'Little Britain'; and sold by 'A. +Baldwin' in 'Warwick Lane'.'] + + +[Footnote 16: The initials appended to the papers in their daily issue +were placed, in a corner of the page, after the printer's name.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 2. Friday, March 2, 1711. Steele. + + + + ... Ast Alii sex + Et plures uno conclamant ore. + + Juv. + + + +The first of our Society is a Gentleman of _Worcestershire_, of antient +Descent, a Baronet, his Name Sir ROGER DE COVERLY. [1] His great +Grandfather was Inventor of that famous Country-Dance which is call'd +after him. All who know that Shire are very well acquainted with the +Parts and Merits of Sir ROGER. He is a Gentleman that is very singular +in his Behaviour, but his Singularities proceed from his good Sense, and +are Contradictions to the Manners of the World, only as he thinks the +World is in the wrong. However, this Humour creates him no Enemies, for +he does nothing with Sourness or Obstinacy; and his being unconfined to +Modes and Forms, makes him but the readier and more capable to please +and oblige all who know him. When he is in town he lives in _Soho +Square_: [2] It is said, he keeps himself a Batchelour by reason he was +crossed in Love by a perverse beautiful Widow of the next County to him. +Before this Disappointment, Sir ROGER was what you call a fine +Gentleman, had often supped with my Lord _Rochester_ [3] and Sir _George +Etherege_, [4] fought a Duel upon his first coming to Town, and kick'd +Bully _Dawson_ [5] in a publick Coffee-house for calling him Youngster. +But being ill-used by the above-mentioned Widow, he was very serious for +a Year and a half; and tho' his Temper being naturally jovial, he at +last got over it, he grew careless of himself and never dressed +afterwards; he continues to wear a Coat and Doublet of the same Cut that +were in Fashion at the Time of his Repulse, which, in his merry Humours, +he tells us, has been in and out twelve Times since he first wore it. +'Tis said Sir ROGER grew humble in his Desires after he had forgot this +cruel Beauty, insomuch that it is reported he has frequently offended in +Point of Chastity with Beggars and Gypsies: but this is look'd upon by +his Friends rather as Matter of Raillery than Truth. He is now in his +Fifty-sixth Year, cheerful, gay, and hearty, keeps a good House in both +Town and Country; a great Lover of Mankind; but there is such a mirthful +Cast in his Behaviour, that he is rather beloved than esteemed. His +Tenants grow rich, his Servants look satisfied, all the young Women +profess Love to him, and the young Men are glad of his Company: When he +comes into a House he calls the Servants by their Names, and talks all +the way Up Stairs to a Visit. I must not omit that Sir ROGER is a +Justice of the _Quorum_; that he fills the chair at a Quarter-Session +with great Abilities, and three Months ago, gained universal Applause by +explaining a Passage in the Game-Act. + +The Gentleman next in Esteem and Authority among us, is another +Batchelour, who is a Member of the _Inner Temple_: a Man of great +Probity, Wit, and Understanding; but he has chosen his Place of +Residence rather to obey the Direction of an old humoursome Father, than +in pursuit of his own Inclinations. He was plac'd there to study the +Laws of the Land, and is the most learned of any of the House in those +of the Stage. _Aristotle_ and _Longinus_ are much better understood by +him than _Littleton_ or _Cooke_. The Father sends up every Post +Questions relating to Marriage-Articles, Leases, and Tenures, in the +Neighbourhood; all which Questions he agrees with an Attorney to answer +and take care of in the Lump. He is studying the Passions themselves, +when he should be inquiring into the Debates among Men which arise from +them. He knows the Argument of each of the Orations of _Demosthenes_ and +_Tully_, but not one Case in the Reports of our own Courts. No one ever +took him for a Fool, but none, except his intimate Friends, know he has +a great deal of Wit. This Turn makes him at once both disinterested and +agreeable: As few of his Thoughts are drawn from Business, they are most +of them fit for Conversation. His Taste of Books is a little too just +for the Age he lives in; he has read all, but Approves of very few. His +Familiarity with the Customs, Manners, Actions, and Writings of the +Antients, makes him a very delicate Observer of what occurs to him in +the present World. He is an excellent Critick, and the Time of the Play +is his Hour of Business; exactly at five he passes through _New Inn_, +crosses through _Russel Court_; and takes a turn at _Will's_ till the +play begins; he has his shoes rubb'd and his Perriwig powder'd at the +Barber's as you go into the Rose [6]--It is for the Good of the Audience +when he is at a Play, for the Actors have an Ambition to please him. + +The Person of next Consideration is Sir ANDREW FREEPORT, a Merchant of +great Eminence in the City of _London_: A Person of indefatigable +Industry, strong Reason, and great Experience. His Notions of Trade are +noble and generous, and (as every rich Man has usually some sly Way of +Jesting, which would make no great Figure were he not a rich Man) he +calls the Sea the _British Common_. He is acquainted with Commerce in +all its Parts, and will tell you that it is a stupid and barbarous Way +to extend Dominion by Arms; for true Power is to be got by Arts and +Industry. He will often argue, that if this Part of our Trade were well +cultivated, we should gain from one Nation; and if another, from +another. I have heard him prove that Diligence makes more lasting +Acquisitions than Valour, and that Sloth has ruin'd more Nations than +the Sword. He abounds in several frugal Maxims, amongst which the +greatest Favourite is, 'A Penny saved is a Penny got.' A General Trader +of good Sense is pleasanter Company than a general Scholar; and Sir +ANDREW having a natural unaffected Eloquence, the Perspicuity of his +Discourse gives the same Pleasure that Wit would in another Man. He has +made his Fortunes himself; and says that _England_ may be richer than +other Kingdoms, by as plain Methods as he himself is richer than other +Men; tho' at the same Time I can say this of him, that there is not a +point in the Compass, but blows home a Ship in which he is an Owner. + +Next to Sir ANDREW in the Club-room sits Captain SENTRY, [7] a Gentleman +of great Courage, good Understanding, but Invincible Modesty. He is one +of those that deserve very well, but are very awkward at putting their +Talents within the Observation of such as should take notice of them. He +was some Years a Captain, and behaved himself with great Gallantry in +several Engagements, and at several Sieges; but having a small Estate of +his own, and being next Heir to Sir ROGER, he has quitted a Way of Life +in which no Man can rise suitably to his Merit, who is not something of +a Courtier, as well as a Soldier. I have heard him often lament, that in +a Profession where Merit is placed in so conspicuous a View, Impudence +should get the better of Modesty. When he has talked to this Purpose, I +never heard him make a sour Expression, but frankly confess that he left +the World, because he was not fit for it. A strict Honesty and an even +regular Behaviour, are in themselves Obstacles to him that must press +through Crowds who endeavour at the same End with himself, the Favour of +a Commander. He will, however, in this Way of Talk, excuse Generals, for +not disposing according to Men's Desert, or enquiring into it: For, says +he, that great Man who has a Mind to help me, has as many to break +through to come at me, as I have to come at him: Therefore he will +conclude, that the Man who would make a Figure, especially in a military +Way, must get over all false Modesty, and assist his Patron against the +Importunity of other Pretenders, by a proper Assurance in his own +Vindication. He says it is a civil Cowardice to be backward in asserting +what you ought to expect, as it is a military Fear to be slow in +attacking when it is your Duty. With this Candour does the Gentleman +speak of himself and others. The same Frankness runs through all his +Conversation. The military Part of his Life has furnished him with many +Adventures, in the Relation of which he is very agreeable to the +Company; for he is never over-bearing, though accustomed to command Men +in the utmost Degree below him; nor ever too obsequious, from an Habit +of obeying Men highly above him. + +But that our Society may not appear a Set of Humourists unacquainted +with the Gallantries and Pleasures of the Age, we have among us the +gallant WILL. HONEYCOMB, [8] a Gentleman who, according to his Years, +should be in the Decline of his Life, but having ever been very careful +of his Person, and always had a very easy Fortune, Time has made but +very little Impression, either by Wrinkles on his Forehead, or Traces in +his Brain. His Person is well turned, and of a good Height. He is very +ready at that sort of Discourse with which Men usually entertain Women. +He has all his Life dressed very well, and remembers Habits as others do +Men. He can smile when one speaks to him, and laughs easily. He knows +the History of every Mode, and can inform you from which of the French +King's Wenches our Wives and Daughters had this Manner of curling their +Hair, that Way of placing their Hoods; whose Frailty was covered by such +a Sort of Petticoat, and whose Vanity to show her Foot made that Part of +the Dress so short in such a Year. In a Word, all his Conversation and +Knowledge has been in the female World: As other Men of his Age will +take Notice to you what such a Minister said upon such and such an +Occasion, he will tell you when the Duke of _Monmouth_ danced at Court +such a Woman was then smitten, another was taken with him at the Head of +his Troop in the _Park_. In all these important Relations, he has ever +about the same Time received a kind Glance, or a Blow of a Fan, from +some celebrated Beauty, Mother of the present Lord such-a-one. If you +speak of a young Commoner that said a lively thing in the House, he +starts up, + + 'He has good Blood in his Veins, _Tom Mirabell_ begot him, the Rogue + cheated me in that Affair; that young Fellow's Mother used me more + like a Dog than any Woman I ever made Advances to.' + +This Way of Talking of his, very much enlivens the Conversation among us +of a more sedate Turn; and I find there is not one of the Company but +myself, who rarely speak at all, but speaks of him as of that Sort of +Man, who is usually called a well-bred fine Gentleman. To conclude his +Character, where Women are not concerned, he is an honest worthy Man. + +I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom I am next to speak of, as +one of our Company; for he visits us but seldom, but when he does, it +adds to every Man else a new Enjoyment of himself. He is a Clergyman, a +very philosophick Man, of general Learning, great Sanctity of Life, and +the most exact good Breeding. He has the Misfortune to be of a very weak +Constitution, and consequently cannot accept of such Cares and Business +as Preferments in his Function would oblige him to: He is therefore +among Divines what a Chamber-Counsellor is among Lawyers. The Probity of +his Mind, and the Integrity of his Life, create him Followers, as being +eloquent or loud advances others. He seldom introduces the Subject he +speaks upon; but we are so far gone in Years, that he observes when he +is among us, an Earnestness to have him fall on some divine Topick, +which he always treats with much Authority, as one who has no Interests +in this World, as one who is hastening to the Object of all his Wishes, +and conceives Hope from his Decays and Infirmities. These are my +ordinary Companions. + +R. [9] + + + +[Footnote 1: The character of Sir Roger de Coverley is said to have been +drawn from Sir John Pakington, of Worcestershire, a Tory, whose name, +family, and politics are represented by a statesman of the present time. +The name, on this its first appearance in the 'Spectator', is spelt +Coverly; also in the first reprint.] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Soho Square' was then a new and most fashionable part of +the town. It was built in 1681. The Duke of Monmouth lived in the centre +house, facing the statue. Originally the square was called King Square. +Pennant mentions, on Pegg's authority, a tradition that, on the death of +Monmouth, his admirers changed the name to Soho, the word of the day at +the field of Sedgemoor. But the ground upon which the Square stands was +called Soho as early as the year 1632. 'So ho' was the old call in +hunting when a hare was found.] + + +[Footnote 3: John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, b. 1648, d. 1680. His +licentious wit made him a favourite of Charles II. His strength was +exhausted by licentious living at the age of one and thirty. His chief +work is a poem upon 'Nothing.' He died repentant of his wasted life, in +which, as he told Burnet, he had 'for five years been continually +drunk,' or so much affected by frequent drunkenness as in no instance to +be master of himself.] + + +[Footnote 4: Sir George Etherege, b. 1636, d. 1694. 'Gentle George' and +'Easy Etherege,' a wit and friend of the wits of the Restoration. He +bought his knighthood to enable him to marry a rich widow who required a +title, and died of a broken neck, by tumbling down-stairs when he was +drunk and lighting guests to their apartments. His three comedies, 'The +Comical Revenge,' 'She Would if she Could,' and 'The Man of Mode, or Sir +Fopling Flutter,' excellent embodiments of the court humour of his time, +were collected and printed in 8vo in 1704, and reprinted, with addition +of five poems, in 1715.] + + +[Footnote 5: Bully Dawson, a swaggering sharper of Whitefriars, is said +to have been sketched by Shadwell in the Captain Hackum of his comedy +called 'The Squire of Alsatia.'] + + +[Footnote 6: The 'Rose' Tavern was on the east side of Brydges Street, +near Drury Lane Theatre, much favoured by the looser sort of play-goers. +Garrick, when he enlarged the Theatre, made the 'Rose' Tavern a part of +it.] + + +[Footnote 7: Captain Sentry was by some supposed to have been drawn from +Colonel Kempenfelt, the father of the Admiral who went down with the +'Royal George'.] + + +[Footnote 8: Will. Honeycomb was by some found in a Colonel Cleland.] + + +[Footnote 9: Steele's signature was R till No. 91; then T, and +occasionally R, till No. 134; then always T. + +Addison signed C till No. 85, when he first used L; and was L or C till +No. 265, then L, till he first used I in No. 372. Once or twice using L, +he was I till No. 405, which he signed O, and by this letter he held, +except for a return to C (with a single use of O), from 433 to 477.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 3. Saturday, March 3, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Quoi quisque ferè studio devinctus adhæret: + Aut quibus in rebus multùm sumus antè morati: + Atque in quâ ratione fuit contenta magis mens; + In somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire.' + + Lucr. L. 4. + + +In one of my late Rambles, or rather Speculations, I looked into the +great Hall where the Bank [1] is kept, and was not a little pleased to +see the Directors, Secretaries, and Clerks, with all the other Members +of that wealthy Corporation, ranged in their several Stations, according +to the Parts they act in that just and regular Oeconomy. This revived in +my Memory the many Discourses which I had both read and heard, +concerning the Decay of Publick Credit, with the Methods of restoring +it, and which, in my Opinion, have always been defective, because they +have always been made with an Eye to separate Interests and Party +Principles. + +The Thoughts of the Day gave my Mind Employment for the whole Night, so +that I fell insensibly into a kind of Methodical Dream, which disposed +all my Contemplations into a Vision or Allegory, or what else the Reader +shall please to call it. + +Methoughts I returned to the Great Hall, where I had been the Morning +before, but to my Surprize, instead of the Company that I left there, I +saw, towards the Upper-end of the Hall, a beautiful Virgin seated on a +Throne of Gold. Her Name (as they told me) was _Publick Credit_. The +Walls, instead of being adorned with Pictures and Maps, were hung with +many Acts of Parliament written in Golden Letters. At the Upper end of +the Hall was the _Magna Charta_, [2] with the Act of Uniformity [3] on +the right Hand, and the Act of Toleration [4] on the left. At the Lower +end of the Hall was the Act of Settlement, [5] which was placed full in +the Eye of the Virgin that sat upon the Throne. Both the Sides of the +Hall were covered with such Acts of Parliament as had been made for the +Establishment of Publick Funds. The Lady seemed to set an unspeakable +Value upon these several Pieces of Furniture, insomuch that she often +refreshed her Eye with them, and often smiled with a Secret Pleasure, as +she looked upon them; but at the same time showed a very particular +Uneasiness, if she saw any thing approaching that might hurt them. She +appeared indeed infinitely timorous in all her Behaviour: And, whether +it was from the Delicacy of her Constitution, or that she was troubled +with the Vapours, as I was afterwards told by one who I found was none +of her Well-wishers, she changed Colour, and startled at everything she +heard. She was likewise (as I afterwards found) a greater Valetudinarian +than any I had ever met with, even in her own Sex, and subject to such +Momentary Consumptions, that in the twinkling of an Eye, she would fall +away from the most florid Complexion, and the most healthful State of +Body, and wither into a Skeleton. Her Recoveries were often as sudden as +her Decays, insomuch that she would revive in a Moment out of a wasting +Distemper, into a Habit of the highest Health and Vigour. + +I had very soon an Opportunity of observing these quick Turns and +Changes in her Constitution. There sat at her Feet a Couple of +Secretaries, who received every Hour Letters from all Parts of the +World; which the one or the other of them was perpetually reading to +her; and according to the News she heard, to which she was exceedingly +attentive, she changed Colour, and discovered many Symptoms of Health or +Sickness. + +Behind the Throne was a prodigious Heap of Bags of Mony, which were +piled upon one another so high that they touched the Ceiling. The Floor +on her right Hand, and on her left, was covered with vast Sums of Gold +that rose up in Pyramids on either side of her: But this I did not so +much wonder at, when I heard, upon Enquiry, that she had the same Virtue +in her Touch, which the Poets tell us a 'Lydian' King was formerly +possessed of; and that she could convert whatever she pleased into that +precious Metal. + +After a little Dizziness, and confused Hurry of Thought, which a Man +often meets with in a Dream, methoughts the Hall was alarm'd, the Doors +flew open, and there entered half a dozen of the most hideous Phantoms +that I had ever seen (even in a Dream) before that Time. They came in +two by two, though match'd in the most dissociable Manner, and mingled +together in a kind of Dance. It would be tedious to describe their +Habits and Persons; for which Reason I shall only inform my Reader that +the first Couple were Tyranny and Anarchy, the second were Bigotry and +Atheism, the third the Genius of a Common-Wealth, and a young Man of +about twenty-two Years of Age, [6] whose Name I could not learn. He had +a Sword in his right Hand, which in the Dance he often brandished at the +Act of Settlement; and a Citizen, who stood by me, whispered in my Ear, +that he saw a Spunge in his left Hand. The Dance of so many jarring +Natures put me in mind of the Sun, Moon, and Earth, in the 'Rehearsal', +[7] that danced together for no other end but to eclipse one another. + +The Reader will easily suppose, by what has been before said, that the +Lady on the Throne would have been almost frightened to Distraction, had +she seen but any one of these Spectres; what then must have been her +Condition when she saw them all in a Body? She fainted and dyed away at +the sight. + + 'Et neq; jam color est misto candore rubori; + Nec Vigor, et Vires, et quæ modò visa placebant; + Nec Corpus remanet ...' + + Ov. 'Met.' Lib. 3. + + +There was as great a Change in the Hill of Mony Bags, and the Heaps of +Mony, the former shrinking, and falling into so many empty Bags, that I +now found not above a tenth part of them had been filled with Mony. The +rest that took up the same Space, and made the same Figure as the Bags +that were really filled with Mony, had been blown up with Air, and +called into my Memory the Bags full of Wind, which Homer tells us his +Hero received as a present from Æolus. The great Heaps of Gold, on +either side of the Throne, now appeared to be only Heaps of Paper, or +little Piles of notched Sticks, bound up together in Bundles, like +Bath-Faggots. + +Whilst I was lamenting this sudden Desolation that had been made before +me, the whole Scene vanished: In the Room of the frightful Spectres, +there now entered a second Dance of Apparitions very agreeably matched +together, and made up of very amiable Phantoms. The first Pair was +Liberty, with Monarchy at her right Hand: The Second was Moderation +leading in Religion; and the third a Person whom I had never seen, [8] +with the genius of _Great Britain_. At their first Entrance the +Lady reviv'd, the Bags swell'd to their former Bulk, the Piles of +Faggots and Heaps of Paper changed into Pyramids of Guineas: [9] And for +my own part I was so transported with Joy, that I awaked, tho' I must +confess I would fain have fallen asleep again to have closed my Vision, +if I could have done it. + + + +[Footnote 1: The Bank of England was then only 17 years old. It was +founded in 1694, and grew out of a loan of £1,200,000 for the public +service, for which the lenders--so low was the public credit--were to +have 8 per cent. interest, four thousand a year for expense of +management, and a charter for 10 years, afterwards renewed from time to +time, as the 'Governor and Company of the Bank of England.'] + + +[Footnote 2: Magna Charta Libertatum, the Great Charter of Liberties +obtained by the barons of King John, June 16, 1215, not only asserted +rights of the subject against despotic power of the king, but included +among them right of insurrection against royal authority unlawfully +exerted.] + + +[Footnote 3: The Act of Uniformity, passed May 19, 1662, withheld +promotion in the Church from all who had not received episcopal +ordination, and required of all clergy assent to the contents of the +Prayer Book on pain of being deprived of their spiritual promotion. It +forbade all changes in matters of belief otherwise than by the king in +Parliament. While it barred the unconstitutional exercise of a +dispensing power by the king, and kept the settlement of its faith out +of the hands of the clergy and in those of the people, it was so +contrived also according to the temper of the majority that it served as +a test act for the English Hierarchy, and cast out of the Church, as +Nonconformists, those best members of its Puritan clergy, about two +thousand in number, whose faith was sincere enough to make them +sacrifice their livings to their sense of truth.] + + +[Footnote 4: The Act of Toleration, with which Addison balances the Act +of Uniformity, was passed in the first year of William and Mary, and +confirmed in the 10th year of Queen Anne, the year in which this Essay +was written. By it all persons dissenting from the Church of England, +except Roman Catholics and persons denying the Trinity, were relieved +from such acts against Nonconformity as restrained their religious +liberty and right of public worship, on condition that they took the +oaths of allegiance and supremacy, subscribed a declaration against +transubstantiation, and, if dissenting ministers, subscribed also to +certain of the Thirty-Nine Articles.] + + +[Footnote 5: The Act of Settlement was that which, at the Revolution, +excluded the Stuarts and settled the succession to the throne of princes +who have since governed England upon the principle there laid down, not +of divine right, but of an original contract between prince and people, +the breaking of which by the prince may lawfully entail forfeiture of +the crown.] + + +[Footnote 6: James Stuart, son of James II, born June 10, 1688, was +then in the 23rd year of his age.] + + +[Footnote 7: The 'Rehearsal' was a witty burlesque upon the heroic +dramas of Davenant, Dryden, and others, written by George Villiers, duke +of Buckingham, the Zimri of Dryden's 'Absalom and Achitophel,' 'that +life of pleasure and that soul of whim,' who, after running through a +fortune of £50,000 a year, died, says Pope, 'in the worst inn's worst +room.' His 'Rehearsal', written in 1663-4, was first acted in 1671. In +the last act the poet Bayes, who is showing and explaining a Rehearsal +of his play to Smith and Johnson, introduces an Eclipse which, as he +explains, being nothing else but an interposition, &c. + + 'Well, Sir, then what do I, but make the earth, sun, and moon, come + out upon the stage, and dance the hey' ... 'Come, come out, eclipse, + to the tune of 'Tom Tyler'.' + + [Enter Luna.] + + 'Luna': Orbis, O Orbis! Come to me, thou little rogue, Orbis. + + [Enter the Earth.] + + 'Orb.' Who calls Terra-firma pray? + + ... + + [Enter Sol, to the tune of Robin Hood, &c.] + + While they dance Bayes cries, mightily taken with his device, + + 'Now the Earth's before the Moon; now the Moon's before + the Sun: there's the Eclipse again.'] + + +[Footnote 8: The elector of Hanover, who, in 1714, became King George I.] + + +[Footnote 9: In the year after the foundation of the Bank of England, +Mr. Charles Montague,--made in 1700 Baron and by George I., Earl of +Halifax, then (in 1695) Chancellor of the Exchequer,--restored the +silver currency to a just standard. The process of recoinage caused for +a time scarcity of coin and stoppage of trade. The paper of the Bank of +England fell to 20 per cent. discount. Montague then collected and paid +public debts from taxes imposed for the purpose and invented (in 1696), +to relieve the want of currency, the issue of Exchequer bills. Public +credit revived, the Bank capital increased, the currency sufficed, and. +says Earl Russell in his Essay on the English Government and +Constitution, + + 'from this time loans were made of a vast increasing amount with great + facility, and generally at a low interest, by which the nation were + enabled to resist their enemies. The French wondered at the prodigious + efforts that were made by so small a power, and the abundance with + which money was poured into its treasury... Books were written, + projects drawn up, edicts prepared, which were to give to France the + same facilities as her rival; every plan that fiscal ingenuity could + strike out, every calculation that laborious arithmetic could form, + was proposed, and tried, and found wanting; and for this simple + reason, that in all their projects drawn up in imitation of England, + one little element was omitted, _videlicet_, her free constitution.' + +That is what Addison means by his allegory.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 4. Monday, March 5, 1711. Steele. + + + ... Egregii Mortalem altique silenti! + + Hor. + + + +An Author, when he first appears in the World, is very apt to believe it +has nothing to think of but his Performances. With a good Share of this +Vanity in my Heart, I made it my Business these three Days to listen +after my own Fame; and, as I have sometimes met with Circumstances which +did not displease me, I have been encountered by others which gave me +much Mortification. It is incredible to think how empty I have in this +time observed some Part of the Species to be, what mere Blanks they are +when they first come abroad in the Morning, how utterly they are at a +Stand, until they are set a going by some Paragraph in a News-Paper: +Such Persons are very acceptable to a young Author, for they desire no +more [in anything] but to be new, to be agreeable. If I found +Consolation among such, I was as much disquieted by the Incapacity of +others. These are Mortals who have a certain Curiosity without Power of +Reflection, and perused my Papers like Spectators rather than Readers. +But there is so little Pleasure in Enquiries that so nearly concern our +selves (it being the worst Way in the World to Fame, to be too anxious +about it), that upon the whole I resolv'd for the future to go on in my +ordinary Way; and without too much Fear or Hope about the Business of +Reputation, to be very careful of the Design of my Actions, but very +negligent of the Consequences of them. + +It is an endless and frivolous Pursuit to act by any other Rule than the +Care of satisfying our own Minds in what we do. One would think a silent +Man, who concerned himself with no one breathing, should be very liable +to Misinterpretations; and yet I remember I was once taken up for a +Jesuit, for no other reason but my profound Taciturnity. It is from this +Misfortune, that to be out of Harm's Way, I have ever since affected +Crowds. He who comes into Assemblies only to gratify his Curiosity, and +not to make a Figure, enjoys the Pleasures of Retirement in a more +exquisite Degree, than he possibly could in his Closet; the Lover, the +Ambitious, and the Miser, are followed thither by a worse Crowd than any +they can withdraw from. To be exempt from the Passions with which others +are tormented, is the only pleasing Solitude. I can very justly say with +the antient Sage, 'I am never less alone than when alone'. As I am +insignificant to the Company in publick Places, and as it is visible I +do not come thither as most do, to shew my self; I gratify the Vanity of +all who pretend to make an Appearance, and often have as kind Looks from +well-dressed Gentlemen and Ladies, as a Poet would bestow upon one of +his Audience. There are so many Gratifications attend this publick sort +of Obscurity, that some little Distastes I daily receive have lost their +Anguish; and I [did the other day, [1]] without the least Displeasure +overhear one say of me, + + 'That strange Fellow,' + +and another answer, + + 'I have known the Fellow's Face for these twelve Years, and so must + you; but I believe you are the first ever asked who he was.' + +There are, I must confess, many to whom my Person is as well known as +that of their nearest Relations, who give themselves no further Trouble +about calling me by my Name or Quality, but speak of me very currently +by Mr 'what-d-ye-call-him'. + +To make up for these trivial Disadvantages, I have the high Satisfaction +of beholding all Nature with an unprejudiced Eye; and having nothing to +do with Men's Passions or Interests, I can with the greater Sagacity +consider their Talents, Manners, Failings, and Merits. + +It is remarkable, that those who want any one Sense, possess the others +with greater Force and Vivacity. Thus my Want of, or rather Resignation +of Speech, gives me all the Advantages of a dumb Man. I have, methinks, +a more than ordinary Penetration in Seeing; and flatter my self that I +have looked into the Highest and Lowest of Mankind, and make shrewd +Guesses, without being admitted to their Conversation, at the inmost +Thoughts and Reflections of all whom I behold. It is from hence that +good or ill Fortune has no manner of Force towards affecting my +Judgment. I see Men flourishing in Courts, and languishing in Jayls, +without being prejudiced from their Circumstances to their Favour or +Disadvantage; but from their inward Manner of bearing their Condition, +often pity the Prosperous and admire the Unhappy. + +Those who converse with the Dumb, know from the Turn of their Eyes and +the Changes of their Countenance their Sentiments of the Objects before +them. I have indulged my Silence to such an Extravagance, that the few +who are intimate with me, answer my Smiles with concurrent Sentences, +and argue to the very Point I shak'd my Head at without my speaking. +WILL. HONEYCOMB was very entertaining the other Night at a Play to a +Gentleman who sat on his right Hand, while I was at his Left. The +Gentleman believed WILL. was talking to himself, when upon my looking +with great Approbation at a [young thing [2]] in a Box before us, he +said, + + 'I am quite of another Opinion: She has, I will allow, a very pleasing + Aspect, but, methinks, that Simplicity in her Countenance is rather + childish than innocent.' + +When I observed her a second time, he said, + + 'I grant her Dress is very becoming, but perhaps the Merit of Choice + is owing to her Mother; for though,' continued he, 'I allow a Beauty + to be as much to be commended for the Elegance of her Dress, as a Wit + for that of his Language; yet if she has stolen the Colour of her + Ribbands from another, or had Advice about her Trimmings, I shall not + allow her the Praise of Dress, any more than I would call a Plagiary + an Author.' + +When I threw my Eye towards the next Woman to her, WILL. spoke what I +looked, [according to his romantic imagination,] in the following Manner. + + 'Behold, you who dare, that charming Virgin. Behold the Beauty of her + Person chastised by the Innocence of her Thoughts. Chastity, + Good-Nature, and Affability, are the Graces that play in her + Countenance; she knows she is handsome, but she knows she is good. + Conscious Beauty adorned with conscious Virtue! What a Spirit is there + in those Eyes! What a Bloom in that Person! How is the whole Woman + expressed in her Appearance! Her Air has the Beauty of Motion, and her + Look the Force of Language.' + +It was Prudence to turn away my Eyes from this Object, and therefore I +turned them to the thoughtless Creatures who make up the Lump of that +Sex, and move a knowing Eye no more than the Portraitures of +insignificant People by ordinary Painters, which are but Pictures of +Pictures. + +Thus the working of my own Mind, is the general Entertainment of my +Life; I never enter into the Commerce of Discourse with any but my +particular Friends, and not in Publick even with them. Such an Habit has +perhaps raised in me uncommon Reflections; but this Effect I cannot +communicate but by my Writings. As my Pleasures are almost wholly +confined to those of the Sight, I take it for a peculiar Happiness that +I have always had an easy and familiar Admittance to the fair Sex. If I +never praised or flattered, I never belyed or contradicted them. As +these compose half the World, and are by the just Complaisance and +Gallantry of our Nation the more powerful Part of our People, I shall +dedicate a considerable Share of these my Speculations to their Service, +and shall lead the young through all the becoming Duties of Virginity, +Marriage, and Widowhood. When it is a Woman's Day, in my Works, I shall +endeavour at a Stile and Air suitable to their Understanding. When I say +this, I must be understood to mean, that I shall not lower but exalt the +Subjects I treat upon. Discourse for their Entertainment, is not to be +debased but refined. A Man may appear learned without talking Sentences; +as in his ordinary Gesture he discovers he can dance, tho' he does not +cut Capers. In a Word, I shall take it for the greatest Glory of my +Work, if among reasonable Women this Paper may furnish _Tea-Table Talk_. +In order to it, I shall treat on Matters which relate to Females as they +are concern'd to approach or fly from the other Sex, or as they are tyed +to them by Blood, Interest, or Affection. Upon this Occasion I think it +but reasonable to declare, that whatever Skill I may have in +Speculation, I shall never betray what the Eyes of Lovers say to each +other in my Presence. At the same Time I shall not think my self obliged +by this Promise, to conceal any false Protestations which I observe made +by Glances in publick Assemblies; but endeavour to make both Sexes +appear in their Conduct what they are in their Hearts. By this Means +Love, during the Time of my Speculations, shall be carried on with the +same Sincerity as any other Affair of less Consideration. As this is the +greatest Concern, Men shall be from henceforth liable to the greatest +Reproach for Misbehaviour in it. Falsehood in Love shall hereafter bear +a blacker Aspect than Infidelity in Friendship or Villany in Business. +For this great and good End, all Breaches against that noble Passion, +the Cement of Society, shall be severely examined. But this and all +other Matters loosely hinted at now and in my former Papers, shall have +their proper Place in my following Discourses: The present writing is +only to admonish the World, that they shall not find me an idle but a +very busy Spectator. + + + +[Footnote 1: can] + + +[Footnote 2: blooming Beauty] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 5. Tuesday, March 6, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Spectatum admissi risum teneatis?' + + Hor. + + +An Opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its Decorations, +as its only Design is to gratify the Senses, and keep up an indolent +Attention in the Audience. Common Sense however requires that there +should be nothing in the Scenes and Machines which may appear Childish +and Absurd. How would the Wits of King _Charles's_ time have laughed to +have seen _Nicolini_ exposed to a Tempest in Robes of Ermin, and sailing +in an open Boat upon a Sea of Paste-Board? What a Field of Raillery +would they have been let into, had they been entertain'd with painted +Dragons spitting Wild-fire, enchanted Chariots drawn by _Flanders_ +Mares, and real Cascades in artificial Land-skips? A little Skill in +Criticism would inform us that Shadows and Realities ought not to be +mix'd together in the same Piece; and that Scenes, which are designed as +the Representations of Nature, should be filled with Resemblances, and +not with the Things themselves. If one would represent a wide Champain +Country filled with Herds and Flocks, it would be ridiculous to draw the +Country only upon the Scenes, and to crowd several Parts of the Stage +with Sheep and Oxen. This is joining together Inconsistencies, and +making the Decoration partly Real, and partly Imaginary. I would +recommend what I have here said, to the Directors, as well as to the +Admirers, of our Modern Opera. + +As I was walking [in] the Streets about a Fortnight ago, I saw an +ordinary Fellow carrying a Cage full of little Birds upon his Shoulder; +and as I was wondering with my self what Use he would put them to, he +was met very luckily by an Acquaintance, who had the same Curiosity. +Upon his asking him what he had upon his Shoulder, he told him, that he +had been buying Sparrows for the Opera. Sparrows for the Opera, says his +Friend, licking his lips, what are they to be roasted? No, no, says the +other, they are to enter towards the end of the first Act, and to fly +about the Stage. + +This strange Dialogue awakened my Curiosity so far that I immediately +bought the Opera, by which means I perceived the Sparrows were to act +the part of Singing Birds in a delightful Grove: though, upon a nearer +Enquiry I found the Sparrows put the same Trick upon the Audience, that +Sir _Martin Mar-all_ [1] practised upon his Mistress; for, though they +flew in Sight, the Musick proceeded from a Consort of Flagellets and +Bird-calls which was planted behind the Scenes. At the same time I made +this Discovery, I found by the Discourse of the Actors, that there were +great Designs on foot for the Improvement of the Opera; that it had been +proposed to break down a part of the Wall, and to surprize the Audience +with a Party of an hundred Horse, and that there was actually a Project +of bringing the _New River_ into the House, to be employed in Jetteaus +and Water-works. This Project, as I have since heard, is post-poned +'till the Summer-Season; when it is thought the Coolness that proceeds +from Fountains and Cascades will be more acceptable and refreshing to +People of Quality. In the mean time, to find out a more agreeable +Entertainment for the Winter-Season, the Opera of _Rinaldo_ [2] is +filled with Thunder and Lightning, Illuminations, and Fireworks; which +the Audience may look upon without catching Cold, and indeed without +much Danger of being burnt; for there are several Engines filled with +Water, and ready to play at a Minute's Warning, in case any such +Accident should happen. However, as I have a very great Friendship for +the Owner of this Theater, I hope that he has been wise enough to +_insure_ his House before he would let this Opera be acted in it. + +It is no wonder, that those Scenes should be very surprizing, which were +contrived by two Poets of different Nations, and raised by two Magicians +of different Sexes. _Armida_ (as we are told in the Argument) was an +_Amazonian_ Enchantress, and poor Seignior _Cassani_ (as we learn from +the _Persons represented_) a Christian Conjuror (_Mago Christiano_). I +must confess I am very much puzzled to find how an _Amazon_ should be +versed in the Black Art, or how a [good] Christian [for such is the part +of the magician] should deal with the Devil. + +To consider the Poets after the Conjurers, I shall give you a Taste of +the _Italian_, from the first Lines of his Preface. + + 'Eccoti, benigno Lettore, un Parto di poche Sere, che se ben nato di + Notte, non è però aborto di Tenebre, mà si farà conoscere Figlio + d'Apollo con qualche Raggio di Parnasso. + + Behold, gentle Reader, the Birth of a few Evenings, which, tho' it be + the Offspring of the Night, is not the Abortive of Darkness, but will + make it self known to be the Son of Apollo, with a certain Ray of + Parnassus.' + +He afterwards proceeds to call Minheer _Hendel_, [3] the _Orpheus_ of +our Age, and to acquaint us, in the same Sublimity of Stile, that he +Composed this Opera in a Fortnight. Such are the Wits, to whose Tastes +we so ambitiously conform our selves. The Truth of it is, the finest +Writers among the Modern _Italians_ express themselves in such a florid +form of Words, and such tedious Circumlocutions, as are used by none but +Pedants in our own Country; and at the same time, fill their Writings +with such poor Imaginations and Conceits, as our Youths are ashamed of, +before they have been Two Years at the University. Some may be apt to +think that it is the difference of Genius which produces this difference +in the Works of the two Nations; but to show there is nothing in this, +if we look into the Writings of the old _Italians_, such as _Cicero_ and +_Virgil_, we shall find that the _English_ Writers, in their way of +thinking and expressing themselves, resemble those Authors much more +than the modern _Italians_ pretend to do. And as for the Poet himself +from whom the Dreams of this Opera are taken, I must entirely agree with +Monsieur _Boileau_, that one Verse in _Virgil_ is worth all the +_Clincant_ or Tinsel of _Tasso_. + +But to return to the Sparrows; there have been so many Flights of them +let loose in this Opera, that it is feared the House will never get rid +of them; and that in other Plays, they may make their Entrance in very +wrong and improper Scenes, so as to be seen flying in a Lady's +Bed-Chamber, or perching upon a King's Throne; besides the +Inconveniences which the Heads of the Audience may sometimes suffer from +them. I am credibly informed, that there was once a Design of casting +into an Opera the Story of _Whittington_ and his Cat, and that in order +to it, there had been got together a great Quantity of Mice; but Mr. +_Rich_, the Proprietor of the Play-House, very prudently considered that +it would be impossible for the Cat to kill them all, and that +consequently the Princes of his Stage might be as much infested with +Mice, as the Prince of the Island was before the Cat's arrival upon it; +for which Reason he would not permit it to be Acted in his House. And +indeed I cannot blame him; for, as he said very well upon that Occasion, +I do not hear that any of the Performers in our Opera, pretend to equal +the famous Pied Piper, who made all the Mice of a great Town in +_Germany_ [4] follow his Musick, and by that means cleared the Place of +those little Noxious Animals. + +Before I dismiss this Paper, I must inform my Reader, that I hear there +is a Treaty on Foot with _London_ and _Wise_ [5] (who will be appointed +Gardeners of the Play-House,) to furnish the Opera of _Rinaldo_ and +_Armida_ with an Orange-Grove; and that the next time it is Acted, the +Singing Birds will be Personated by Tom-Tits: The undertakers being +resolved to spare neither Pains nor Mony, for the Gratification of the +Audience. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Dryden's play of 'Sir Martin Mar-all' was produced in 1666. +It was entered at Stationers' Hall as by the duke of Newcastle, but +Dryden finished it. In Act 5 the foolish Sir Martin appears at a window +with a lute, as if playing and singing to Millicent, his mistress, while +his man Warner plays and sings. Absorbed in looking at the lady, Sir +Martin foolishly goes on opening and shutting his mouth and fumbling on +the lute after the man's song, a version of Voiture's 'L'Amour sous sa +Loi', is done. To which Millicent says, + + 'A pretty-humoured song--but stay, methinks he plays and sings still, + and yet we cannot hear him--Play louder, Sir Martin, that we may have + the Fruits on't.'] + + +[Footnote 2: Handel had been met in Hanover by English noblemen who +invited him to England, and their invitation was accepted by permission +of the elector, afterwards George I., to whom he was then Chapel-master. +Immediately upon Handel's arrival in England, in 1710, Aaron Hill, who +was directing the Haymarket Theatre, bespoke of him an opera, the +subject being of Hill's own devising and sketching, on the story of +Rinaldo and Armida in Tasso's 'Jerusalem Delivered'. G. Rossi wrote the +Italian words. 'Rinaldo', brought out in 1711, on the 24th of February, +had a run of fifteen nights, and is accounted one of the best of the 35 +operas composed by Handel for the English stage. Two airs in it, 'Cara +sposa' and 'Lascia ch'io pianga' (the latter still admired as one of the +purest expressions of his genius), made a great impression. In the same +season the Haymarket produced 'Hamlet' as an opera by Gasparini, called +'Ambleto', with an overture that had four movements ending in a jig. But +as was Gasparini so was Handel in the ears of Addison and Steele. They +recognized in music only the sensual pleasure that it gave, and the +words set to music for the opera, whatever the composer, were then, as +they have since been, almost without exception, insults to the +intellect.] + + +[Footnote 3: Addison's spelling, which is as good as ours, represents +what was the true and then usual pronunciation of the name of Haendel.] + + +[Footnote 4: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (i.e. Hameln). + + 'Hamelin town's in Brunswick, + By famous Hanover city; + The river Weser, deep and wide, + Washes its wall on the southern side.' + +The old story has been annexed to English literature by the genius of +Robert Browning.] + + +[Footnote 5: Evelyn, in the preface to his translation of Quintinye's +'Complete Gardener' (1701), says that the nursery of Messrs. London and +Wise far surpassed all the others in England put together. It exceeded +100 acres in extent. George London was chief gardener first to William +and Mary, then to Queen Anne. London and Wise's nursery belonged at this +time to a gardener named Swinhoe, but kept the name in which it had +become famous.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 6. Wednesday, March 7, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Credebant hoc grande Nefas, et Morte piandum, + Si Juvenis Vetulo non assurrexerat ...' + + Juv. + + +I know no Evil under the Sun so great as the Abuse of the Understanding, +and yet there is no one Vice more common. It has diffus'd itself through +both Sexes, and all Qualities of Mankind; and there is hardly that +Person to be found, who is not more concerned for the Reputation of Wit +and Sense, than Honesty and Virtue. But this unhappy Affectation of +being Wise rather than Honest, Witty than Good-natur'd, is the Source of +most of the ill Habits of Life. Such false Impressions are owing to the +abandon'd Writings of Men of Wit, and the awkward Imitation of the rest +of Mankind. + +For this Reason, Sir ROGER was saying last Night, that he was of Opinion +that none but Men of fine Parts deserve to be hanged. The Reflections of +such Men are so delicate upon all Occurrences which they are concern'd +in, that they should be expos'd to more than ordinary Infamy and +Punishment, for offending against such quick Admonitions as their own +Souls give them, and blunting the fine Edge of their Minds in such a +Manner, that they are no more shock'd at Vice and Folly, than Men of +slower Capacities. There is no greater Monster in Being, than a very ill +Man of great Parts: He lives like a Man in a Palsy, with one Side of him +dead. While perhaps he enjoys the Satisfaction of Luxury, of Wealth, of +Ambition, he has lost the Taste of Good-will, of Friendship, of +Innocence. _Scarecrow_, the Beggar in _Lincoln's-Inn-Fields_, who +disabled himself in his Right Leg, and asks Alms all Day to get himself +a warm Supper and a Trull at Night, is not half so despicable a Wretch +as such a Man of Sense. The Beggar has no Relish above Sensations; he +finds Rest more agreeable than Motion; and while he has a warm Fire and +his Doxy, never reflects that he deserves to be whipped. Every Man who +terminates his Satisfaction and Enjoyments within the Supply of his own +Necessities and Passions, is, says Sir Roger, in my Eye as poor a Rogue +as _Scarecrow_. But, continued he, for the loss of publick and private +Virtue we are beholden to your Men of Parts forsooth; it is with them no +matter what is done, so it is done with an Air. But to me who am so +whimsical in a corrupt Age as to act according to Nature and Reason, a +selfish Man in the most shining Circumstance and Equipage, appears in +the same Condition with the Fellow above-mentioned, but more +contemptible in Proportion to what more he robs the Publick of and +enjoys above him. I lay it down therefore for a Rule, That the whole Man +is to move together; that every Action of any Importance is to have a +Prospect of publick Good; and that the general Tendency of our +indifferent Actions ought to be agreeable to the Dictates of Reason, of +Religion, of good Breeding; without this, a Man, as I have before +hinted, is hopping instead of walking, he is not in his entire and +proper Motion. + +While the honest Knight was thus bewildering himself in good Starts, I +look'd intentively upon him, which made him I thought collect his Mind a +little. What I aim at, says he, is, to represent, That I am of Opinion, +to polish our Understandings and neglect our Manners is of all things +the most inexcusable. Reason should govern Passion, but instead of that, +you see, it is often subservient to it; and, as unaccountable as one +would think it, a wise Man is not always a good Man. This Degeneracy is +not only the Guilt of particular Persons, but also at some times of a +whole People; and perhaps it may appear upon Examination, that the most +polite Ages are the least virtuous. This may be attributed to the Folly +of admitting Wit and Learning as Merit in themselves, without +considering the Application of them. By this Means it becomes a Rule not +so much to regard what we do, as how we do it. But this false Beauty +will not pass upon Men of honest Minds and true Taste. Sir _Richard +Blackmore_ says, with as much good Sense as Virtue, _It is a mighty +Dishonour and Shame to employ excellent Faculties and abundance of Wit, +to humour and please Men in their Vices and Follies. The great Enemy of +Mankind, notwithstanding his Wit and Angelick Faculties, is the most +odious Being in the whole Creation_. He goes on soon after to say very +generously, That he undertook the writing of his Poem _to rescue the +Muses out of the Hands of Ravishers, to restore them to their sweet and +chaste Mansions, and to engage them in an _Employment suitable to their +Dignity_. [1] This certainly ought to be the Purpose of every man who +appears in Publick; and whoever does not proceed upon that Foundation, +injures his Country as fast as he succeeds in his Studies. When Modesty +ceases to be the chief Ornament of one Sex, and Integrity of the other, +Society is upon a wrong Basis, and we shall be ever after without Rules +to guide our Judgment in what is really becoming and ornamental. Nature +and Reason direct one thing, Passion and Humour another: To follow the +Dictates of the two latter, is going into a Road that is both endless +and intricate; when we pursue the other, our Passage is delightful, and +what we aim at easily attainable. + +I do not doubt but _England_ is at present as polite a Nation as any in +the World; but any Man who thinks can easily see, that the Affectation +of being gay and in fashion has very near eaten up our good Sense and +our Religion. Is there anything so just, as that Mode and Gallantry +should be built upon exerting ourselves in what is proper and agreeable +to the Institutions of Justice and Piety among us? And yet is there +anything more common, than that we run in perfect Contradiction to them? +All which is supported by no other Pretension, than that it is done with +what we call a good Grace. + +Nothing ought to be held laudable or becoming, but what Nature it self +should prompt us to think so. Respect to all kind of Superiours is +founded methinks upon Instinct; and yet what is so ridiculous as Age? I +make this abrupt Transition to the Mention of this Vice more than any +other, in order to introduce a little Story, which I think a pretty +Instance that the most polite Age is in danger of being the most +vicious. + + 'It happen'd at _Athens_, during a publick Representation of some Play + exhibited in honour of the Common-wealth that an old Gentleman came + too late for a Place suitable to his Age and Quality. Many of the + young Gentlemen who observed the Difficulty and Confusion he was in, + made Signs to him that they would accommodate him if he came where + they sate: The good Man bustled through the Crowd accordingly; but + when he came to the Seats to which he was invited, the Jest was to sit + close, and expose him, as he stood out of Countenance, to the whole + Audience. The Frolick went round all the Athenian Benches. But on + those Occasions there were also particular Places assigned for + Foreigners: When the good Man skulked towards the Boxes appointed for + the _Lacedemonians_, that honest People, more virtuous than polite, + rose up all to a Man, and with the greatest Respect received him among + them. The _Athenians_ being suddenly touched with a Sense of the + _Spartan_ Virtue, and their own Degeneracy, gave a Thunder of + Applause; and the old Man cry'd out, _The_ Athenians _understand what + is good, but the_ Lacedemonians _practise it_.' + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Richard Blackmore, born about 1650, d. 1729, had been +knighted in 1697, when he was made physician in ordinary to King +William. He was a thorough Whig, earnestly religious, and given to the +production of heroic poems. Steele shared his principles and honoured +his sincerity. When this essay was written, Blackmore was finishing his +best poem, the 'Creation', in seven Books, designed to prove from nature +the existence of a God. It had a long and earnest preface of +expostulation with the atheism and mocking spirit that were the legacy +to his time of the Court of the Restoration. The citations in the text +express the purport of what Blackmore had written in his then +unpublished but expected work, but do not quote from it literally.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 7. Thursday, March 8, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, Sagas, + Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides?' + + Hor. + + + +Going Yesterday to Dine with an old Acquaintance, I had the Misfortune +to find his whole Family very much dejected. Upon asking him the +Occasion of it, he told me that his Wife had dreamt a strange Dream the +Night before, which they were afraid portended some Misfortune to +themselves or to their Children. At her coming into the Room, I observed +a settled Melancholy in her Countenance, which I should have been +troubled for, had I not heard from whence it proceeded. We were no +sooner sat down, but, after having looked upon me a little while, + + 'My dear', says she, turning to her husband, 'you may now see the + Stranger that was in the Candle last Night'. + +Soon after this, as they began to talk of Family Affairs, a little Boy +at the lower end of the Table told her, that he was to go into Join-hand +on _Thursday_: + + 'Thursday,' says she, 'no, Child, if it please God, you shall not + begin upon Childermas-day; tell your Writing-Master that Friday will + be soon enough'. + +I was reflecting with my self on the Odness of her Fancy, and wondering +that any body would establish it as a Rule to lose a Day in every Week. +In the midst of these my Musings she desired me to reach her a little +Salt upon the Point of my Knife, which I did in such a Trepidation and +hurry of Obedience, that I let it drop by the way; at which she +immediately startled, and said it fell towards her. Upon this I looked +very blank; and, observing the Concern of the whole Table, began to +consider my self, with some Confusion, as a Person that had brought a +Disaster upon the Family. The Lady however recovering her self, after a +little space, said to her Husband with a Sigh, + + 'My Dear, Misfortunes never come Single'. + +My Friend, I found, acted but an under Part at his Table, and +being a Man of more Goodnature than Understanding, thinks himself +obliged to fall in with all the Passions and Humours of his Yoke-fellow: + + 'Do not you remember, Child', says she, 'that the Pidgeon-House fell + the very Afternoon that our careless Wench spilt the Salt upon the + Table?' + + 'Yes', says he, 'my Dear, and the next Post brought us an Account of + the Battel of Almanza'. [1] + +The Reader may guess at the figure I made, after having done all this +Mischief. I dispatched my Dinner as soon as I could, with my usual +Taciturnity; when, to my utter Confusion, the Lady seeing me [quitting +[2]] my Knife and Fork, and laying them across one another upon my +Plate, desired me that I would humour her so far as to take them out of +that Figure, and place them side by side. What the Absurdity was which I +had committed I did not know, but I suppose there was some traditionary +Superstition in it; and therefore, in obedience to the Lady of the +House, I disposed of my Knife and Fork in two parallel Lines, which is +the figure I shall always lay them in for the future, though I do not +know any Reason for it. + +It is not difficult for a Man to see that a Person has conceived an +Aversion to him. For my own part, I quickly found, by the Lady's Looks, +that she regarded me as a very odd kind of Fellow, with an unfortunate +Aspect: For which Reason I took my leave immediately after Dinner, and +withdrew to my own Lodgings. Upon my Return home, I fell into a profound +Contemplation on the Evils that attend these superstitious Follies of +Mankind; how they subject us to imaginary Afflictions, and additional +Sorrows, that do not properly come within our Lot. As if the natural +Calamities of Life were not sufficient for it, we turn the most +indifferent Circumstances into Misfortunes, and suffer as much from +trifling Accidents, as from real Evils. I have known the shooting of a +Star spoil a Night's Rest; and have seen a Man in Love grow pale and +lose his Appetite, upon the plucking of a Merry-thought. A Screech-Owl +at Midnight has alarmed a Family, more than a Band of Robbers; nay, the +Voice of a Cricket hath struck more Terrour, than the Roaring of a Lion. +There is nothing so inconsiderable [which [3]] may not appear dreadful +to an Imagination that is filled with Omens and Prognosticks. A Rusty +Nail, or a Crooked Pin, shoot up into Prodigies. + +I remember I was once in a mixt Assembly, that was full of Noise and +Mirth, when on a sudden an old Woman unluckily observed there were +thirteen of us in Company. This Remark struck a pannick Terror into +several [who [4]] were present, insomuch that one or two of the Ladies +were going to leave the Room; but a Friend of mine, taking notice that +one of our female Companions was big with Child, affirm'd there were +fourteen in the Room, and that, instead of portending one of the Company +should die, it plainly foretold one of them should be born. Had not my +Friend found this Expedient to break the Omen, I question not but half +the Women in the Company would have fallen sick that very Night. + +An old Maid, that is troubled with the Vapours, produces infinite +Disturbances of this kind among her Friends and Neighbours. I know a +Maiden Aunt, of a great Family, who is one of these Antiquated _Sybils_, +that forebodes and prophesies from one end of the Year to the other. She +is always seeing Apparitions, and hearing Death-Watches; and was the +other Day almost frighted out of her Wits by the great House-Dog, that +howled in the Stable at a time when she lay ill of the Tooth-ach. Such +an extravagant Cast of Mind engages Multitudes of People, not only in +impertinent Terrors, but in supernumerary Duties of Life, and arises +from that Fear and Ignorance which are natural to the Soul of Man. The +Horrour with which we entertain the Thoughts of Death (or indeed of any +future Evil), and the Uncertainty of its Approach, fill a melancholy +Mind with innumerable Apprehensions and Suspicions, and consequently +dispose it to the Observation of such groundless Prodigies and +Predictions. For as it is the chief Concern of Wise-Men, to retrench the +Evils of Life by the Reasonings of Philosophy; it is the Employment of +Fools, to multiply them by the Sentiments of Superstition. + +For my own part, I should be very much troubled were I endowed with this +Divining Quality, though it should inform me truly of every thing that +can befall me. I would not anticipate the Relish of any Happiness, nor +feel the Weight of any Misery, before it actually arrives. + +I know but one way of fortifying my Soul against these gloomy Presages +and Terrours of Mind, and that is, by securing to my self the Friendship +and Protection of that Being, who disposes of Events, and governs +Futurity. He sees, at one View, the whole Thread of my Existence, not +only that Part of it which I have already passed through, but that which +runs forward into all the Depths of Eternity. When I lay me down to +Sleep, I recommend my self to his Care; when I awake, I give my self up +to his Direction. Amidst all the Evils that threaten me, I will look up +to him for Help, and question not but he will either avert them, or turn +them to my Advantage. Though I know neither the Time nor the Manner of +the Death I am to die, I am not at all sollicitous about it, because I +am sure that he knows them both, and that he will not fail to comfort +and support me under them. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Fought April 25 (O.S. 14), 1707, between the English, under +Lord Galway, a Frenchman, with Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish allies, +and a superior force of French and Spaniards, under an Englishman, the +Duke of Berwick, natural son of James II. Deserted by many of the +foreign troops, the English were defeated.] + + +[Footnote 2: cleaning] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 8. Friday, March 9, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'At _Venus_ obscuro gradientes ære sepsit, + Et multo Nebulae circum Dea fudit amictu, + Cernere ne quis eos ...' + + Virg. + + + +I shall here communicate to the World a couple of Letters, which I +believe will give the Reader as good an Entertainment as any that I am +able to furnish [him [1]] with, and therefore shall make no Apology for +them. + + + 'To the SPECTATOR, &c. + + SIR, + + I am one of the Directors of the Society for the Reformation of + Manners, and therefore think myself a proper Person for your + Correspondence. I have thoroughly examined the present State of + Religion in _Great-Britain_, and am able to acquaint you with the + predominant Vice of every Market-Town in the whole Island. I can tell + you the Progress that Virtue has made in all our Cities, Boroughs, and + Corporations; and know as well the evil Practices that are committed + in _Berwick_ or _Exeter_, as what is done in my own Family. In a Word, + Sir, I have my Correspondents in the remotest Parts of the Nation, who + send me up punctual Accounts from time to time of all the little + Irregularities that fall under their Notice in their several Districts + and Divisions. + + I am no less acquainted with the particular Quarters and Regions of + this great Town, than with the different Parts and Distributions of + the whole Nation. I can describe every Parish by its Impieties, and + can tell you in which of our Streets Lewdness prevails, which Gaming + has taken the Possession of, and where Drunkenness has got the better + of them both. When I am disposed to raise a Fine for the Poor, I know + the Lanes and Allies that are inhabited by common Swearers. When I + would encourage the Hospital of _Bridewell_, and improve the Hempen + Manufacture, I am very well acquainted with all the Haunts and Resorts + of Female Night-walkers. + + After this short Account of my self, I must let you know, that the + Design of this Paper is to give you Information of a certain irregular + Assembly which I think falls very properly under your Observation, + especially since the Persons it is composed of are Criminals too + considerable for the Animadversions of our Society. I mean, Sir, the + Midnight Masque, which has of late been frequently held in one of the + most conspicuous Parts of the Town, and which I hear will be continued + with Additions and Improvements. As all the Persons who compose this + lawless Assembly are masqued, we dare not attack any of them in _our + Way_, lest we should send a Woman of Quality to _Bridewell_, or a Peer + of _Great-Britain_ to the _Counter_: Besides, that their Numbers are + so very great, that I am afraid they would be able to rout our whole + Fraternity, tho' we were accompanied with all our Guard of Constables. + Both these Reasons which secure them from our Authority, make them + obnoxious to yours; as both their Disguise and their Numbers will give + no particular Person Reason to think himself affronted by you. + + If we are rightly inform'd, the Rules that are observed by this new + Society are wonderfully contriv'd for the Advancement of Cuckoldom. + The Women either come by themselves, or are introduced by Friends, who + are obliged to quit them upon their first Entrance, to the + Conversation of any Body that addresses himself to them. There are + several Rooms where the Parties may retire, and, if they please, show + their Faces by Consent. Whispers, Squeezes, Nods, and Embraces, are + the innocent Freedoms of the Place. In short, the whole Design of this + libidinous Assembly seems to terminate in Assignations and Intrigues; + and I hope you will take effectual Methods, by your publick Advice and + Admonitions, to prevent such a promiscuous Multitude of both Sexes + from meeting together in so clandestine a Manner.' + + I am, + + Your humble Servant, + + And Fellow Labourer, + + T. B. + + +Not long after the Perusal of this Letter I received another upon the +same Subject; which by the Date and Stile of it, I take to be written by +some young Templer. + + + Middle Temple, 1710-11. + + SIR, + + When a Man has been guilty of any Vice or Folly, I think the best + Attonement he can make for it is to warn others not to fall into the + like. In order to this I must acquaint you, that some Time in + _February_ last I went to the Tuesday's Masquerade. Upon my first + going in I was attacked by half a Dozen female Quakers, who seemed + willing to adopt me for a Brother; but, upon a nearer Examination, I + found they were a Sisterhood of Coquets, disguised in that precise + Habit. I was soon after taken out to dance, and, as I fancied, by a + Woman of the first Quality, for she was very tall, and moved + gracefully. As soon as the Minuet was over, we ogled one another + through our Masques; and as I am very well read in _Waller_, I + repeated to her the four following Verses out of his poem to + _Vandike_. + + 'The heedless Lover does not know + Whose Eyes they are that wound him so; + But confounded with thy Art, + Enquires her Name that has his Heart.' + + I pronounced these Words with such a languishing Air, that I had some + Reason to conclude I had made a Conquest. She told me that she hoped + my Face was not akin to my Tongue; and looking upon her Watch, I + accidentally discovered the Figure of a Coronet on the back Part of + it. I was so transported with the Thought of such an Amour, that I + plied her from one Room to another with all the Gallantries I could + invent; and at length brought things to so happy an Issue, that she + gave me a private Meeting the next Day, without Page or Footman, Coach + or Equipage. My Heart danced in Raptures; but I had not lived in this + golden Dream above three Days, before I found good Reason to wish that + I had continued true to my Landress. I have since heard by a very + great Accident, that this fine Lady does not live far from + _Covent-Garden_, and that I am not the first Cully whom she has passed + herself upon for a Countess. + + Thus, Sir, you see how I have mistaken a _Cloud_ for a _Juno_; and if + you can make any use of this Adventure for the Benefit of those who + may possibly be as vain young Coxcombs as my self, I do most heartily + give you Leave.' + + I am, + + Sir, + + Your most humble admirer, + + B. L. + + +I design to visit the next Masquerade my self, in the same Habit I wore +at _Grand Cairo_; [2] and till then shall suspend my Judgment of this +Midnight Entertainment. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: them] + + +[Footnote 2: See [Spectator] No. 1.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 9. Saturday, March 10, 1711. Addison. + + + + Tigris agit rabidâ cum tigride pacem + Perpetuam, sævis inter se convenit ursis. + + Juv. + + +Man is said to be a Sociable Animal, and, as an Instance of it, we may +observe, that we take all Occasions and Pretences of forming ourselves +into those little Nocturnal Assemblies, which are commonly known by the +name of 'Clubs'. When a Sett of Men find themselves agree in any +Particular, tho' never so trivial, they establish themselves into a kind +of Fraternity, and meet once or twice a Week, upon the Account of such a +Fantastick-Resemblance. I know a considerable Market-town, in which +there was a Club of Fat-Men, that did not come together (as you may well +suppose) to entertain one another with Sprightliness and Wit, but to +keep one another in Countenance: The Room, where the Club met, was +something of the largest, and had two Entrances, the one by a Door of a +moderate Size, and the other by a Pair of Folding-Doors. If a Candidate +for this Corpulent Club could make his Entrance through the first he was +looked upon as unqualified; but if he stuck in the Passage, and could +not force his Way through it, the Folding-Doors were immediately thrown +open for his Reception, and he was saluted as a Brother. I have heard +that this Club, though it consisted but of fifteen Persons, weighed +above three Tun. + +In Opposition to this Society, there sprung up another composed of +Scare-Crows and Skeletons, who being very meagre and envious, did all +they could to thwart the Designs of their Bulky Brethren, whom they +represented as Men of Dangerous Principles; till at length they worked +them out of the Favour of the People, and consequently out of the +Magistracy. These Factions tore the Corporation in Pieces for several +Years, till at length they came to this Accommodation; that the two +Bailiffs of the Town should be annually chosen out of the two Clubs; by +which Means the principal Magistrates are at this Day coupled like +Rabbets, one fat and one lean. + +Every one has heard of the Club, or rather the Confederacy, of the +'Kings'. This grand Alliance was formed a little after the Return of +King 'Charles' the Second, and admitted into it Men of all Qualities and +Professions, provided they agreed in this Sir-name of 'King', which, as +they imagined, sufficiently declared the Owners of it to be altogether +untainted with Republican and Anti-Monarchical Principles. + +A Christian Name has likewise been often used as a Badge of Distinction, +and made the Occasion of a Club. That of the 'Georges', which used to +meet at the Sign of the 'George', on St. 'George's' day, and swear +'Before George', is still fresh in every one's Memory. + +There are at present in several Parts of this City what they call +'Street-Clubs', in which the chief Inhabitants of the Street converse +together every Night. I remember, upon my enquiring after Lodgings in +'Ormond-Street', the Landlord, to recommend that Quarter of the Town, +told me there was at that time a very good Club in it; he also told me, +upon further Discourse with him, that two or three noisy Country +Squires, who were settled there the Year before, had considerably sunk +the Price of House-Rent; and that the Club (to prevent the like +Inconveniencies for the future) had thoughts of taking every House that +became vacant into their own Hands, till they had found a Tenant for it, +of a Sociable Nature and good Conversation. + +The 'Hum-Drum' Club, of which I was formerly an unworthy Member, was +made up of very honest Gentlemen, of peaceable Dispositions, that used +to sit together, smoak their Pipes, and say nothing 'till Midnight. The +'Mum' Club (as I am informed) is an Institution of the same Nature, and +as great an Enemy to Noise. + +After these two innocent Societies, I cannot forbear mentioning a very +mischievous one, that was erected in the Reign of King 'Charles' the +Second: I mean 'the Club of Duellists', in which none was to be admitted +that had not fought his Man. The President of it was said to have killed +half a dozen in single Combat; and as for the other Members, they took +their Seats according to the number of their Slain. There was likewise a +Side-Table for such as had only drawn Blood, and shown a laudable +Ambition of taking the first Opportunity to qualify themselves for the +first Table. This Club, consisting only of Men of Honour, did not +continue long, most of the Members of it being put to the Sword, or +hanged, a little after its Institution. + +Our Modern celebrated Clubs are founded upon Eating and Drinking, which +are Points wherein most Men agree, and in which the Learned and +Illiterate, the Dull and the Airy, the Philosopher and the Buffoon, can +all of them bear a Part. The 'Kit-Cat' [1] it self is said to have taken +its Original from a Mutton-Pye. The 'Beef-Steak' [2] and October [3] +Clubs, are neither of them averse to Eating and Drinking, if we may form +a Judgment of them from their respective Titles. + +When Men are thus knit together, by Love of Society, not a Spirit of +Faction, and do not meet to censure or annoy those that are absent, but +to enjoy one another: When they are thus combined for their own +Improvement, or for the Good of others, or at least to relax themselves +from the Business of the Day, by an innocent and chearful Conversation, +there may be something very useful in these little Institutions and +Establishments. + +I cannot forbear concluding this Paper with a Scheme of Laws that I met +with upon a Wall in a little Ale-house: How I came thither I may inform +my Reader at a more convenient time. These Laws were enacted by a Knot +of Artizans and Mechanicks, who used to meet every Night; and as there +is something in them, which gives us a pretty Picture of low Life, I +shall transcribe them Word for Word. + + + 'RULES to be observed in the Two-penny Club, erected in this Place, + for the Preservation of Friendship and good Neighbourhood.' + + I. Every Member at his first coming in shall lay down his Two Pence. + + II. Every Member shall fill his Pipe out of his own Box. + + III. If any Member absents himself he shall forfeit a Penny for the + Use of the Club, unless in case of Sickness or Imprisonment. + + IV. If any Member swears or curses, his Neighbour may give him a Kick + upon the Shins. + + V. If any Member tells Stories in the Club that are not true, he + shall forfeit for every third Lie an Half-Penny. + + VI. If any Member strikes another wrongfully, he shall pay his Club + for him. + + VII. If any Member brings his Wife into the Club, he shall pay for + whatever she drinks or smoaks. + + VIII If any Member's Wife comes to fetch him Home from the Club, she + shall speak to him without the Door. + + IX. If any Member calls another Cuckold, he shall be turned out of + the Club. + + X. None shall be admitted into the Club that is of the same Trade + with any Member of it. + + XI. None of the Club shall have his Cloaths or Shoes made or mended, + but by a Brother Member. + + XII. No Non-juror shall be capable of being a Member. + +The Morality of this little Club is guarded by such wholesome Laws and +Penalties, that I question not but my Reader will be as well pleased +with them, as he would have been with the 'Leges Convivales' of _Ben. +Johnson_, [4] the Regulations of an old _Roman_ Club cited by _Lipsius_, +or the rules of a _Symposium_ in an ancient _Greek_ author. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: The 'Kit-Cat' Club met at a famous Mutton-Pie house in +Shire Lane, by Temple Bar. The house was kept by Christopher Cat, after +whom his pies were called Kit-Cats. The club originated in the +hospitality of Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, who, once a week, was host +at the house in Shire Lane to a gathering of writers. In an occasional +poem on the Kit-Cat Club, attributed to Sir Richard Blackmore, Jacob is +read backwards into Bocaj, and we are told + + One Night in Seven at this convenient Seat + Indulgent Bocaj did the Muses treat; + Their Drink was gen'rous Wine and Kit-Cat's Pyes their Meat. + Hence did th' Assembly's Title first arise, + And Kit-Cat Wits spring first from Kit-Cat's Pyes. + +About the year 1700 this gathering of wits produced a club in which the +great Whig chiefs were associated with foremost Whig writers, Tonson +being Secretary. It was as much literary as political, and its 'toasting +glasses,' each inscribed with lines to a reigning beauty, caused +Arbuthnot to derive its name from 'its pell mell pack of toasts' + + 'Of old Cats and young Kits.' + +Tonson built a room for the Club at Barn Elms to which each member gave +his portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, who was himself a member. The +pictures were on a new-sized canvas adapted to the height of the walls, +whence the name 'kit-cat' came to be applied generally to three-quarter +length portraits.] + + +[Footnote 2: The 'Beef-Steak' Club, founded in Queen Anne's time, first +of its name, took a gridiron for badge, and had cheery Dick Estcourt the +actor for its providore. It met at a tavern in the Old Jewry that had +old repute for broiled steaks and 'the true British quintessence of malt +and hops.'] + + +[Footnote 3: The 'October' Club was of a hundred and fifty Tory squires, +Parliament men, who met at the Bell Tavern, in King Street, Westminster, +and there nourished patriotism with October ale. The portrait of Queen +Anne that used to hang in its Club room is now in the Town +Council-chamber at Salisbury.] + + +[Footnote 4: In Four and Twenty Latin sentences engraven in marble over +the chimney, in the Apollo or Old Devil Tavern at Temple Bar; that being +his club room.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 10. Monday, March 12, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Non aliter quàm qui adverso vix flumine lembum + Remigiis subigit: si brachia fortè remisit, + Atque illum in præceps prono rapit alveus amni.' + + Virg. + + +It is with much Satisfaction that I hear this great City inquiring Day +by Day after these my Papers, and receiving my Morning Lectures with a +becoming Seriousness and Attention. My Publisher tells me, that there +are already Three Thousand of them distributed every Day: So that if I +allow Twenty Readers to every Paper, which I look upon as a modest +Computation, I may reckon about Threescore thousand Disciples in +_London_ and _Westminster_, who I hope will take care to distinguish +themselves from the thoughtless Herd of their ignorant and unattentive +Brethren. Since I have raised to myself so great an Audience, I shall +spare no Pains to make their Instruction agreeable, and their Diversion +useful. For which Reasons I shall endeavour to enliven Morality with +Wit, and to temper Wit with Morality, that my Readers may, if possible, +both Ways find their account in the Speculation of the Day. And to the +End that their Virtue and Discretion may not be short transient +intermitting Starts of Thought, I have resolved to refresh their +Memories from Day to Day, till I have recovered them out of that +desperate State of Vice and Folly, into which the Age is fallen. The +Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are +only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture. It was said of +_Socrates_, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven, to inhabit +among Men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have +brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, +to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-tables, and in Coffee-houses. + +I would therefore in a very particular Manner recommend these my +Speculations to all well-regulated Families, that set apart an Hour in +every Morning for Tea and Bread and Butter; and would earnestly advise +them for their Good to order this Paper to be punctually served up, and +to be looked upon as a Part of the Tea Equipage. + +Sir _Francis Bacon_ observes, that a well-written Book, compared with +its Rivals and Antagonists, is like _Moses's_ Serpent, that immediately +swallow'd up and devoured those of the _Ægyptians_. I shall not be so +vain as to think, that where the SPECTATOR appears, the other publick +Prints will vanish; but shall leave it to my Readers Consideration, +whether, Is it not much better to be let into the Knowledge of +ones-self, than to hear what passes in _Muscovy_ or _Poland_; and to +amuse our selves with such Writings as tend to the wearing out of +Ignorance, Passion, and Prejudice, than such as naturally conduce to +inflame Hatreds, and make Enmities irreconcileable. + +In the next Place, I would recommend this Paper to the daily Perusal of +those Gentlemen whom I cannot but consider as my good Brothers and +Allies, I mean the Fraternity of Spectators who live in the World +without having any thing to do in it; and either by the Affluence of +their Fortunes, or Laziness of their Dispositions, have no other +Business with the rest of Mankind but to look upon them. Under this +Class of Men are comprehended all contemplative Tradesmen, titular +Physicians, Fellows of the Royal Society, Templers that are not given to +be contentious, and Statesmen that are out of business. In short, every +one that considers the World as a Theatre, and desires to form a right +Judgment of those who are the Actors on it. + +There is another Set of Men that I must likewise lay a Claim to, whom I +have lately called the Blanks of Society, as being altogether +unfurnish'd with Ideas, till the Business and Conversation of the Day +has supplied them. I have often considered these poor Souls with an Eye +of great Commiseration, when I have heard them asking the first Man they +have met with, whether there was any News stirring? and by that Means +gathering together Materials for thinking. These needy Persons do not +know what to talk of, till about twelve a Clock in the Morning; for by +that Time they are pretty good Judges of the Weather, know which Way the +Wind sits, and whether the Dutch Mail be come in. As they lie at the +Mercy of the first Man they meet, and are grave or impertinent all the +Day long, according to the Notions which they have imbibed in the +Morning, I would earnestly entreat them not to stir out of their +Chambers till they have read this Paper, and do promise them that I will +daily instil into them such sound and wholesome Sentiments, as shall +have a good Effect on their Conversation for the ensuing twelve Hours. + +But there are none to whom this Paper will be more useful than to the +female World. I have often thought there has not been sufficient Pains +taken in finding out proper Employments and Diversions for the Fair +ones. Their Amusements seem contrived for them rather as they are Women, +than as they are reasonable Creatures; and are more adapted to the Sex, +than to the Species. The Toilet is their great Scene of Business, and +the right adjusting of their Hair the principal Employment of their +Lives. The sorting of a Suit of Ribbons is reckoned a very good +Morning's Work; and if they make an Excursion to a Mercer's or a +Toy-shop, so great a Fatigue makes them unfit for any thing else all the +Day after. Their more serious Occupations are Sowing and Embroidery, and +their greatest Drudgery the Preparation of Jellies and Sweetmeats. This, +I say, is the State of ordinary Women; tho' I know there are Multitudes +of those of a more elevated Life and Conversation, that move in an +exalted Sphere of Knowledge and Virtue, that join all the Beauties of +the Mind to the Ornaments of Dress, and inspire a kind of Awe and +Respect, as well as Love, into their Male-Beholders. I hope to encrease +the Number of these by publishing this daily Paper, which I shall always +endeavour to make an innocent if not an improving Entertainment, and by +that Means at least divert the Minds of my female Readers from greater +Trifles. At the same Time, as I would fain give some finishing Touches +to those which are already the most beautiful Pieces in humane Nature, I +shall endeavour to point out all those Imperfections that are the +Blemishes, as well as those Virtues which are the Embellishments, of the +Sex. In the mean while I hope these my gentle Readers, who have so much +Time on their Hands, will not grudge throwing away a Quarter of an Hour +in a Day on this Paper, since they may do it without any Hindrance to +Business. + +I know several of my Friends and Well-wishers are in great Pain for me, +lest I should not be able to keep up the Spirit of a Paper which I +oblige myself to furnish every Day: But to make them easy in this +Particular, I will promise them faithfully to give it over as soon as I +grow dull. This I know will be Matter of great Raillery to the small +Wits; who will frequently put me in mind of my Promise, desire me to +keep my Word, assure me that it is high Time to give over, with many +other little Pleasantries of the like Nature, which men of a little +smart Genius cannot forbear throwing out against their best Friends, +when they have such a Handle given them of being witty. But let them +remember, that I do hereby enter my Caveat against this Piece of +Raillery. + +C. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 11. Tuesday, March 13, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.' + + Juv. + + +Arietta is visited by all Persons of both Sexes, who may have any +Pretence to Wit and Gallantry. She is in that time of Life which is +neither affected with the Follies of Youth or Infirmities of Age; and +her Conversation is so mixed with Gaiety and Prudence, that she is +agreeable both to the Young and the Old. Her Behaviour is very frank, +without being in the least blameable; and as she is out of the Tract of +any amorous or ambitious Pursuits of her own, her Visitants entertain +her with Accounts of themselves very freely, whether they concern their +Passions or their Interests. I made her a Visit this Afternoon, having +been formerly introduced to the Honour of her Acquaintance, by my friend +_Will. Honeycomb_, who has prevailed upon her to admit me sometimes into +her Assembly, as a civil, inoffensive Man. I found her accompanied with +one Person only, a Common-Place Talker, who, upon my Entrance, rose, and +after a very slight Civility sat down again; then turning to _Arietta_, +pursued his Discourse, which I found was upon the old Topick, of +Constancy in Love. He went on with great Facility in repeating what he +talks every Day of his Life; and, with the Ornaments of insignificant +Laughs and Gestures, enforced his Arguments by Quotations out of Plays +and Songs, which allude to the Perjuries of the Fair, and the general +Levity of Women. Methought he strove to shine more than ordinarily in +his Talkative Way, that he might insult my Silence, and distinguish +himself before a Woman of _Arietta's_ Taste and Understanding. She had +often an Inclination to interrupt him, but could find no Opportunity, +'till the Larum ceased of its self; which it did not 'till he had +repeated and murdered the celebrated Story of the _Ephesian_ Matron. [1] + +_Arietta_ seemed to regard this Piece of Raillery as an Outrage done to +her Sex; as indeed I have always observed that Women, whether out of a +nicer Regard to their Honour, or what other Reason I cannot tell, are +more sensibly touched with those general Aspersions, which are cast upon +their Sex, than Men are by what is said of theirs. + +When she had a little recovered her self from the serious Anger she was +in, she replied in the following manner. + + Sir, when I consider, how perfectly new all you have said on this + Subject is, and that the Story you have given us is not quite two + thousand Years Old, I cannot but think it a Piece of Presumption to + dispute with you: But your Quotations put me in Mind of the Fable of + the Lion and the Man. The Man walking with that noble Animal, showed + him, in the Ostentation of Human Superiority, a Sign of a Man killing + a Lion. Upon which the Lion said very justly, _We Lions are none of us + Painters, else we could show a hundred Men killed by Lions, for one + Lion killed by a Man_. You Men are Writers, and can represent us Women + as Unbecoming as you please in your Works, while we are unable to + return the Injury. You have twice or thrice observed in your + Discourse, that Hypocrisy is the very Foundation of our Education; and + that an Ability to dissemble our affections, is a professed Part of + our Breeding. These, and such other Reflections, are sprinkled up and + down the Writings of all Ages, by Authors, who leave behind them + Memorials of their Resentment against the Scorn of particular Women, + in Invectives against the whole Sex. Such a Writer, I doubt not, was + the celebrated _Petronius_, who invented the pleasant Aggravations of + the Frailty of the _Ephesian_ Lady; but when we consider this Question + between the Sexes, which has been either a Point of Dispute or + Raillery ever since there were Men and Women, let us take Facts from + plain People, and from such as have not either Ambition or Capacity to + embellish their Narrations with any Beauties of Imagination. I was the + other Day amusing myself with _Ligon's_ Account of _Barbadoes_; and, + in Answer to your well-wrought Tale, I will give you (as it dwells + upon my Memory) out of that honest Traveller, in his fifty fifth page, + the History of _Inkle_ and _Yarico_. [2] + + Mr. _Thomas Inkle_ of _London_, aged twenty Years, embarked in the + _Downs_, on the good Ship called the 'Achilles', bound for the _West + Indies_, on the 16th of June 1647, in order to improve his Fortune by + Trade and Merchandize. Our Adventurer was the third Son of an eminent + Citizen, who had taken particular Care to instill into his Mind an + early Love of Gain, by making him a perfect Master of Numbers, and + consequently giving him a quick View of Loss and Advantage, and + preventing the natural Impulses of his Passions, by Prepossession + towards his Interests. With a Mind thus turned, young _Inkle_ had a + Person every way agreeable, a ruddy Vigour in his Countenance, + Strength in his Limbs, with Ringlets of fair Hair loosely flowing on + his Shoulders. It happened, in the Course of the Voyage, that the + _Achilles_, in some Distress, put into a Creek on the Main of + _America_, in search of Provisions. The Youth, who is the Hero of my + Story, among others, went ashore on this Occasion. From their first + Landing they were observed by a Party of _Indians_, who hid themselves + in the Woods for that Purpose. The _English_ unadvisedly marched a + great distance from the Shore into the Country, and were intercepted + by the Natives, who slew the greatest Number of them. Our Adventurer + escaped among others, by flying into a Forest. Upon his coming into a + remote and pathless Part of the Wood, he threw himself [tired and] + breathless on a little Hillock, when an _Indian_ Maid rushed from + a Thicket behind him: After the first Surprize, they appeared mutually + agreeable to each other. If the _European_ was highly charmed + with the Limbs, Features, and wild Graces of the Naked + _American_; the _American_ was no less taken with the Dress, + Complexion, and Shape of an _European_, covered from Head to + Foot. The _Indian_ grew immediately enamoured of him, and + consequently sollicitous for his Preservation: She therefore conveyed + him to a Cave, where she gave him a Delicious Repast of Fruits, and + led him to a Stream to slake his Thirst. In the midst of these good + Offices, she would sometimes play with his Hair, and delight in the + Opposition of its Colour to that of her Fingers: Then open his Bosome, + then laugh at him for covering it. She was, it seems, a Person of + Distinction, for she every day came to him in a different Dress, of + the most beautiful Shells, Bugles, and Bredes. She likewise brought + him a great many Spoils, which her other Lovers had presented to her; + so that his Cave was richly adorned with all the spotted Skins of + Beasts, and most Party-coloured Feathers of Fowls, which that World + afforded. To make his Confinement more tolerable, she would carry him + in the Dusk of the Evening, or by the favour of Moon-light, to + unfrequented Groves, and Solitudes, and show him where to lye down in + Safety, and sleep amidst the Falls of Waters, and Melody of + Nightingales. Her Part was to watch and hold him in her Arms, for fear + of her Country-men, and wake on Occasions to consult his Safety. In + this manner did the Lovers pass away their Time, till they had learn'd + a Language of their own, in which the Voyager communicated to his + Mistress, how happy he should be to have her in his Country, where she + should be Cloathed in such Silks as his Wastecoat was made of, and be + carried in Houses drawn by Horses, without being exposed to Wind or + Weather. All this he promised her the Enjoyment of, without such Fears + and Alarms as they were there tormented with. In this tender + Correspondence these Lovers lived for several Months, when + _Yarico_, instructed by her Lover, discovered a Vessel on the + Coast, to which she made Signals, and in the Night, with the utmost + Joy and Satisfaction accompanied him to a Ships-Crew of his + Country-Men, bound for _Barbadoes_. When a Vessel from the Main + arrives in that Island, it seems the Planters come down to the Shoar, + where there is an immediate Market of the _Indians_ and other Slaves, + as with us of Horses and Oxen. + + To be short, Mr. _Thomas Inkle_, now coming into _English_ + Territories, began seriously to reflect upon his loss of Time, and to + weigh with himself how many Days Interest of his Mony he had lost + during his Stay with _Yarico_. This Thought made the Young Man very + pensive, and careful what Account he should be able to give his + Friends of his Voyage. Upon which Considerations, the prudent and + frugal young Man sold _Yarico_ to a _Barbadian_ Merchant; + notwithstanding that the poor Girl, to incline him to commiserate her + Condition, told him that she was with Child by him: But he only made + use of that Information, to rise in his Demands upon the Purchaser. + +I was so touch'd with this Story, (which I think should be always a +Counterpart to the _Ephesian_ Matron) that I left the Room with Tears in +my Eyes; which a Woman of _Arietta's_ good Sense, did, I am sure, take +for greater Applause, than any Compliments I could make her. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Told in the prose 'Satyricon' ascribed to Petronius, whom +Nero called his Arbiter of Elegance. The tale was known in the Middle +Ages from the stories of the 'Seven Wise Masters.' She went down into +the vault with her husband's corpse, resolved to weep to death or die of +famine; but was tempted to share the supper of a soldier who was +watching seven bodies hanging upon trees, and that very night, in the +grave of her husband and in her funeral garments, married her new and +stranger guest.] + + +[Footnote 2: 'A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes. By +Richard Ligon, Gent.,' fol. 1673. The first edition had appeared in +1657. Steele's beautiful story is elaborated from the following short +passage in the page he cites. After telling that he had an Indian slave +woman 'of excellent shape and colour,' who would not be wooed by any +means to wear clothes, Mr. Ligon says: + + 'This _Indian_ dwelling near the Sea Coast, upon the Main, an + _English_ ship put in to a Bay, and sent some of her Men a shoar, to + try what victuals or water they could find, for in some distress they + were: But the _Indians_ perceiving them to go up so far into the + Country, as they were sure they could not make a safe retreat, + intercepted them in their return, and fell upon them, chasing them + into a Wood, and being dispersed there, some were taken, and some + kill'd: But a young man amongst them straggling from the rest, was met + by this _Indian_ maid, who upon the first sight fell in love with him, + and hid him close from her Countrymen (the _Indians_) in a Cave, and + there fed him, till they could safely go down to the shoar, where the + ship lay at anchor, expecting the return of their friends. But at + last, seeing them upon the shoar, sent the long-Boat for them, took + them aboard, and brought them away. But the youth, when he came ashoar + in the _Barbadoes_, forgot the kindness of the poor maid, that had + ventured her life for his safety, and sold her for a slave, who was as + free born as he: And so poor _Yarico_ for her love, lost her liberty.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 12. Wednesday, March 14, 1711. Addison. + + + + ... Veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello. + + Per. + + +At my coming to _London_, it was some time before I could settle my self +in a House to my likeing. I was forced to quit my first Lodgings, by +reason of an officious Land-lady, that would be asking every Morning how +I had slept. I then fell into an honest Family, and lived very happily +for above a Week; when my Land-lord, who was a jolly good-natur'd Man, +took it into his head that I wanted Company, and therefore would +frequently come into my Chamber to keep me from being alone. This I bore +for Two or Three Days; but telling me one Day that he was afraid I was +melancholy, I thought it was high time for me to be gone, and +accordingly took new Lodgings that very Night. About a Week after, I +found my jolly Land-lord, who, as I said before was an honest hearty +Man, had put me into an Advertisement of the 'Daily Courant', in the +following Words. + + '_Whereas a melancholy Man left his Lodgings on Thursday last in the + Afternoon, and was afterwards seen going towards Islington; If any one + can give Notice of him to_ R. B., Fishmonger in the_ Strand, _he shall + be very well rewarded for his Pains._' + +As I am the best Man in the World to keep my own Counsel, and my +Land-lord the Fishmonger not knowing my Name, this Accident of my Life +was never discovered to this very Day. + +I am now settled with a Widow-woman, who has a great many Children, and +complies with my Humour in everything. I do not remember that we have +exchang'd a Word together these Five Years; my Coffee comes into my +Chamber every Morning without asking for it; if I want Fire I point to +my Chimney, if Water, to my Bason: Upon which my Land-lady nods, as much +as to say she takes my Meaning, and immediately obeys my Signals. She +has likewise model'd her Family so well, that when her little Boy offers +to pull me by the Coat or prattle in my Face, his eldest Sister +immediately calls him off and bids him not disturb the Gentleman. At my +first entering into the Family, I was troubled with the Civility of +their rising up to me every time I came into the Room; but my Land-lady +observing, that upon these Occasions I always cried Pish and went out +again, has forbidden any such Ceremony to be used in the House; so that +at present I walk into the Kitchin or Parlour without being taken notice +of, or giving any Interruption to the Business or Discourse of the +Family. The Maid will ask her Mistress (tho' I am by) whether the +Gentleman is ready to go to Dinner, as the Mistress (who is indeed an +excellent Housewife) scolds at the Servants as heartily before my Face +as behind my Back. In short, I move up and down the House and enter into +all Companies, with the same Liberty as a Cat or any other domestick +Animal, and am as little suspected of telling anything that I hear or +see. + +I remember last Winter there were several young Girls of the +Neighbourhood sitting about the Fire with my Land-lady's Daughters, and +telling Stories of Spirits and Apparitions. Upon my opening the Door the +young Women broke off their Discourse, but my Land-lady's Daughters +telling them that it was no Body but the Gentleman (for that is the Name +which I go by in the Neighbourhood as well as in the Family), they went +on without minding me. I seated myself by the Candle that stood on a +Table at one End of the Room; and pretending to read a Book that I took +out of my Pocket, heard several dreadful Stories of Ghosts as pale as +Ashes that had stood at the Feet of a Bed, or walked over a Churchyard +by Moonlight: And of others that had been conjured into the _Red-Sea_, +for disturbing People's Rest, and drawing their Curtains at Midnight; +with many other old Women's Fables of the like Nature. As one Spirit +raised another, I observed that at the End of every Story the whole +Company closed their Ranks and crouded about the Fire: I took Notice in +particular of a little Boy, who was so attentive to every Story, that I +am mistaken if he ventures to go to bed by himself this Twelvemonth. +Indeed they talked so long, that the Imaginations of the whole Assembly +were manifestly crazed, and I am sure will be the worse for it as long +as they live. I heard one of the Girls, that had looked upon me over her +Shoulder, asking the Company how long I had been in the Room, and +whether I did not look paler than I used to do. This put me under some +Apprehensions that I should be forced to explain my self if I did not +retire; for which Reason I took the Candle in my Hand, and went up into +my Chamber, not without wondering at this unaccountable Weakness in +reasonable Creatures, [that they should [1]] love to astonish and +terrify one another. + +Were I a Father, I should take a particular Care to preserve my Children +from these little Horrours of Imagination, which they are apt to +contract when they are young, and are not able to shake off when they +are in Years. I have known a Soldier that has enter'd a Breach, +affrighted at his own Shadow; and look pale upon a little scratching at +his Door, who the Day before had march'd up against a Battery of Cannon. +There are Instances of Persons, who have been terrify'd, even to +Distraction, at the Figure of a Tree or the shaking of a Bull-rush. The +Truth of it is, I look upon a sound Imagination as the greatest Blessing +of Life, next to a clear Judgment and a good Conscience. In the mean +Time, since there are very few whose Minds are not more or less subject +to these dreadful Thoughts and Apprehensions, we ought to arm our selves +against them by the Dictates of Reason and Religion, _to pull the old +Woman out of our Hearts_ (as _Persius_ expresses it in the Motto of my +Paper), and extinguish those impertinent Notions which we imbibed at a +Time that we were not able to judge of their Absurdity. Or if we +believe, as many wise and good Men have done, that there are such +Phantoms and Apparitions as those I have been speaking of, let us +endeavour to establish to our selves an Interest in him who holds the +Reins of the whole Creation in his Hand, and moderates them after such a +Manner, that it is impossible for one Being to break loose upon another +without his Knowledge and Permission. + +For my own Part, I am apt to join in Opinion with those who believe that +all the Regions of Nature swarm with Spirits; and that we have +Multitudes of Spectators on all our Actions, when we think our selves +most alone: But instead of terrifying my self with such a Notion, I am +wonderfully pleased to think that I am always engaged with such an +innumerable Society in searching out the Wonders of the Creation, and +joining in the same Consort of Praise and Adoration. + +Milton [2] has finely described this mixed Communion of Men and Spirits +in Paradise; and had doubtless his Eye upon a Verse in old _Hesiod_, [3] +which is almost Word for Word the same with his third Line in the +following Passage. + + 'Nor think, though Men were none, + That Heav'n would want Spectators, God want praise: + Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth + Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep; + All these with ceaseless Praise his Works behold + Both Day and Night. How often from the Steep + Of echoing Hill or Thicket, have we heard + Celestial Voices to the midnight Air, + Sole, or responsive each to others Note, + Singing their great Creator: Oft in bands, + While they keep Watch, or nightly Rounding walk, + With heav'nly Touch of instrumental Sounds, + In full harmonick Number join'd, their Songs + Divide the Night, and lift our Thoughts to Heav'n.' + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: who] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Paradise Lost', B. IV., lines 675-688.] + + +[Footnote 3: In Bk. I. of the 'Works and Days,' description of the +Golden Age, when the good after death + + Yet still held state on earth, and guardians were + Of all best mortals still surviving there, + Observ'd works just and unjust, clad in air, + And gliding undiscovered everywhere. + +'Chapman's Translation'.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 13. Thursday, March 15, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Dic mi hi si fueris tu leo qualis eris?' + + Mart. + + +There is nothing that of late Years has afforded Matter of greater +Amusement to the Town than Signior _Nicolini's_ Combat with a Lion in +the _Hay-Market_ [1] which has been very often exhibited to the general +Satisfaction of most of the Nobility and Gentry in the Kingdom of _Great +Britain_. Upon the first Rumour of this intended Combat, it was +confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both Galleries, +that there would be a tame Lion sent from the Tower every Opera Night, +in order to be killed by _Hydaspes_; this Report, tho' altogether +groundless, so universally prevailed in the upper Regions of the +Play-House, that some of the most refined Politicians in those Parts of +the Audience, gave it out in Whisper, that the Lion was a Cousin-German +of the Tyger who made his Appearance in King _William's_ days, and that +the Stage would be supplied with Lions at the public Expence, during the +whole Session. Many likewise were the Conjectures of the Treatment which +this Lion was to meet with from the hands of Signior _Nicolini_; some +supposed that he was to Subdue him in _Recitativo_, as _Orpheus_ used to +serve the wild Beasts in his time, and afterwards to knock him on the +head; some fancied that the Lion would not pretend to lay his Paws upon +the Hero, by Reason of the received Opinion, that a Lion will not hurt a +Virgin. Several, who pretended to have seen the Opera in _Italy_, had +informed their Friends, that the Lion was to act a part in _High Dutch_, +and roar twice or thrice to a thorough Base, before he fell at the Feet +of _Hydaspes_. To clear up a Matter that was so variously reported, I +have made it my Business to examine whether this pretended Lion is +really the Savage he appears to be, or only a Counterfeit. + +But before I communicate my Discoveries, I must acquaint the Reader, +that upon my walking behind the Scenes last Winter, as I was thinking on +something else, I accidentally jostled against a monstrous Animal that +extreamly startled me, and, upon my nearer Survey of it, appeared to be +a Lion-Rampant. The Lion, seeing me very much surprized, told me, in a +gentle Voice, that I might come by him if I pleased: 'For' (says he) 'I +do not intend to hurt anybody'. I thanked him very kindly, and passed by +him. And in a little time after saw him leap upon the Stage, and act his +Part with very great Applause. It has been observed by several, that the +Lion has changed his manner of Acting twice or thrice since his first +Appearance; which will not seem strange, when I acquaint my Reader that +the Lion has been changed upon the Audience three several times. The +first Lion was a Candle-snuffer, who being a Fellow of a testy, +cholerick Temper over-did his Part, and would not suffer himself to be +killed so easily as he ought to have done; besides, it was observ'd of +him, that he grew more surly every time he came out of the Lion; and +having dropt some Words in ordinary Conversation, as if he had not +fought his best, and that he suffered himself to be thrown upon his Back +in the Scuffle, and that he would wrestle with Mr 'Nicolini' for what he +pleased, out of his Lion's Skin, it was thought proper to discard him: +And it is verily believed to this Day, that had he been brought upon the +Stage another time, he would certainly have done Mischief. Besides, it +was objected against the first Lion, that he reared himself so high upon +his hinder Paws, and walked in so erect a Posture, that he looked more +like an old Man than a Lion. The second Lion was a Taylor by Trade, who +belonged to the Play-House, and had the Character of a mild and +peaceable Man in his Profession. If the former was too furious, this was +too sheepish, for his Part; insomuch that after a short modest Walk upon +the Stage, he would fall at the first Touch of 'Hydaspes', without +grappling with him, and giving him an Opportunity of showing his Variety +of 'Italian' Tripps: It is said, indeed, that he once gave him a Ripp in +his flesh-colour Doublet, but this was only to make work for himself, in +his private Character of a Taylor. I must not omit that it was this +second Lion [who [2]] treated me with so much Humanity behind the +Scenes. The Acting Lion at present is, as I am informed, a Country +Gentleman, who does it for his Diversion, but desires his Name may be +concealed. He says very handsomely in his own Excuse, that he does not +Act for Gain, that he indulges an innocent Pleasure in it, and that it +is better to pass away an Evening in this manner, than in Gaming and +Drinking: But at the same time says, with a very agreeable Raillery upon +himself, that if his name should be known, the ill-natured World might +call him, _The Ass in the Lion's skin_. This Gentleman's Temper is made +out of such a happy Mixture of the Mild and the Cholerick, that he +out-does both his predecessors, and has drawn together greater Audiences +than have been known in the Memory of Man. + +I must not conclude my Narrative, without taking Notice of a groundless +Report that has been raised, to a Gentleman's Disadvantage, of whom I +must declare my self an Admirer; namely, that Signior _Nicolini_ and the +Lion have been seen sitting peaceably by one another, and smoking a Pipe +together, behind the Scenes; by which their common Enemies would +insinuate, it is but a sham Combat which they represent upon the Stage: +But upon Enquiry I find, that if any such Correspondence has passed +between them, it was not till the Combat was over, when the Lion was to +be looked upon as dead, according to the received Rules of the _Drama_. +Besides, this is what is practised every day in _Westminster-Hall_, +where nothing is more usual than to see a Couple of Lawyers, who have +been rearing each other to pieces in the Court, embracing one another as +soon as they are out of it. + +I would not be thought, in any part of this Relation, to reflect upon +Signior _Nicolini_, who, in Acting this Part only complies with the +wretched Taste of his Audience; he knows very well, that the Lion has +many more Admirers than himself; as they say of the famous _Equestrian_ +Statue on the _Pont-Neuf_ at _Paris_, that more People go to see the +Horse, than the King who sits upon it. On the contrary, it gives me a +just Indignation, to see a Person whose Action gives new Majesty to +Kings, Resolution to Heroes, and Softness to Lovers, thus sinking from +the Greatness of his Behaviour, and degraded into the Character of the +_London_ Prentice. I have often wished that our Tragoedians would copy +after this great Master in Action. Could they make the same use of their +Arms and Legs, and inform their Faces with as significant Looks and +Passions, how glorious would an _English_ Tragedy appear with that +Action which is capable of giving a Dignity to the forced Thoughts, cold +Conceits, and unnatural Expressions of an _Italian_ Opera. In the mean +time, I have related this Combat of the Lion, to show what are at +present the reigning Entertainments of the Politer Part of _Great +Britain_. + +Audiences have often been reproached by Writers for the Coarseness of +their Taste, but our present Grievance does not seem to be the Want of a +good Taste, but of Common Sense. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: The famous Neapolitan actor and singer, Cavalier Nicolino +Grimaldi, commonly called Nicolini, had made his first appearance in an +opera called 'Pyrrhus and Demetrius,' which was the last attempt to +combine English with Italian. His voice was a soprano, but afterwards +descended into a fine contralto, and he seems to have been the finest +actor of his day. Prices of seats at the opera were raised on his coming +from 7s. 6d. to 10s. for pit and boxes, and from 10s. 6d. to 15s. for +boxes on the stage. When this paper was written he had appeared also in +a new opera on 'Almahide,' and proceeded to those encounters with the +lion in the opera of _Hydaspes_, by a Roman composer, Francesco Mancini, +first produced May 23, 1710, which the _Spectator_ has made memorable. +It had been performed 21 times in 1710, and was now reproduced and +repeated four times. Nicolini, as Hydaspes in this opera, thrown naked +into an amphitheatre to be devoured by a lion, is so inspired with +courage by the presence of his mistress among the spectators that (says +Mr Sutherland Edwards in his 'History of the Opera') + + 'after appealing to the monster in a minor key, and telling him that + he may tear his bosom, but cannot touch his heart, he attacks him in + the relative major, and strangles him.'] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 14. Friday, March 16, 1711. Steele. + + + + ... Teque his, Infelix, exue monstris. + + Ovid. + + +I was reflecting this Morning upon the Spirit and Humour of the publick +Diversions Five and twenty Years ago, and those of the present Time; and +lamented to my self, that though in those Days they neglected their +Morality, they kept up their Good Sense; but that the _beau Monde_, at +present, is only grown more childish, not more innocent, than the +former. While I was in this Train of Thought, an odd Fellow, whose Face +I have often seen at the Play-house, gave me the following Letter with +these words, Sir, _The Lyon presents his humble Service to you, and +desired me to give this into your own Hands._ + + + From my Den in the Hay-market, March 15. + + SIR + + 'I have read all your Papers, and have stifled my Resentment against + your Reflections upon Operas, till that of this Day, wherein you + plainly insinuate, that Signior _Grimaldi_ and my self have a + Correspondence more friendly than is consistent with the Valour of his + Character, or the Fierceness of mine. I desire you would, for your own + Sake, forbear such Intimations for the future; and must say it is a + great Piece of Ill-nature in you, to show so great an Esteem for a + Foreigner, and to discourage a _Lyon_ that is your own Country-man. + + I take notice of your Fable of the Lyon and Man, but am so equally + concerned in that Matter, that I shall not be offended to which soever + of the Animals the Superiority is given. You have misrepresented me, + in saying that I am a Country-Gentleman, who act only for my + Diversion; whereas, had I still the same Woods to range in which I + once had when I was a Fox-hunter, I should not resign my Manhood for a + Maintenance; and assure you, as low as my Circumstances are at + present, I am so much a Man of Honour, that I would scorn to be any + Beast for Bread but a Lyon. + + Yours, &c. + + +I had no sooner ended this, than one of my Land-lady's Children brought +me in several others, with some of which I shall make up my present +Paper, they all having a Tendency to the same Subject, _viz_. the +Elegance of our present Diversions. + + + Covent Garden, March 13. + + SIR, + + 'I Have been for twenty Years Under-Sexton of this Parish of _St. + Paul's, Covent-Garden_, and have not missed tolling in to Prayers six + times in all those Years; which Office I have performed to my great + Satisfaction, till this Fortnight last past, during which Time I find + my Congregation take the Warning of my Bell, Morning and Evening, to + go to a Puppett-show set forth by one _Powell_, under the _Piazzas_. + By this Means, I have not only lost my two Customers, whom I used to + place for six Pence a Piece over against Mrs _Rachel Eyebright_, but + Mrs _Rachel_ herself is gone thither also. There now appear among us + none but a few ordinary People, who come to Church only to say their + Prayers, so that I have no Work worth speaking of but on _Sundays_. I + have placed my Son at the _Piazzas_, to acquaint the Ladies that the + Bell rings for Church, and that it stands on the other side of the + _Garden_; but they only laugh at the Child. + + I desire you would lay this before all the World, that I may not be + made such a Tool for the Future, and that Punchinello may chuse Hours + less canonical. As things are now, Mr _Powell_ has a full + Congregation, while we have a very thin House; which if you can + Remedy, you will very much oblige, + + Sir, Yours, &c.' + + +The following Epistle I find is from the Undertaker of the Masquerade. [1] + + + SIR, + + 'I Have observed the Rules of my Masque so carefully (in not enquiring + into Persons), that I cannot tell whether you were one of the Company + or not last _Tuesday_; but if you were not and still design to come, I + desire you would, for your own Entertainment, please to admonish the + Town, that all Persons indifferently are not fit for this Sort of + Diversion. I could wish, Sir, you could make them understand, that it + is a kind of acting to go in Masquerade, and a Man should be able to + say or do things proper for the Dress in which he appears. We have now + and then Rakes in the Habit of Roman Senators, and grave Politicians + in the Dress of Rakes. The Misfortune of the thing is, that People + dress themselves in what they have a Mind to be, and not what they are + fit for. There is not a Girl in the Town, but let her have her Will in + going to a Masque, and she shall dress as a Shepherdess. But let me + beg of them to read the Arcadia, or some other good Romance, before + they appear in any such Character at my House. The last Day we + presented, every Body was so rashly habited, that when they came to + speak to each other, a Nymph with a Crook had not a Word to say but in + the pert Stile of the Pit Bawdry; and a Man in the Habit of a + Philosopher was speechless, till an occasion offered of expressing + himself in the Refuse of the Tyring-Rooms. We had a Judge that danced + a Minuet, with a Quaker for his Partner, while half a dozen Harlequins + stood by as Spectators: A _Turk_ drank me off two Bottles of Wine, and + a _Jew_ eat me up half a Ham of Bacon. If I can bring my Design to + bear, and make the Maskers preserve their Characters in my Assemblies, + I hope you will allow there is a Foundation laid for more elegant and + improving Gallantries than any the Town at present affords; and + consequently that you will give your Approbation to the Endeavours of, + + Sir, Your most obedient humble servant.' + + +I am very glad the following Epistle obliges me to mention Mr _Powell_ a +second Time in the same Paper; for indeed there cannot be too great +Encouragement given to his Skill in Motions, provided he is under proper +Restrictions. + + + SIR, + + 'The Opera at the _Hay-Market_, and that under the little _Piazza_ in + _Covent-Garden_, being at present the Two leading Diversions of the + Town; and Mr _Powell_ professing in his Advertisements to set up + _Whittington and his Cat_ against _Rinaldo and Armida_, my Curiosity + led me the Beginning of last Week to view both these Performances, and + make my Observations upon them. + + First therefore, I cannot but observe that Mr _Powell_ wisely + forbearing to give his Company a Bill of Fare before-hand, every Scene + is new and unexpected; whereas it is certain, that the Undertakers of + the _Hay-Market_, having raised too great an Expectation in their + printed Opera, very much disappointed their Audience on the Stage. + + The King of _Jerusalem_ is obliged to come from the City on foot, + instead of being drawn in a triumphant Chariot by white Horses, as my + Opera-Book had promised me; and thus, while I expected _Armida's_ + Dragons should rush forward towards _Argantes_, I found the Hero was + obliged to go to _Armida_, and hand her out of her Coach. We had also + but a very short Allowance of Thunder and Lightning; tho' I cannot in + this Place omit doing Justice to the Boy who had the Direction of the + Two painted Dragons, and made them spit Fire and Smoke: He flash'd out + his Rosin in such just Proportions, and in such due Time, that I could + not forbear conceiving Hopes of his being one Day a most excellent + Player. I saw, indeed, but Two things wanting to render his whole + Action compleat, I mean the keeping his Head a little lower, and + hiding his Candle. + + I observe that Mr _Powell_ and the Undertakers had both the same + Thought, and I think, much about the same time, of introducing Animals + on their several Stages, though indeed with very different Success. + The Sparrows and Chaffinches at the _Hay-Market_ fly as yet very + irregularly over the Stage; and instead of perching on the Trees and + performing their Parts, these young Actors either get into the + Galleries or put out the Candles; whereas Mr _Powell_ has so well + disciplined his Pig, that in the first Scene he and Punch dance a + Minuet together. I am informed however, that Mr _Powell_ resolves to + excell his Adversaries in their own Way; and introduce Larks in his + next Opera of _Susanna_, or _Innocence betrayed_, which will be + exhibited next Week with a Pair of new Elders.' [2] + + The Moral of Mr _Powell's_ Drama is violated I confess by Punch's + national Reflections on the _French_, and King _Harry's_ laying his + Leg upon his Queen's Lap in too ludicrous a manner before so great an + Assembly. + + As to the Mechanism and Scenary, every thing, indeed, was uniform, + and of a Piece, and the Scenes were managed very dexterously; which + calls on me to take Notice, that at the _Hay-Market_ the Undertakers + forgetting to change their Side-Scenes, we were presented with a + Prospect of the Ocean in the midst of a delightful Grove; and tho' the + Gentlemen on the Stage had very much contributed to the Beauty of the + Grove, by walking up and down between the Trees, I must own I was not + a little astonished to see a well-dressed young Fellow in a + full-bottomed Wigg, appear in the Midst of the Sea, and without any + visible Concern taking Snuff. + + I shall only observe one thing further, in which both Dramas agree; + which is, that by the Squeak of their Voices the Heroes of each are + Eunuchs; and as the Wit in both Pieces are equal, I must prefer the + Performance of Mr _Powell_, because it is in our own Language. + + I am, &c.' + + + +[Footnote 1: Masquerades took rank as a leading pleasure of the town +under the management of John James Heidegger, son of a Zurich clergyman, +who came to England in 1708, at the age of 50, as a Swiss negotiator. He +entered as a private in the Guards, and attached himself to the service +of the fashionable world, which called him 'the Swiss Count,' and +readily accepted him as leader. In 1709 he made five hundred guineas by +furnishing the spectacle for Motteux's opera of 'Tomyris, Queen of +Scythia'. When these papers were written he was thriving upon the +Masquerades, which he brought into fashion and made so much a rage of +the town that moralists and satirists protested, and the clergy preached +against them. A sermon preached against them by the Bishop of London, +January 6th, 1724, led to an order that no more should take place than +the six subscribed for at the beginning of the month. Nevertheless they +held their ground afterwards by connivance of the government. In 1728, +Heidegger was called in to nurse the Opera, which throve by his bold +puffing. He died, in 1749, at the age of 90, claiming chief honour to +the Swiss for ingenuity. + + 'I was born,' he said, 'a Swiss, and came to England without a + farthing, where I have found means to gain, £5000 a-year,--and to + spend it. Now I defy the ablest Englishman to go to Switzerland and + either gain that income or spend it there.'] + + +[Footnote 2: The 'History of Susanna' had been an established puppet +play for more than two generations. An old copy of verses on Bartholomew +Fair in the year 1665, describing the penny and twopenny puppet plays, +or, as they had been called in and since Queen Elizabeth's time, +'motions,' says + + "Their Sights are so rich, is able to bewitch + The heart of a very fine man-a; + Here's 'Patient Grisel' here, and 'Fair Rosamond' there, + And 'the History of Susanna.'" + +Pepys tells of the crowd waiting, in 1667, to see Lady Castlemaine come +out from the puppet play of 'Patient Grisel.' + +The Powell mentioned in this essay was a deformed cripple whose +Puppet-Show, called Punch's Theatre, owed its pre-eminence to his own +power of satire. This he delivered chiefly through Punch, the clown of +the puppets, who appeared in all plays with so little respect to +dramatic rule that Steele in the Tatler (for May 17, 1709) represents a +correspondent at Bath, telling how, of two ladies, Prudentia and +Florimel, who would lead the fashion, Prudentia caused Eve in the +Puppet-Show of 'the Creation of the World' to be + + 'made the most like Florimel that ever was seen,' + +and + + 'when we came to Noah's Flood in the show, Punch and his wife were + introduced dancing in the ark.' + +Of the fanatics called French Prophets, who used to assemble in +Moorfields in Queen Anne's reign, Lord Chesterfield remembered that + + 'the then Ministry, who loved a little persecution well enough, was, + however, so wise as not to disturb their madness, and only ordered one + Powell, the master of a famous Puppet-Show, to make Punch turn + Prophet; which he did so well, that it soon put an end to the prophets + and their prophecies. The obscure Dr Sacheverell's fortune was made by + a parliamentary prosecution' (from Feb. 27 to March 23, 1709-10) 'much + about the same time the French Prophets were totally extinguished by a + Puppet-Show' + + (Misc. Works, ed. Maty., Vol. II, p. 523, 555). + +This was the Powell who played in Covent Garden during the time of +week-day evening service, and who, taking up Addison's joke against the +opera from No. 5 of the 'Spectator', produced 'Whittington and his Cat' +as a rival to 'Rinaldo and Armida'. [See also a note to No. 31.]] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + On the first of April will be performed at the Play-house in the + Hay-market, an Opera call'd 'The Cruelty of Atreus'. + + N.B. The Scene wherein Thyestes eats his own Children, is to be + performed by the famous Mr Psalmanazar, [1] lately + arrived from Formosa; The whole Supper + being set to Kettle-drums. + + R. + + +[Footnote 1: George Psalmanazar, who never told his real name and +precise birthplace, was an impostor from Languedoc, and 31 years old in +1711. He had been educated in a Jesuit college, where he heard stories +of the Jesuit missions in Japan and Formosa, which suggested to him how +he might thrive abroad as an interesting native. He enlisted as a +soldier, and had in his character of Japanese only a small notoriety +until, at Sluys, a dishonest young chaplain of Brigadier Lauder's Scotch +regiment, saw through the trick and favoured it, that he might recommend +himself to the Bishop of London for promotion. He professed to have +converted Psalmanazar, baptized him, with the Brigadier for godfather, +got his discharge from the regiment, and launched him upon London under +the patronage of Bishop Compton. Here Psalmanazar, who on his arrival +was between nineteen and twenty years old, became famous in the +religious world. He supported his fraud by invention of a language and +letters, and of a Formosan religion. To oblige the Bishop he translated +the church catechism into 'Formosan,' and he published in 1704 'an +historical and geographical Description of Formosa,' of which a second +edition appeared in the following year. It contained numerous plates of +imaginary scenes and persons. His gross and puerile absurdities in print +and conversation--such as his statements that the Formosans sacrificed +eighteen thousand male infants every year, and that the Japanese studied +Greek as a learned tongue,--excited a distrust that would have been +fatal to the success of his fraud, even with the credulous, if he had +not forced himself to give colour to his story by acting the savage in +men's eyes. But he must really, it was thought, be a savage who fed upon +roots, herbs, and raw flesh. He made, however, so little by the +imposture, that he at last confessed himself a cheat, and got his living +as a well-conducted bookseller's hack for many years before his death, +in 1763, aged 84. In 1711, when this jest was penned, he had not yet +publicly eaten his own children, i.e. swallowed his words and declared +his writings forgeries. In 1716 there was a subscription of £20 or £30 a +year raised for him as a Formosan convert. It was in 1728 that he began +to write that formal confession of his fraud, which he left for +publication after his death, and whereby he made his great public +appearance as Thyestes. + +This jest against Psalmanazar was expunged from the first reprint of the +_Spectator_ in 1712, and did not reappear in the lifetime of Steele +or Addison, or until long after it had been amply justified.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 15. Saturday, March 17, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Parva leves capiunt animos ...' + + Ovid. + + +When I was in _France_, I used to gaze with great Astonishment at the +Splendid Equipages and Party-coloured Habits, of that Fantastick Nation. +I was one Day in particular contemplating a Lady that sate in a Coach +adorned with gilded _Cupids_, and finely painted with the Loves of +_Venus_ and _Adonis_. The Coach was drawn by six milk-white Horses, and +loaden behind with the same Number of powder'd Foot-men. Just before the +Lady were a Couple of beautiful Pages, that were stuck among the +Harness, and by their gay Dresses, and smiling Features, looked like the +elder Brothers of the little Boys that were carved and painted in every +Corner of the Coach. + +The Lady was the unfortunate _Cleanthe_, who afterwards gave an Occasion +to a pretty melancholy Novel. She had, for several Years, received the +Addresses of a Gentleman, whom, after a long and intimate Acquaintance, +she forsook, upon the Account of this shining Equipage which had been +offered to her by one of great Riches, but a Crazy Constitution. The +Circumstances in which I saw her, were, it seems, the Disguises only of +a broken Heart, and a kind of Pageantry to cover Distress; for in two +Months after, she was carried to her Grave with the same Pomp and +Magnificence: being sent thither partly by the Loss of one Lover, and +partly by the Possession of another. + +I have often reflected with my self on this unaccountable Humour in +Woman-kind, of being smitten with every thing that is showy and +superficial; and on the numberless Evils that befall the Sex, from this +light, fantastical Disposition. I my self remember a young Lady that was +very warmly sollicited by a Couple of importunate Rivals, who, for +several Months together, did all they could to recommend themselves, by +Complacency of Behaviour, and Agreeableness of Conversation. At length, +when the Competition was doubtful, and the Lady undetermined in her +Choice, one of the young Lovers very luckily bethought himself of adding +a supernumerary Lace to his Liveries, which had so good an Effect that +he married her the very Week after. + +The usual Conversation of ordinary Women, very much cherishes this +Natural Weakness of being taken with Outside and Appearance. Talk of a +new-married Couple, and you immediately hear whether they keep their +Coach and six, or eat in Plate: Mention the Name of an absent Lady, and +it is ten to one but you learn something of her Gown and Petticoat. A +Ball is a great Help to Discourse, and a Birth-Day furnishes +Conversation for a Twelve-month after. A Furbelow of precious Stones, an +Hat buttoned with a Diamond, a Brocade Waistcoat or Petticoat, are +standing Topicks. In short, they consider only the Drapery of the +Species, and never cast away a Thought on those Ornaments of the Mind, +that make Persons Illustrious in themselves, and Useful to others. When +Women are thus perpetually dazling one anothers Imaginations, and +filling their Heads with nothing but Colours, it is no Wonder that they +are more attentive to the superficial Parts of Life, than the solid and +substantial Blessings of it. A Girl, who has been trained up in this +kind of Conversation, is in danger of every Embroidered Coat that comes +in her Way. A Pair of fringed Gloves may be her Ruin. In a word, Lace +and Ribbons, Silver and Gold Galloons, with the like glittering +Gew-Gaws, are so many Lures to Women of weak Minds or low Educations, +and, when artificially displayed, are able to fetch down the most airy +Coquet from the wildest of her Flights and Rambles. + +True Happiness is of a retired Nature, and an Enemy to Pomp and Noise; +it arises, in the first place, from the Enjoyment of ones self; and, in +the next, from the Friendship and Conversation of a few select +Companions. It loves Shade and Solitude, and naturally haunts Groves and +Fountains, Fields and Meadows: In short, it feels every thing it wants +within itself, and receives no Addition from Multitudes of Witnesses and +Spectators. On the contrary, false Happiness loves to be in a Crowd, and +to draw the Eyes of the World upon her. She does not receive any +Satisfaction from the Applauses which she gives her self, but from the +Admiration which she raises in others. She flourishes in Courts and +Palaces, Theatres and Assemblies, and has no Existence but when she is +looked upon. + +_Aurelia_, tho' a Woman of Great Quality, delights in the Privacy of a +Country Life, and passes away a great part of her Time in her own Walks +and Gardens. Her Husband, who is her Bosom Friend and Companion in her +Solitudes, has been in Love with her ever since he knew her. They both +abound with good Sense, consummate Virtue, and a mutual Esteem; and are +a perpetual Entertainment to one another. Their Family is under so +regular an Oeconomy, in its Hours of Devotion and Repast, Employment and +Diversion, that it looks like a little Common-Wealth within it self. +They often go into Company, that they may return with the greater +Delight to one another; and sometimes live in Town not to enjoy it so +properly as to grow weary of it, that they may renew in themselves the +Relish of a Country Life. By this means they are Happy in each other, +beloved by their Children, adored by their Servants, and are become the +Envy, or rather the Delight, of all that know them. + +How different to this is the Life of _Fulvia_! she considers her Husband +as her Steward, and looks upon Discretion and good House-Wifery, as +little domestick Virtues, unbecoming a Woman of Quality. She thinks Life +lost in her own Family, and fancies herself out of the World, when she +is not in the Ring, the Play-House, or the Drawing-Room: She lives in a +perpetual Motion of Body and Restlessness of Thought, and is never easie +in any one Place, when she thinks there is more Company in another. The +missing of an Opera the first Night, would be more afflicting to her +than the Death of a Child. She pities all the valuable Part of her own +Sex, and calls every Woman of a prudent modest retired Life, a +poor-spirited, unpolished Creature. What a Mortification would it be to +_Fulvia_, if she knew that her setting her self to View, is but exposing +her self, and that she grows Contemptible by being Conspicuous. + +I cannot conclude my Paper, without observing that _Virgil_ has very +finely touched upon this Female Passion for Dress and Show, in the +Character of _Camilla_; who, tho' she seems to have shaken off all the +other Weaknesses of her Sex, is still described as a Woman in this +Particular. The Poet tells us, that, after having made a great Slaughter +of the Enemy, she unfortunately cast her Eye on a _Trojan_ [who[1]] wore +an embroidered Tunick, a beautiful Coat of Mail, with a Mantle of the +finest Purple. _A Golden Bow_, says he, _Hung upon his Shoulder; his +Garment was buckled with a Golden Clasp, and his Head was covered with +an Helmet of the same shining Mettle_. The _Amazon_ immediately singled +out this well-dressed Warrior, being seized with a Woman's Longing for +the pretty Trappings that he was adorned with: + + + '... Totumque incauta per agmen + Fæmineo prædæ et spoliorum ardebat amore.' + + +This heedless Pursuit after these glittering Trifles, the Poet (by a +nice concealed Moral) represents to have been the Destruction of his +Female Hero. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +No. 16 Monday, March 19. Addison + + + + Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum. + + Hor. + + +I have receiv'd a Letter, desiring me to be very satyrical upon the +little Muff that is now in Fashion; another informs me of a Pair of +silver Garters buckled below the Knee, that have been lately seen at the +Rainbow Coffee-house in _Fleet-street_; [1] a third sends me an heavy +Complaint against fringed Gloves. To be brief, there is scarce an +Ornament of either Sex which one or other of my Correspondents has not +inveighed against with some Bitterness, and recommended to my +Observation. I must therefore, once for all inform my Readers, that it +is not my Intention to sink the Dignity of this my Paper with +Reflections upon Red-heels or Top-knots, but rather to enter into the +Passions of Mankind, and to correct those depraved Sentiments that give +Birth to all those little Extravagancies which appear in their outward +Dress and Behaviour. Foppish and fantastick Ornaments are only +Indications of Vice, not criminal in themselves. Extinguish Vanity in +the Mind, and you naturally retrench the little Superfluities of +Garniture and Equipage. The Blossoms will fall of themselves, when the +Root that nourishes them is destroyed. + +I shall therefore, as I have said, apply my Remedies to the first Seeds +and Principles of an affected Dress, without descending to the Dress it +self; though at the same time I must own, that I have Thoughts of +creating an Officer under me to be entituled, _The Censor of small +Wares_, and of allotting him one Day in a Week for the Execution of such +his Office. An Operator of this Nature might act under me with the same +Regard as a Surgeon to a Physician; the one might be employ'd in healing +those Blotches and Tumours which break out in the Body, while the other +is sweetning the Blood and rectifying the Constitution. To speak truly, +the young People of both Sexes are so wonderfully apt to shoot out into +long Swords or sweeping Trains, bushy Head-dresses or full-bottom'd +Perriwigs, with several other Incumbrances of Dress, that they stand in +need of being pruned very frequently [lest they should [2]] be oppressed +with Ornaments, and over-run with the Luxuriency of their Habits. I am +much in doubt, whether I should give the Preference to a Quaker that is +trimmed close and almost cut to the Quick, or to a Beau that is loaden +with such a Redundance of Excrescencies. I must therefore desire my +Correspondents to let me know how they approve my Project, and whether +they think the erecting of such a petty Censorship may not turn to the +Emolument of the Publick; for I would not do any thing of this Nature +rashly and without Advice. + +There is another Set of Correspondents to whom I must address my self, +in the second Place; I mean such as fill their Letters with private +Scandal, and black Accounts of particular Persons and Families. The +world is so full of Ill-nature, that I have Lampoons sent me by People +[who [3]] cannot spell, and Satyrs compos'd by those who scarce know how +to write. By the last Post in particular I receiv'd a Packet of Scandal +that is not legible; and have a whole Bundle of Letters in Womens Hands +that are full of Blots and Calumnies, insomuch that when I see the Name +_Caelia, Phillis, Pastora_, or the like, at the Bottom of a Scrawl, I +conclude on course that it brings me some Account of a fallen Virgin, a +faithless Wife, or an amorous Widow. I must therefore inform these my +Correspondents, that it is not my Design to be a Publisher of Intreagues +and Cuckoldoms, or to bring little infamous Stories out of their present +lurking Holes into broad Day light. If I attack the Vicious, I shall +only set upon them in a Body: and will not be provoked by the worst +Usage that I can receive from others, to make an Example of any +particular Criminal. In short, I have so much of a Drawcansir[4] in me, +that I shall pass over a single Foe to charge whole Armies. It is not +_Lais_ or _Silenus_, but the Harlot and the Drunkard, whom I shall +endeavour to expose; and shall consider the Crime as it appears in a +Species, not as it is circumstanced in an Individual. I think it was +_Caligula_ who wished the whole City of _Rome_ had but one Neck, that he +might behead them at a Blow. I shall do out of Humanity what that +Emperor would have done in the Cruelty of his Temper, and aim every +Stroak at a collective Body of Offenders. At the same Time I am very +sensible, that nothing spreads a Paper like private Calumny and +Defamation; but as my Speculations are not under this Necessity, they +are not exposed to this Temptation. + +In the next Place I must apply my self to my Party-Correspondents, who +are continually teazing me to take Notice of one anothers Proceedings. +How often am I asked by both Sides, if it is possible for me to be an +unconcerned Spectator of the Rogueries that are committed by the Party +which is opposite to him that writes the Letter. About two Days since I +was reproached with an old Grecian Law, that forbids any Man to stand as +a Neuter or a Looker-on in the Divisions of his Country. However, as I +am very sensible [my [5]] Paper would lose its whole Effect, should it +run into the Outrages of a Party, I shall take Care to keep clear of +every thing [which [6]] looks that Way. If I can any way asswage private +Inflammations, or allay publick Ferments, I shall apply my self to it +with my utmost Endeavours; but will never let my Heart reproach me with +having done any thing towards [encreasing [7]] those Feuds and +Animosities that extinguish Religion, deface Government, and make a +Nation miserable. + +What I have said under the three foregoing Heads, will, I am afraid, +very much retrench the Number of my Correspondents: I shall therefore +acquaint my Reader, that if he has started any Hint which he is not able +to pursue, if he has met with any surprizing Story which he does not +know how to tell, if he has discovered any epidemical Vice which has +escaped my Observation, or has heard of any uncommon Virtue which he +would desire to publish; in short, if he has any Materials that can +furnish out an innocent Diversion, I shall promise him my best +Assistance in the working of them up for a publick Entertainment. + +This Paper my Reader will find was intended for an answer to a Multitude +of Correspondents; but I hope he will pardon me if I single out one of +them in particular, who has made me so very humble a Request, that I +cannot forbear complying with it. + + To the SPECTATOR. + + March 15, 1710-11. + + SIR, + + 'I Am at present so unfortunate, as to have nothing to do but to mind + my own Business; and therefore beg of you that you will be pleased to + put me into some small Post under you. I observe that you have + appointed your Printer and Publisher to receive Letters and + Advertisements for the City of _London_, and shall think my self very + much honoured by you, if you will appoint me to take in Letters and + Advertisements for the City of _Westminster_ and the Dutchy of + _Lancaster_. Tho' I cannot promise to fill such an Employment with + sufficient Abilities, I will endeavour to make up with Industry and + Fidelity what I want in Parts and Genius. I am, + + Sir, + + Your most obedient servant, + + Charles Lillie.' + + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: The _Rainbow_, near the Inner Temple Gate, in Fleet Street, +was the second Coffee-house opened in London. It was opened about 1656, +by a barber named James Farr, part of the house still being occupied by +the bookseller's shop which had been there for at least twenty years +before. Farr also, at first, combined his coffee trade with the business +of barber, which he had been carrying on under the same roof. Farr was +made rich by his Coffee-house, which soon monopolized the _Rainbow_. Its +repute was high in the _Spectator's_ time; and afterwards, when +coffee-houses became taverns, it lived on as a reputable tavern till the +present day.] + + +[Footnote 2: that they may not] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: _Drawcansir_ in the Duke of Buckingham's _Rehearsal_ +parodies the heroic drama of the Restoration, as by turning the lines in +Dryden's 'Tyrannic Love,' + + Spite of myself, I'll stay, fight, love, despair; + And all this I can do, because I dare, + +into + + I drink, I huff, I strut, look big and stare; + And all this I can do, because I dare. + +When, in the last act, a Battle is fought between Foot and great +Hobby-Horses + + 'At last, Drawcansir comes in and Kills them all on both Sides,' + explaining himself in lines that begin, + + Others may boast a single man to kill; + But I the blood of thousands daily spill.] + + +[Footnote 5: that my] + + +[Footnote 6: that] + + +[Footnote 7: the encreasing] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 17. Tuesday, March 20, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Tetrum ante Omnia vultum.' + + Juv. + + +Since our Persons are not of our own Making, when they are such as +appear Defective or Uncomely, it is, methinks, an honest and laudable +Fortitude to dare to be Ugly; at least to keep our selves from being +abashed with a Consciousness of Imperfections which we cannot help, and +in which there is no Guilt. I would not defend an haggard Beau, for +passing away much time at a Glass, and giving Softnesses and Languishing +Graces to Deformity. All I intend is, that we ought to be contented with +our Countenance and Shape, so far, as never to give our selves an +uneasie Reflection on that Subject. It is to the ordinary People, who +are not accustomed to make very proper Remarks on any Occasion, matter +of great Jest, if a Man enters with a prominent Pair of Shoulders into +an Assembly, or is distinguished by an Expansion of Mouth, or Obliquity +of Aspect. It is happy for a Man, that has any of these Oddnesses about +him, if he can be as merry upon himself, as others are apt to be upon +that Occasion: When he can possess himself with such a Chearfulness, +Women and Children, who were at first frighted at him, will afterwards +be as much pleased with him. As it is barbarous in others to railly him +for natural Defects, it is extreamly agreeable when he can Jest upon +himself for them. + +Madam _Maintenon's_ first Husband was an Hero in this Kind, and has +drawn many Pleasantries from the Irregularity of his Shape, which he +describes as very much resembling the Letter Z. [1] He diverts himself +likewise by representing to his Reader the Make of an Engine and Pully, +with which he used to take off his Hat. When there happens to be any +thing ridiculous in a Visage, and the Owner of it thinks it an Aspect of +Dignity, he must be of very great Quality to be exempt from Raillery: +The best Expedient therefore is to be pleasant upon himself. Prince +_Harry_ and _Falstaffe_, in _Shakespear_, have carried the Ridicule upon +Fat and Lean as far as it will go. _Falstaffe_ is Humourously called +_Woolsack_, _Bed-presser_, and _Hill of Flesh_; Harry a _Starveling_, an +_Elves-Skin_, a _Sheath_, a _Bowcase_, and a _Tuck_. There is, in +several incidents of the Conversation between them, the Jest still kept +up upon the Person. Great Tenderness and Sensibility in this Point is +one of the greatest Weaknesses of Self-love; for my own part, I am a +little unhappy in the Mold of my Face, which is not quite so long as it +is broad: Whether this might not partly arise from my opening my Mouth +much seldomer than other People, and by Consequence not so much +lengthning the Fibres of my Visage, I am not at leisure to determine. +However it be, I have been often put out of Countenance by the Shortness +of my Face, and was formerly at great Pains in concealing it by wearing +a Periwigg with an high Foretop, and letting my Beard grow. But now I +have thoroughly got over this Delicacy, and could be contented it were +much shorter, provided it might qualify me for a Member of the Merry +Club, which the following Letter gives me an Account of. I have received +it from _Oxford_, and as it abounds with the Spirit of Mirth and good +Humour, which is natural to that Place, I shall set it down Word for +Word as it came to me. + + 'Most Profound Sir, + + Having been very well entertained, in the last of your Speculations + that I have yet seen, by your Specimen upon Clubs, which I therefore + hope you will continue, I shall take the Liberty to furnish you with a + brief Account of such a one as perhaps you have not seen in all your + Travels, unless it was your Fortune to touch upon some of the woody + Parts of the _African_ Continent, in your Voyage to or from _Grand + Cairo_. There have arose in this University (long since you left us + without saying any thing) several of these inferior Hebdomadal + Societies, as _the Punning Club_, _the Witty Club_, and amongst the + rest, the _Handsom Club_; as a Burlesque upon which, a certain merry + Species, that seem to have come into the World in Masquerade, for some + Years last past have associated themselves together, and assumed the + name of the _Ugly Club_: This ill-favoured Fraternity consists of a + President and twelve Fellows; the Choice of which is not confin'd by + Patent to any particular Foundation (as _St. John's_ Men would have + the World believe, and have therefore erected a separate Society + within themselves) but Liberty is left to elect from any School in + _Great Britain_, provided the Candidates be within the Rules of the + Club, as set forth in a Table entituled _The Act of Deformity_. A + Clause or two of which I shall transmit to you. + + I. That no Person whatsoever shall be admitted without a visible + Quearity in his Aspect, or peculiar Cast of Countenance; of which the + President and Officers for the time being are to determine, and the + President to have the casting Voice. + + II. That a singular Regard be had, upon Examination, to the Gibbosity + of the Gentlemen that offer themselves, as Founders Kinsmen, or to the + Obliquity of their Figure, in what sort soever. + + III. That if the Quantity of any Man's Nose be eminently + miscalculated, whether as to Length or Breadth, he shall have a just + Pretence to be elected. + + _Lastly_, That if there shall be two or more Competitors for the same + Vacancy, _caeteris paribus_, he that has the thickest Skin to have the + Preference. + + Every fresh Member, upon his first Night, is to entertain the Company + with a Dish of Codfish, and a Speech in praise of _Æsop_; [2] whose + portraiture they have in full Proportion, or rather Disproportion, + over the Chimney; and their Design is, as soon as their Funds are + sufficient, to purchase the Heads of _Thersites, Duns Scotus, Scarron, + Hudibras_, and the old Gentleman in _Oldham_, [3] with all the + celebrated ill Faces of Antiquity, as Furniture for the Club Room. + + As they have always been profess'd Admirers of the other Sex, so they + unanimously declare that they will give all possible Encouragement to + such as will take the Benefit of the Statute, tho' none yet have + appeared to do it. + + The worthy President, who is their most devoted Champion, has lately + shown me two Copies of Verses composed by a Gentleman of his Society; + the first, a Congratulatory Ode inscrib'd to Mrs. _Touchwood_, upon + the loss of her two Fore-teeth; the other, a Panegyrick upon Mrs. + _Andirons_ left Shoulder. Mrs. _Vizard_ (he says) since the Small Pox, + is grown tolerably ugly, and a top Toast in the Club; but I never hear + him so lavish of his fine things, as upon old _Nell Trot_, who + constantly officiates at their Table; her he even adores, and extolls + as the very Counterpart of Mother _Shipton_; in short, _Nell_ (says + he) is one of the Extraordinary Works of Nature; but as for + Complexion, Shape, and Features, so valued by others, they are all + meer Outside and Symmetry, which is his Aversion. Give me leave to + add, that the President is a facetious, pleasant Gentleman, and never + more so, than when he has got (as he calls 'em) his dear Mummers about + him; and he often protests it does him good to meet a Fellow with a + right genuine Grimmace in his Air, (which is so agreeable in the + generality of the _French_ Nation;) and as an Instance of his + Sincerity in this particular, he gave me a sight of a List in his + Pocket-book of all of this Class, who for these five Years have fallen + under his Observation, with himself at the Head of 'em, and in the + Rear (as one of a promising and improving Aspect), + + Sir, Your Obliged and Humble Servant, + + Alexander Carbuncle.' [Sidenote: Oxford, March 12, 1710.] + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Abbé Paul Scarron, the burlesque writer, high in court +favour, was deformed from birth, and at the age of 27 lost the use of +all his limbs. In 1651, when 41 years old, Scarron married Frances +d'Aubigné, afterwards Madame de Maintenon; her age was then 16, and she +lived with Scarron until his death, which occurred when she was 25 years +old and left her very poor. Scarron's comparison of himself to the +letter Z is in his address 'To the Reader who has Never seen Me,' +prefixed to his 'Relation Véritable de tout ce qui s'est passé en +l'autre Monde, au combat des Parques et des Poëtes, sur la Mort de +Voiture.' This was illustrated with a burlesque plate representing +himself as seen from the back of his chair, and surrounded by a +wondering and mocking world. His back, he said, was turned to the +public, because the convex of his back is more convenient than the +concave of his stomach for receiving the inscription of his name and +age.] + + +[Footnote 2: The Life of Æsop, ascribed to Planudes Maximus, a monk of +Constantinople in the fourteenth century, and usually prefixed to the +Fables, says that he was 'the most deformed of all men of his age, for +he had a pointed head, flat nostrils, a short neck, thick lips, was +black, pot-bellied, bow-legged, and hump-backed; perhaps even uglier +than Homer's Thersites.'] + + +[Footnote 3: The description of Thersites in the second book of the +Iliad is thus translated by Professor Blackie: + + 'The most + Ill-favoured wight was he, I ween, of all the Grecian host. + With hideous squint the railer leered: on one foot he was lame; + Forward before his narrow chest his hunching shoulders came; + Slanting and sharp his forehead rose, with shreds of meagre hair.' + +Controversies between the Scotists and Thomists, followers of the +teaching of Duns Scotus and Thomas Aquinas, caused Thomist perversion of +the name of Duns into its use as Dunce and tradition of the subtle +Doctor's extreme personal ugliness. Doctor Subtilis was translated The +Lath Doctor. + +Scarron we have just spoken of. Hudibras's outward gifts are described +in Part I., Canto i., lines 240-296 of the poem. + + 'His beard + In cut and dye so like a tile + A sudden view it would beguile: + The upper part thereof was whey; + The nether, orange mix'd with grey. + This hairy meteor, &c.' + +The 'old Gentleman in _Oldham_' is Loyola, as described in Oldham's +third satire on the Jesuits, when + + 'Summon'd together, all th' officious band + The orders of their bedrid, chief attend.' + +Raised on his pillow he greets them, and, says Oldham, + + 'Like Delphic Hag of old, by Fiend possest, + He swells, wild Frenzy heaves his panting breast, + His bristling hairs stick up, his eyeballs glow, + And from his mouth long strakes of drivel flow.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 18. Wednesday, March 21, 1711. Addison. + + + + Equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas + Omnis ad incertos oculos et gaudia vana. + + Hor. + + +It is my Design in this Paper to deliver down to Posterity a faithful +Account of the Italian Opera, and of the gradual Progress which it has +made upon the English Stage: For there is no Question but our great +Grand-children will be very curious to know the Reason why their +Fore-fathers used to sit together like an Audience of Foreigners in +their own Country, and to hear whole Plays acted before them in a Tongue +which they did not understand. + +'Arsinoe' [1] was the first Opera that gave us a Taste of Italian +Musick. The great Success this Opera met with, produced some Attempts of +forming Pieces upon Italian Plans, [which [2]] should give a more +natural and reasonable Entertainment than what can be met with in the +elaborate Trifles of that Nation. This alarm'd the Poetasters and +Fidlers of the Town, who were used to deal in a more ordinary Kind of +Ware; and therefore laid down an establish'd Rule, which is receiv'd as +such to this [Day, [3]] 'That nothing is capable of being well set to +Musick, that is not Nonsense.' + +This Maxim was no sooner receiv'd, but we immediately fell to +translating the Italian Operas; and as there was no great Danger of +hurting the Sense of those extraordinary Pieces, our Authors would often +make Words of their own [which[ 4]] were entirely foreign to the Meaning +of the Passages [they [5]] pretended to translate; their chief Care +being to make the Numbers of the English Verse answer to those of the +Italian, that both of them might go to the same Tune. Thus the famous +Song in 'Camilla', + + 'Barbara si t' intendo, &c.' + + Barbarous Woman, yes, I know your Meaning, + +which expresses the Resentments of an angry Lover, was translated into +that English lamentation: + + 'Frail are a Lovers Hopes, &c.' + +And it was pleasant enough to see the most refined Persons of the +British Nation dying away and languishing to Notes that were filled with +a Spirit of Rage and Indignation. It happen'd also very frequently, +where the Sense was rightly translated, the necessary Transposition of +Words [which [6]] were drawn out of the Phrase of one Tongue into that +of another, made the Musick appear very absurd in one Tongue that was +very natural in the other. I remember an Italian verse that ran thus +Word for Word, + + 'And turned my Rage, into Pity;' + +which the English for Rhime sake translated, + + 'And into Pity turn'd my Rage.' + +By this Means the soft Notes that were adapted to Pity in the Italian, +fell upon the word Rage in the English; and the angry Sounds that were +turn'd to Rage in the Original, were made to express Pity in the +Translation. It oftentimes happen'd likewise, that the finest Notes in +the Air fell upon the most insignificant Words in the Sentence. I have +known the Word 'And' pursu'd through the whole Gamut, have been +entertained with many a melodious 'The', and have heard the most +beautiful Graces Quavers and Divisions bestowed upon 'Then, For,' and +'From;' to the eternal Honour of our English Particles. [7] + +The next Step to our Refinement, was the introducing of Italian Actors +into our Opera; who sung their Parts in their own Language, at the same +Time that our Countrymen perform'd theirs in our native Tongue. The King +or Hero of the Play generally spoke in Italian, and his Slaves answered +him in English: The Lover frequently made his Court, and gained the +Heart of his Princess in a Language which she did not understand. One +would have thought it very difficult to have carry'd on Dialogues after +this Manner, without an Interpreter between the Persons that convers'd +together; but this was the State of the English Stage for about three +Years. + +At length the Audience grew tir'd of understanding Half the Opera, and +therefore to ease themselves Entirely of the Fatigue of Thinking, have +so order'd it at Present that the whole Opera is performed in an unknown +Tongue. We no longer understand the Language of our own Stage; insomuch +that I have often been afraid, when I have seen our Italian Performers +chattering in the Vehemence of Action, that they have been calling us +Names, and abusing us among themselves; but I hope, since we do put such +an entire Confidence in them, they will not talk against us before our +Faces, though they may do it with the same Safety as if it [were [8]] +behind our Backs. In the mean Time I cannot forbear thinking how +naturally an Historian, who writes Two or Three hundred Years hence, and +does not know the Taste of his wise Fore-fathers, will make the +following Reflection, 'In the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century, the +Italian Tongue was so well understood in _England_, that Operas were +acted on the publick Stage in that Language.' + +One scarce knows how to be serious in the Confutation of an Absurdity +that shews itself at the first Sight. It does not want any great Measure +of Sense to see the Ridicule of this monstrous Practice; but what makes +it the more astonishing, it is not the Taste of the Rabble, but of +Persons of the greatest Politeness, which has establish'd it. + +If the Italians have a Genius for Musick above the English, the English +have a Genius for other Performances of a much higher Nature, and +capable of giving the Mind a much nobler Entertainment. Would one think +it was possible (at a Time when an Author lived that was able to write +the 'Phædra' and 'Hippolitus') [9] for a People to be so stupidly fond +of the Italian Opera, as scarce to give a Third Days Hearing to that +admirable Tragedy? Musick is certainly a very agreeable Entertainment, +but if it would take the entire Possession of our Ears, if it would make +us incapable of hearing Sense, if it would exclude Arts that have a much +greater Tendency to the Refinement of humane Nature: I must confess I +would allow it no better Quarter than 'Plato' has done, who banishes it +out of his Common-wealth. + +At present, our Notions of Musick are so very uncertain, that we do not +know what it is we like, only, in general, we are transported with any +thing that is not English: so if it be of a foreign Growth, let it be +Italian, French, or High-Dutch, it is the same thing. In short, our +English Musick is quite rooted out, and nothing yet planted in its +stead. + +When a Royal Palace is burnt to the Ground, every Man is at Liberty to +present his Plan for a new one; and tho' it be but indifferently put +together, it may furnish several Hints that may be of Use to a good +Architect. I shall take the same Liberty in a following Paper, of giving +my Opinion upon the Subject of Musick, which I shall lay down only in a +problematical Manner to be considered by those who are Masters in the +Art. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Arsinoe' was produced at Drury Lane in 1705, with Mrs. +Tofts in the chief character, and her Italian rival, Margarita de +l'Epine, singing Italian songs before and after the Opera. The drama was +an Italian opera translated into English, and set to new music by Thomas +Clayton, formerly band master to William III. No. 20 of the Spectator +and other numbers from time to time advertised 'The Passion of Sappho, +and Feast of Alexander: Set to Musick by Mr. Thomas Clayton, as it is +performed at his house in 'York Buildings.' It was the same Clayton who +set to music Addison's unsuccessful opera of 'Rosamond', written as an +experiment in substituting homegrown literature for the fashionable +nonsense illustrated by Italian music. Thomas Clayton's music to +'Rosamond' was described as 'a jargon of sounds.' 'Camilla', composed by +Marco Antonio Buononcini, and said to contain beautiful music, was +produced at Sir John Vanbrugh's Haymarket opera in 1705, and sung half +in English, half in Italian; Mrs. Tofts singing the part of the +Amazonian heroine in English, and Valentini that of the hero in Italian.] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: very day] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnote 5: which they] + + +[Footnote 6: that] + + +[Footnote 7: It was fifty years after this that Churchill wrote of +Mossop in the 'Rosciad,' + + 'In monosyllables his thunders roll, + He, she, it, and, we, ye, they, fright the soul.'] + + +[Footnote 8: was] + + +[Footnote 9: The Tragedy of 'Phædra and Hippolitus', acted without +success in 1707, was the one play written by Mr. Edmund Smith, a +merchant's son who had been educated at Westminster School and Christ +Church, Oxford, and who had ended a dissolute life at the age of 42 (in +1710), very shortly before this paper was written. Addison's regard for +the play is warmed by friendship for the unhappy writer. He had, indeed, +written the Prologue to it, and struck therein also his note of war +against the follies of Italian Opera. + + 'Had Valentini, musically coy, + Shunned Phædra's Arms, and scorn'd the puffer'd Joy, + It had not momed your Wonder to have seen + An Eunich fly from an enamour'd Queen; + How would it please, should she in English speak, + And could Hippolitus reply in Greek!' + +The Epilogue to this play was by Prior. Edmund Smith's relation to +Addison is shown by the fact that, in dedicating the printed edition of +his Phædra and Hippolitus to Lord Halifax, he speaks of Addison's lines +on the Peace of Ryswick as 'the best Latin Poem since the Æneid.'] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 19. Thursday, March 22, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Dii benefecerunt, inopis me quodque pusilli + Finxerunt animi, rarî et perpauca loquentis.' + + Hor. + + +Observing one Person behold another, who was an utter Stranger to him, +with a Cast of his Eye which, methought, expressed an Emotion of Heart +very different from what could be raised by an Object so agreeable as +the Gentleman he looked at, I began to consider, not without some secret +Sorrow, the Condition of an Envious Man. Some have fancied that Envy has +a certain Magical Force in it, and that the Eyes of the Envious have by +their Fascination blasted the Enjoyments of the Happy. Sir _Francis +Bacon_ says, [1] Some have been so curious as to remark the Times and +Seasons when the Stroke of an Envious Eye is most effectually +pernicious, and have observed that it has been when the Person envied +has been in any Circumstance of Glory and Triumph. At such a time the +Mind of the Prosperous Man goes, as it were, abroad, among things +without him, and is more exposed to the Malignity. But I shall not dwell +upon Speculations so abstracted as this, or repeat the many excellent +Things which one might collect out of Authors upon this miserable +Affection; but keeping in the road of common Life, consider the Envious +Man with relation to these three Heads, His Pains, His Reliefs, and His +Happiness. + +The Envious Man is in Pain upon all Occasions which ought to give him +Pleasure. The Relish of his Life is inverted, and the Objects which +administer the highest Satisfaction to those who are exempt from this +Passion, give the quickest Pangs to Persons who are subject to it. All +the Perfections of their Fellow-Creatures are odious: Youth, Beauty, +Valour and Wisdom are Provocations of their Displeasure. What a Wretched +and Apostate State is this! To be offended with Excellence, and to hate +a Man because we Approve him! The Condition of the Envious Man is the +most Emphatically miserable; he is not only incapable of rejoicing in +another's Merit or Success, but lives in a World wherein all Mankind are +in a Plot against his Quiet, by studying their own Happiness and +Advantage. _Will. Prosper_ is an honest Tale-bearer, he makes it his +business to join in Conversation with Envious Men. He points to such an +handsom Young Fellow, and whispers that he is secretly married to a +Great Fortune: When they doubt, he adds Circumstances to prove it; and +never fails to aggravate their Distress, by assuring 'em that to his +knowledge he has an Uncle will leave him some Thousands. _Will._ has +many Arts of this kind to torture this sort of Temper, and delights in +it. When he finds them change colour, and say faintly They wish such a +Piece of News is true, he has the Malice to speak some good or other of +every Man of their Acquaintance. + +The Reliefs of the Envious Man are those little Blemishes and +Imperfections, that discover themselves in an Illustrious Character. It +is matter of great Consolation to an Envious Person, when a Man of Known +Honour does a thing Unworthy himself: Or when any Action which was well +executed, upon better Information appears so alter'd in its +Circumstances, that the Fame of it is divided among many, instead of +being attributed to One. This is a secret Satisfaction to these +Malignants; for the Person whom they before could not but admire, they +fancy is nearer their own Condition as soon as his Merit is shared among +others. I remember some Years ago there came out an Excellent Poem, +without the Name of the Author. The little Wits, who were incapable of +Writing it, began to pull in Pieces the supposed Writer. When that would +not do, they took great Pains to suppress the Opinion that it was his. +That again failed. The next Refuge was to say it was overlook'd by one +Man, and many Pages wholly written by another. An honest Fellow, who +sate among a Cluster of them in debate on this Subject, cryed out, + + 'Gentlemen, if you are sure none of you yourselves had an hand in it, + you are but where you were, whoever writ it.' + +But the most usual Succour to the Envious, in cases of nameless Merit in +this kind, is to keep the Property, if possible, unfixed, and by that +means to hinder the Reputation of it from falling upon any particular +Person. You see an Envious Man clear up his Countenance, if in the +Relation of any Man's Great Happiness in one Point, you mention his +Uneasiness in another. When he hears such a one is very rich he turns +Pale, but recovers when you add that he has many Children. In a Word, +the only sure Way to an Envious Man's Favour, is not to deserve it. + +But if we consider the Envious Man in Delight, it is like reading the +Seat of a Giant in a Romance; the Magnificence of his House consists in +the many Limbs of Men whom he has slain. If any who promised themselves +Success in any Uncommon Undertaking miscarry in the Attempt, or he that +aimed at what would have been Useful and Laudable, meets with Contempt +and Derision, the Envious Man, under the Colour of hating Vainglory, can +smile with an inward Wantonness of Heart at the ill Effect it may have +upon an honest Ambition for the future. + +Having throughly considered the Nature of this Passion, I have made it +my Study how to avoid the Envy that may acrue to me from these my +Speculations; and if I am not mistaken in my self, I think I have a +Genius to escape it. Upon hearing in a Coffee-house one of my Papers +commended, I immediately apprehended the Envy that would spring from +that Applause; and therefore gave a Description of my Face the next Day; +[2] being resolved as I grow in Reputation for Wit, to resign my +Pretensions to Beauty. This, I hope, may give some Ease to those unhappy +Gentlemen, who do me the Honour to torment themselves upon the Account +of this my Paper. As their Case is very deplorable, and deserves +Compassion, I shall sometimes be dull, in Pity to them, and will from +time to time administer Consolations to them by further Discoveries of +my Person. In the meanwhile, if any one says the _Spectator_ has Wit, it +may be some Relief to them, to think that he does not show it in +Company. And if any one praises his Morality they may comfort themselves +by considering that his Face is none of the longest. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: + + We see likewise, the Scripture calleth Envy an Evil Eye: And the + Astrologers call the evil influences of the stars, Evil Aspects; so + that still there seemeth to be acknowledged, in the act of envy, an + ejaculation or irradiation of the eye. Nay some have been so curious + as to note that the times when the stroke or percussion of an envious + eye doth most hurt, are, when the party envied is beheld in glory or + triumph; for that sets an edge upon Envy; And besides, at such times, + the spirits of the persons envied do come forth most into the outward + parts, and so meet the blow. + +'Bacon's Essays: IX. Of Envy'.] + + +[Footnote 2: In No. 17.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 20.] Friday, March 23, 1711. [Steele. + + + + [Greek: Kynos ommat' ech_on ...] + + Hom. + + +Among the other hardy Undertakings which I have proposed to my self, +that of the Correction of Impudence is what I have very much at Heart. +This in a particular Manner is my Province as SPECTATOR; for it is +generally an Offence committed by the Eyes, and that against such as the +Offenders would perhaps never have an Opportunity of injuring any other +Way. The following Letter is a Complaint of a Young Lady, who sets forth +a Trespass of this Kind with that Command of herself as befits Beauty +and Innocence, and yet with so much Spirit as sufficiently expresses her +Indignation. The whole Transaction is performed with the Eyes; and the +Crime is no less than employing them in such a Manner, as to divert the +Eyes of others from the best use they can make of them, even looking up +to Heaven. + + + 'SIR, + + There never was (I believe) an acceptable Man, but had some awkward + Imitators. Ever since the SPECTATOR appear'd, have I remarked a kind + of Men, whom I choose to call _Starers_, that without any Regard to + Time, Place, or Modesty, disturb a large Company with their + impertinent Eyes. Spectators make up a proper Assembly for a + Puppet-Show or a Bear-Garden; but devout Supplicants and attentive + Hearers, are the Audience one ought to expect in Churches. I am, Sir, + Member of a small pious congregation near one of the North Gates of + this City; much the greater Part of us indeed are Females, and used to + behave our selves in a regular attentive Manner, till very lately one + whole Isle has been disturbed with one of these monstrous _Starers_: + He's the Head taller than any one in the Church; but for the greater + Advantage of exposing himself, stands upon a Hassock, and commands the + whole Congregation, to the great Annoyance of the devoutest part of + the Auditory; for what with Blushing, Confusion, and Vexation, we can + neither mind the Prayers nor Sermon. Your Animadversion upon this + Insolence would be a great favour to, + + Sir, + + Your most humble servant, + + S. C. + + +I have frequently seen of this Sort of Fellows; and do not think there +can be a greater Aggravation of an Offence, than that it is committed +where the Criminal is protected by the Sacredness of the Place which he +violates. Many Reflections of this Sort might be very justly made upon +this Kind of Behaviour, but a _Starer_ is not usually a Person to be +convinced by the Reason of the thing; and a Fellow that is capable of +showing an impudent Front before a whole Congregation, and can bear +being a publick Spectacle, is not so easily rebuked as to amend by +Admonitions. If therefore my Correspondent does not inform me, that +within Seven Days after this Date the Barbarian does not at least stand +upon his own Legs only, without an Eminence, my friend WILL. PROSPER has +promised to take an Hassock opposite to him, and stare against him in +Defence of the Ladies. I have given him Directions, according to the +most exact Rules of Opticks, to place himself in such a Manner that he +shall meet his Eyes wherever he throws them: I have Hopes that when +WILL. confronts him, and all the Ladies, in whose Behalf he engages him, +cast kind Looks and Wishes of Success at their Champion, he will have +some Shame, and feel a little of the Pain he has so often put others to, +of being out of Countenance. + +It has indeed been Time out of Mind generally remarked, and as often +lamented, that this Family of _Starers_ have infested publick +Assemblies: And I know no other Way to obviate so great an Evil, except, +in the Case of fixing their Eyes upon Women, some Male Friend will take +the Part of such as are under the Oppression of Impudence, and encounter +the Eyes of the _Starers_ wherever they meet them. While we suffer our +Women to be thus impudently attacked, they have no Defence, but in the +End to cast yielding Glances at the _Starers_: And in this Case, a Man +who has no Sense of Shame has the same Advantage over his Mistress, as +he who has no Regard for his own Life has over his Adversary. While the +Generality of the World are fetter'd by Rules, and move by proper and +just Methods, he who has no Respect to any of them, carries away the +Reward due to that Propriety of Behaviour, with no other Merit but that +of having neglected it. + +I take an impudent Fellow to be a sort of Out-law in Good-Breeding, and +therefore what is said of him no Nation or Person can be concerned for: +For this Reason one may be free upon him. I have put my self to great +Pains in considering this prevailing Quality which we call Impudence, +and have taken Notice that it exerts it self in a different Manner, +according to the different Soils wherein such Subjects of these +Dominions as are Masters of it were born. Impudence in an Englishman is +sullen and insolent, in a Scotchman it is untractable and rapacious, in +an Irishman absurd and fawning: As the Course of the World now runs, the +impudent Englishman behaves like a surly Landlord, the Scot, like an +ill-received Guest, and the Irishman, like a Stranger who knows he is +not welcome. There is seldom anything entertaining either in the +Impudence of a South or North Briton; but that of an Irishman is always +comick. A true and genuine Impudence is ever the Effect of Ignorance, +without the least Sense of it. The best and most successful _Starers_ +now in this Town are of that Nation: They have usually the Advantage of +the Stature mentioned in the above Letter of my Correspondent, and +generally take their Stands in the Eye of Women of Fortune; insomuch +that I have known one of them, three Months after he came from Plough, +with a tolerable good Air lead out a Woman from a Play, which one of our +own Breed, after four years at _Oxford_ and two at the _Temple_, would +have been afraid to look at. + +I cannot tell how to account for it, but these People have usually the +Preference to our own Fools, in the Opinion of the sillier Part of +Womankind. Perhaps it is that an English Coxcomb is seldom so obsequious +as an Irish one; and when the Design of pleasing is visible, an +Absurdity in the Way toward it is easily forgiven. + +But those who are downright impudent, and go on without Reflection that +they are such, are more to be tolerated, than a Set of Fellows among us +who profess Impudence with an Air of Humour, and think to carry off the +most inexcusable of all Faults in the World, with no other Apology than +saying in a gay Tone, _I put an impudent Face upon the Matter_. No, no +Man shall be allowed the Advantages of Impudence, who is conscious that +he is such: If he knows he is impudent, he may as well be otherwise; and +it shall be expected that he blush, when he sees he makes another do it: +For nothing can attone for the want of Modesty, without which Beauty is +ungraceful, and Wit detestable. + +R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 21. Saturday, March 24, 1711. [1] Addison. + + + 'Locus est et phiribus Umbris.' + + Hor. + + +I am sometimes very much troubled, when I reflect upon the three great +Professions of Divinity, Law, and Physick; how they are each of them +over-burdened with Practitioners, and filled with Multitudes of +Ingenious Gentlemen that starve one another. + +We may divide the Clergy into Generals, Field-Officers, and Subalterns. +Among the first we may reckon Bishops, Deans, and Arch-Deacons. Among +the second are Doctors of Divinity, Prebendaries, and all that wear +Scarfs. The rest are comprehended under the Subalterns. As for the first +Class, our Constitution preserves it from any Redundancy of Incumbents, +notwithstanding Competitors are numberless. Upon a strict Calculation, +it is found that there has been a great Exceeding of late Years in the +Second Division, several Brevets having been granted for the converting +of Subalterns into Scarf-Officers; insomuch that within my Memory the +price of Lute-string is raised above two Pence in a Yard. As for the +Subalterns, they are not to be numbred. Should our Clergy once enter +into the corrupt Practice of the Laity, by the splitting of their +Free-holds, they would be able to carry most of the Elections in +_England_. + +The Body of the Law is no less encumbered with superfluous Members, that +are like _Virgil's_ Army, which he tells us was so crouded, [2] many of +them had not Room to use their Weapons. This prodigious Society of Men +may be divided into the Litigious and Peaceable. Under the first are +comprehended all those who are carried down in Coach-fulls to +_Westminster-Hall_ every Morning in Term-time. _Martial's_ description +of this Species of Lawyers is full of Humour: + + 'Iras et verba locant.' + +Men that hire out their Words and Anger; that are more or less +passionate according as they are paid for it, and allow their Client a +quantity of Wrath proportionable to the Fee which they receive from him. +I must, however, observe to the Reader, that above three Parts of those +whom I reckon among the Litigious, are such as are only quarrelsome in +their Hearts, and have no Opportunity of showing their Passion at the +Bar. Nevertheless, as they do not know what Strifes may arise, they +appear at the Hall every Day, that they may show themselves in a +Readiness to enter the Lists, whenever there shall be Occasion for them. + +The Peaceable Lawyers are, in the first place, many of the Benchers of +the several Inns of Court, who seem to be the Dignitaries of the Law, +and are endowed with those Qualifications of Mind that accomplish a Man +rather for a Ruler, than a Pleader. These Men live peaceably in their +Habitations, Eating once a Day, and Dancing once a Year, [3] for the +Honour of their Respective Societies. + +Another numberless Branch of Peaceable Lawyers, are those young Men who +being placed at the Inns of Court in order to study the Laws of their +Country, frequent the Play-House more than _Westminster-Hall_, and are +seen in all publick Assemblies, except in a Court of Justice. I shall +say nothing of those Silent and Busie Multitudes that are employed +within Doors in the drawing up of Writings and Conveyances; nor of those +greater Numbers that palliate their want of Business with a Pretence to +such Chamber-Practice. + +If, in the third place, we look into the Profession of Physick, we shall +find a most formidable Body of Men: The Sight of them is enough to make +a Man serious, for we may lay it down as a Maxim, that When a Nation +abounds in Physicians, it grows thin of People. Sir _William Temple_ is +very much puzzled to find a Reason why the Northern Hive, as he calls +it, does not send out such prodigious Swarms, and over-run the World +with _Goths_ and _Vandals, as it did formerly; [4] but had that +Excellent Author observed that there were no Students in Physick among +the Subjects of _Thor_ and _Woden_, and that this Science very much +flourishes in the North at present, he might have found a better +Solution for this Difficulty, than any of those he has made use of. This +Body of Men, in our own Country, may be described like the _British_ +Army in _Cæsar's_ time: Some of them slay in Chariots, and some on Foot. +If the Infantry do less Execution than the Charioteers, it is, because +they cannot be carried so soon into all Quarters of the Town, and +dispatch so much Business in so short a Time. Besides this Body of +Regular Troops, there are Stragglers, who, without being duly listed and +enrolled, do infinite Mischief to those who are so unlucky as to fall +into their Hands. + +There are, besides the above-mentioned, innumerable Retainers to +Physick, who, for want of other Patients, amuse themselves with the +stifling of Cats in an Air Pump, cutting up Dogs alive, or impaling of +Insects upon the point of a Needle for Microscopical Observations; +besides those that are employed in the gathering of Weeds, and the Chase +of Butterflies: Not to mention the Cockle-shell-Merchants and +Spider-catchers. + +When I consider how each of these Professions are crouded with +Multitudes that seek their Livelihood in them, and how many Men of Merit +there are in each of them, who may be rather said to be of the Science, +than the Profession; I very much wonder at the Humour of Parents, who +will not rather chuse to place their Sons in a way of Life where an +honest Industry cannot but thrive, than in Stations where the greatest +Probity, Learning and Good Sense may miscarry. How many Men are +Country-Curates, that might have made themselves Aldermen of _London_ by +a right Improvement of a smaller Sum of Mony than what is usually laid +out upon a learned Education? A sober, frugal Person, of slender Parts +and a slow Apprehension, might have thrived in Trade, tho' he starves +upon Physick; as a Man would be well enough pleased to buy Silks of one, +whom he would not venture to feel his Pulse. _Vagellius_ is careful, +studious and obliging, but withal a little thick-skull'd; he has not a +single Client, but might have had abundance of Customers. The Misfortune +is, that Parents take a Liking to a particular Profession, and therefore +desire their Sons may be of it. Whereas, in so great an Affair of Life, +they should consider the Genius and Abilities of their Children, more +than their own Inclinations. + +It is the great Advantage of a trading Nation, that there are very few +in it so dull and heavy, who may not be placed in Stations of Life which +may give them an Opportunity of making their Fortunes. A well-regulated +Commerce is not, like Law, Physick or Divinity, to be overstocked with +Hands; but, on the contrary, flourishes by Multitudes, and gives +Employment to all its Professors. Fleets of Merchantmen are so many +Squadrons of floating Shops, that vend our Wares and Manufactures in all +the Markets of the World, and find out Chapmen under both the Tropicks. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: At this time, and until the establishment of New Style, +from 1752, the legal year began in England on the 25th of March, while +legally in Scotland, and by common usage throughout the whole kingdom, +the customary year began on the 1st of January. The _Spectator_ +dated its years, according to custom, from the first of January; and so +wrote its first date March 1, 1711. But we have seen letters in it dated +in a way often adopted to avoid confusion (1710-11) which gave both the +legal and the customary reckoning. March 24 being the last day of the +legal year 1710, in the following papers, until December 31, the year is +1711 both by law and custom. Then again until March 24, while usage will +be recognizing a new year, 1712, it will be still for England (but not +for Scotland) 1711 to the lawyers. The reform initiated by Pope Gregory +XIII. in 1582, and not accepted for England and Ireland until 1751, had +been adopted by Scotland from the 1st of January, 1600. + +[This reform was necessary to make up for the inadequate shortness of +the previous calendar (relative to the solar year), which had resulted +in some months' discrepancy by the eighteenth century.]] + + +[Footnote 2: [that] + + +[Footnote 3: In Dugdale's 'Origines Juridiciales' we read how in the +Middle Temple, on All Saints' Day, when the judges and serjeants who had +belonged to the Inn were feasted, + + 'the music being begun, the Master of the Revels was twice called. At + the second call, the Reader with the white staff advanced, and began + to lead the measures, followed by the barristers and students in + order; and when one measure was ended, the Reader at the cupboard + called for another.'] + + +[Footnote 4: See Sir W. Temple's Essay on Heroic Virtue, Section 4. + + 'This part of Scythia, in its whole Northern extent, I take to have + been the vast Hive out of which issued so many mighty swarms of + barbarous nations,' &c. And again, 'Each of these countries was like a + mighty hive, which, by the vigour of propagation and health of + climate, growing too full of people, threw out some new swarm at + certain periods of time, that took wing and sought out some new abode, + expelling or subduing the old inhabitants, and seating themselves in + their rooms, if they liked the conditions of place and commodities of + life they met with; if not, going on till they found some other more + agreeable to their present humours and dispositions.' He attributes + their successes and their rapid propagation to the greater vigour of + life in the northern climates; and the only reason he gives for the + absence of like effects during the continued presence of like causes + is, that Christianity abated their enthusiasm and allayed 'the + restless humour of perpetual wars and actions.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 22. Monday, March 26, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic incredulus odi.' + + Hor. + + +The word _Spectator_ being most usually understood as one of the +Audience at Publick Representations in our Theatres, I seldom fail of +many Letters relating to Plays and Operas. But, indeed, there are such +monstrous things done in both, that if one had not been an Eye-witness +of them, one could not believe that such Matters had really been +exhibited. There is very little which concerns human Life, or is a +Picture of Nature, that is regarded by the greater Part of the Company. +The Understanding is dismissed from our Entertainments. Our Mirth is the +Laughter of Fools, and our Admiration the Wonder of Idiots; else such +improbable, monstrous, and incoherent Dreams could not go off as they +do, not only without the utmost Scorn and Contempt, but even with the +loudest Applause and Approbation. But the Letters of my Correspondents +will represent this Affair in a more lively Manner than any Discourse of +my own; I [shall therefore [1] ] give them to my Reader with only this +Preparation, that they all come from Players, [and that the business of +Playing is now so managed that you are not to be surprised when I say] +one or two of [them [2]] are rational, others sensitive and vegetative +Actors, and others wholly inanimate. I shall not place these as I have +named them, but as they have Precedence in the Opinion of their +Audiences. + + + "Mr. SPECTATOR, + + Your having been so humble as to take Notice of the Epistles of other + Animals, emboldens me, who am the wild Boar that was killed by Mrs. + _Tofts_, [3] to represent to you, That I think I was hardly used + in not having the Part of the Lion in 'Hydaspes' given to me. It + would have been but a natural Step for me to have personated that + noble Creature, after having behaved my self to Satisfaction in the + Part above-mention'd: But that of a Lion, is too great a Character for + one that never trod the Stage before but upon two Legs. As for the + little Resistance which I made, I hope it may be excused, when it is + considered that the Dart was thrown at me by so fair an Hand. I must + confess I had but just put on my Brutality; and _Camilla's_ + charms were such, that b-holding her erect Mien, hearing her charming + Voice, and astonished with her graceful Motion, I could not keep up to + my assumed Fierceness, but died like a Man. + + I am Sir, + + Your most humble Servan., + + Thomas Prone." + + + + "Mr. SPECTATOR, + + This is to let you understand, that the Play-House is a Representation + of the World in nothing so much as in this Particular, That no one + rises in it according to his Merit. I have acted several Parts of + Household-stuff with great Applause for many Years: I am one of the + Men in the Hangings in the _Emperour of the Moon_; [4] I have + twice performed the third Chair in an English Opera; and have + rehearsed the Pump in the _Fortune-Hunters_. [5] I am now grown + old, and hope you will recommend me so effectually, as that I may say + something before I go off the Stage: In which you will do a great Act + of Charity to + + Your most humble servant, + + William Serene." + + + + "Mr. SPECTATOR, + + Understanding that Mr. _Serene_ has writ to you, and desired to + be raised from dumb and still Parts; I desire, if you give him Motion + or Speech, that you would advance me in my Way, and let me keep on in + what I humbly presume I am a Master, to wit, in representing human and + still Life together. I have several times acted one of the finest + Flower-pots in the same Opera wherein Mr. _Serene_ is a Chair; + therefore, upon his promotion, request that I may succeed him in the + Hangings, with my Hand in the Orange-Trees. + + Your humble servant, + + Ralph Simple." + + + + "Drury Lane, March 24, 1710-11. + + SIR, + + I saw your Friend the Templar this Evening in the Pit, and thought he + looked very little pleased with the Representation of the mad Scene of + the _Pilgrim_. I wish, Sir, you would do us the Favour to animadvert + frequently upon the false Taste the Town is in, with Relation to Plays + as well as Operas. It certainly requires a Degree of Understanding to + play justly; but such is our Condition, that we are to suspend our + Reason to perform our Parts. As to Scenes of Madness, you know, Sir, + there are noble Instances of this Kind in _Shakespear_; but then it is + the Disturbance of a noble Mind, from generous and humane Resentments: + It is like that Grief which we have for the decease of our Friends: It + is no Diminution, but a Recommendation of humane Nature, that in such + Incidents Passion gets the better of Reason; and all we can think to + comfort ourselves, is impotent against half what we feel. I will not + mention that we had an Idiot in the Scene, and all the Sense it is + represented to have, is that of Lust. As for my self, who have long + taken Pains in personating the Passions, I have to Night acted only an + Appetite: The part I play'd is Thirst, but it is represented as + written rather by a Drayman than a Poet. I come in with a Tub about + me, that Tub hung with Quart-pots; with a full Gallon at my Mouth. [6] + I am ashamed to tell you that I pleased very much, and this was + introduced as a Madness; but sure it was not humane Madness, for a + Mule or an [ass [7]] may have been as dry as ever I was in my Life. + + I am, Sir, + + Your most obedient And humble servant." + + + + "From the Savoy in the Strand. + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + If you can read it with dry Eyes, I give you this trouble to acquaint + you, that I am the unfortunate King _Latinus_, and believe I am the + first Prince that dated from this Palace since _John_ of _Gaunt_. Such + is the Uncertainty of all human Greatness, that I who lately never + moved without a Guard, am now pressed as a common Soldier, and am to + sail with the first fair Wind against my Brother _Lewis_ of _France_. + It is a very hard thing to put off a Character which one has appeared + in with Applause: This I experienced since the Loss of my Diadem; for, + upon quarrelling with another Recruit, I spoke my Indignation out of + my Part in _recitativo:_ + + ... Most audacious Slave, + Dar'st thou an angry Monarch's Fury brave? [8] + + The Words were no sooner out of my Mouth, when a Serjeant knock'd me + down, and ask'd me if I had a Mind to Mutiny, in talking things no + Body understood. You see, Sir, my unhappy Circumstances; and if by + your Mediation you can procure a Subsidy for a Prince (who never + failed to make all that beheld him merry at his Appearance) you will + merit the Thanks of + + Your friend, + + The King of _Latium_." + + + +[Footnote 1: therefore shall] + + +[Footnote 2: whom] + + +[Footnote 3: In the opera of 'Camilla': + + Camilla: That Dorindas my Name. + + Linco: Well, I knowt, Ill take care. + + Camilla: And my Life scarce of late-- + + Linco: You need not repeat. + + Prenesto: Help me! oh help me! + + [A wild Boar struck by Prenesto.] + + Huntsman: Lets try to assist him. + + Linco: Ye Gods, what Alarm! + + Huntsman: Quick run to his aid. + + [Enter Prenesto: The Boar pursuing him.] + + Prenesto: O Heavns! who defends me? + + Camilla: My Arm. + + [She throws a Dart, and kills the Boar.] + + Linco: Dorinda of nothing afraid, + Shes sprightly and gay, a valiant Maid, + And as bright as the Day. + + Camilla: Take Courage, Hunter, the Savage is dead. + +Katherine Tofts, the daughter of a person in the family of Bishop +Burnet, had great natural charms of voice, person, and manner. Playing +with Nicolini, singing English to his Italian, she was the first of our +'prime donne' in Italian Opera. Mrs. Tofts had made much money when +in 1709 she quitted the stage with disordered intellect; her voice being +then unbroken, and her beauty in the height of its bloom. Having +recovered health, she married Mr. Joseph Smith, a rich patron of arts +and collector of books and engravings, with whom she went to Venice, +when he was sent thither as English Consul. Her madness afterwards +returned, she lived, therefore, says Sir J. Hawkins, + + 'sequestered from the world in a remote part of the house, and had a + large garden to range in, in which she would frequently walk, singing + and giving way to that innocent frenzy which had seized her in the + earlier part of her life.' + +She identified herself with the great princesses whose loves and sorrows +she had represented in her youth, and died about the year 1760.] + + +[Footnote 4: The 'Emperor of the Moon' is a farce, from the French, +by Mrs. Aphra Behn, first acted in London in 1687. It was originally +Italian, and had run 80 nights in Paris as 'Harlequin I'Empereur dans +le Monde de la Lune'. In Act II. sc. 3, + + 'The Front of the Scene is only a Curtain or Hangings to be drawn up + at Pleasure.' + +Various gay masqueraders, interrupted by return of the Doctor, are +carried by Scaramouch behind the curtain. The Doctor enters in wrath, +vowing he has heard fiddles. Presently the curtain is drawn up and +discovers where Scaramouch has + + 'plac'd them all in the Hanging in which they make the Figures, where + they stand without Motion in Postures.' + +Scaramouch professes that the noise was made by putting up this piece of +Tapestry, + + 'the best in Italy for the Rareness of the Figures, sir.' + +While the Doctor is admiring the new tapestry, said to have been sent +him as a gift, Harlequin, who is + + 'placed on a Tree in the Hangings, hits him on the 'Head with his + Truncheon.' + +The place of a particular figure in the picture, with a hand on a tree, +is that supposed to be aspired to by the 'Spectator's' next +correspondent.] + + +[Footnote 5: 'The Fortune Hunters, or Two Fools Well Met,' a Comedy +first produced in 1685, was the only work of James Carlile, a player who +quitted the stage to serve King William III. in the Irish Wars, and was +killed at the battle of Aghrim. The crowning joke of the second Act of +'the Fortune Hunters' is the return at night of Mr. Spruce, an Exchange +man, drunk and musical, to the garden-door of his house, when Mrs. +Spruce is just taking leave of young Wealthy. Wealthy hides behind the +pump. The drunken husband, who has been in a gutter, goes to the pump to +clean himself, and seizes a man's arm instead of a pump-handle. He works +it as a pump-handle, and complains that 'the pump's dry;' upon which +Young Wealthy empties a bottle of orange-flower water into his face.] + + +[Footnote 6: In the third act of Fletcher's comedy of the 'Pilgrim', +Pedro, the Pilgrim, a noble gentleman, has shown to him the interior of +a Spanish mad-house, and discovers in it his mistress Alinda, who, +disguised in a boy's dress, was found in the town the night before a +little crazed, distracted, and so sent thither. The scene here shows +various shapes of madness, + + Some of pity + That it would make ye melt to see their passions, + And some as light again. + +One is an English madman who cries, 'Give me some drink,' + + Fill me a thousand pots and froth 'em, froth 'em! + +Upon which a keeper says: + + Those English are so malt-mad, there's no meddling with 'em. + When they've a fruitful year of barley there, + All the whole Island's thus. + +We read in the text how they had produced on the stage of Drury Lane +that madman on the previous Saturday night; this Essay appearing on the +breakfast tables upon Monday morning.] + + +[Footnote 7: horse] + + +[Footnote 8: King Latinus to Turnus in Act II., sc. 10, of the opera of +'Camilla'. Posterity will never know in whose person 'Latinus, king of +Latium and of the Volscians,' abdicated his crown at the opera to take +the Queen of England's shilling. It is the only character to which, in +the opera book, no name of a performer is attached. It is a part of +sixty or seventy lines in tyrant's vein; but all recitative. The King of +Latium was not once called upon for a song.] + + + + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + + For the Good of the Publick. + +Within two Doors of the Masquerade lives an eminent Italian Chirurgeon, + arriv'd from the Carnaval at Venice, + of great Experience in private Cures. + Accommodations are provided, + and Persons admitted in their masquing Habits. + + He has cur'd since his coming thither, in less than a Fortnight, + Four Scaramouches, + a Mountebank Doctor, + Two Turkish Bassas, + Three Nuns, + and a Morris Dancer. + + 'Venienti occurrite morbo.' + + + N. B. Any Person may agree by the Great, + and be kept in Repair by the Year. + The Doctor draws Teeth without pulling off your Mask. + + R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 23. Tuesday, March 27, 1711 [1] Addison. + + + Savit atrox Volscens, nec teli conspicit usquam + Auctorem nec quo se ardens immittere possit. + + Vir. + + +There is nothing that more betrays a base, ungenerous Spirit, than the +giving of secret Stabs to a Man's Reputation. Lampoons and Satyrs, that +are written with Wit and Spirit, are like poison'd Darts, which not only +inflict a Wound, but make it incurable. For this Reason I am very much +troubled when I see the Talents of Humour and Ridicule in the Possession +of an ill-natured Man. There cannot be a greater Gratification to a +barbarous and inhuman Wit, than to stir up Sorrow in the Heart of a +private Person, to raise Uneasiness among near Relations, and to expose +whole Families to Derision, at the same time that he remains unseen and +undiscovered. If, besides the Accomplishments of being Witty and +Ill-natured, a Man is vicious into the bargain, he is one of the most +mischievous Creatures that can enter into a Civil Society. His Satyr +will then chiefly fall upon those who ought to be the most exempt from +it. Virtue, Merit, and every thing that is Praise-worthy, will be made +the Subject of Ridicule and Buffoonry. It is impossible to enumerate the +Evils which arise from these Arrows that fly in the dark, and I know no +other Excuse that is or can be made for them, than that the Wounds they +give are only Imaginary, and produce nothing more than a secret Shame or +Sorrow in the Mind of the suffering Person. It must indeed be confess'd, +that a Lampoon or a Satyr do not carry in them Robbery or Murder; but at +the same time, how many are there that would not rather lose a +considerable Sum of Mony, or even Life it self, than be set up as a Mark +of Infamy and Derision? And in this Case a Man should consider, that an +Injury is not to be measured by the Notions of him that gives, but of +him that receives it. + +Those who can put the best Countenance upon the Outrages of this nature +which are offered them, are not without their secret Anguish. I have +often observed a Passage in _Socrates's_ Behaviour at his Death, in a +Light wherein none of the Criticks have considered it. That excellent +Man, entertaining his Friends a little before he drank the Bowl of +Poison with a Discourse on the Immortality of the Soul, at his entering +upon it says, that he does not believe any the most Comick Genius can +censure him for talking upon such a Subject at such a Time. This +passage, I think, evidently glances upon _Aristophanes_, who writ a +Comedy on purpose to ridicule the Discourses of that Divine Philosopher: +[2] It has been observed by many Writers, that _Socrates_ was so little +moved at this piece of Buffoonry, that he was several times present at +its being acted upon the Stage, and never expressed the least Resentment +of it. But, with Submission, I think the Remark I have here made shows +us, that this unworthy Treatment made an impression upon his Mind, +though he had been too wise to discover it. + +When _Julius Caesar_ was Lampoon'd by _Catullus_, he invited him to a +Supper, and treated him with such a generous Civility, that he made the +Poet his friend ever after. [3] Cardinal _Mazarine_ gave the same kind +of Treatment to the learned _Quillet_, who had reflected upon his +Eminence in a famous Latin Poem. The Cardinal sent for him, and, after +some kind Expostulations upon what he had written, assured him of his +Esteem, and dismissed him with a Promise of the next good Abby that +should fall, which he accordingly conferr'd upon him in a few Months +after. This had so good an Effect upon the Author, that he dedicated the +second Edition of his Book to the Cardinal, after having expunged the +Passages which had given him offence. [4] + +_Sextus Quintus_ was not of so generous and forgiving a Temper. Upon his +being made Pope, the statue of _Pasquin_ was one Night dressed in a very +dirty Shirt, with an Excuse written under it, that he was forced to wear +foul Linnen, because his Laundress was made a Princess. This was a +Reflection upon the Pope's Sister, who, before the Promotion of her +Brother, was in those mean Circumstances that _Pasquin_ represented her. +As this Pasquinade made a great noise in _Rome_, the Pope offered a +Considerable Sum of Mony to any Person that should discover the Author +of it. The Author, relying upon his Holiness's Generosity, as also on +some private Overtures which he had received from him, made the +Discovery himself; upon which the Pope gave him the Reward he had +promised, but at the same time, to disable the Satyrist for the future, +ordered his Tongue to be cut out, and both his Hands to be chopped off. +[5] _Aretine_ [6] is too trite an instance. Every + +one knows that all the Kings of Europe were his tributaries. Nay, there +is a Letter of his extant, in which he makes his Boasts that he had laid +the Sophi of _Persia_ under Contribution. + +Though in the various Examples which I have here drawn together, these +several great Men behaved themselves very differently towards the Wits +of the Age who had reproached them, they all of them plainly showed that +they were very sensible of their Reproaches, and consequently that they +received them as very great Injuries. For my own part, I would never +trust a Man that I thought was capable of giving these secret Wounds, +and cannot but think that he would hurt the Person, whose Reputation he +thus assaults, in his Body or in his Fortune, could he do it with the +same Security. There is indeed something very barbarous and inhuman in +the ordinary Scriblers of Lampoons. An Innocent young Lady shall be +exposed, for an unhappy Feature. A Father of a Family turn'd to +Ridicule, for some domestick Calamity. A Wife be made uneasy all her +Life, for a misinterpreted Word or Action. Nay, a good, a temperate, and +a just Man, shall be put out of Countenance, by the Representation of +those Qualities that should do him Honour. So pernicious a thing is Wit, +when it is not tempered with Virtue and Humanity. + +I have indeed heard of heedless, inconsiderate Writers, that without any +Malice have sacrificed the Reputation of their Friends and Acquaintance +to a certain Levity of Temper, and a silly Ambition of distinguishing +themselves by a Spirit of Raillery and Satyr: As if it were not +infinitely more honourable to be a Good-natured Man than a Wit. Where +there is this little petulant Humour in an Author, he is often very +mischievous without designing to be so. For which Reason I always lay it +down as a Rule, that an indiscreet Man is more hurtful than an +ill-natured one; for as the former will only attack his Enemies, and +those he wishes ill to, the other injures indifferently both Friends and +Foes. I cannot forbear, on this occasion, transcribing a Fable out of +Sir _Roger l'Estrange_, [7] which accidentally lies before me. + + 'A company of Waggish Boys were watching of Frogs at the side of a + Pond, and still as any of 'em put up their Heads, they'd be pelting + them down again with Stones. _Children_ (says one of the Frogs), _you + never consider that though this may be Play to you, 'tis Death to us_.' + +As this Week is in a manner set apart and dedicated to Serious Thoughts, +[8] I shall indulge my self in such Speculations as may not be +altogether unsuitable to the Season; and in the mean time, as the +settling in our selves a Charitable Frame of Mind is a Work very proper +for the Time, I have in this Paper endeavoured to expose that particular +Breach of Charity which has been generally over-looked by Divines, +because they are but few who can be guilty of it. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: At the top of this paper in a 12mo copy of the _Spectator_, +published in 17l2, and annotated by a contemporary Spanish merchant, is +written, 'The character of Dr Swift.' This proves that the writer of the +note had an ill opinion of Dr Swift and a weak sense of the purport of +what he read. Swift, of course, understood what he read. At this time he +was fretting under the sense of a chill in friendship between himself +and Addison, but was enjoying his _Spectators_. A week before this date, +on the 16th of March, he wrote, + + 'Have you seen the 'Spectators' yet, a paper that comes out every + day? It is written by Mr. Steele, who seems to have gathered new life + and have a new fund of wit; it is in the same nature as his + 'Tatlers', and they have all of them had something pretty. I + believe Addison and he club.' + +Then he adds a complaint of the chill in their friendship. A month after +the date of this paper Swift wrote in his journal, + + 'The 'Spectator' is written by Steele with Addison's help; 'tis + often very pretty.' + +Later in the year, in June and September, he records dinner and supper +with his friends of old time, and says of Addison, + + 'I yet know no man half so agreeable to me as he is.'] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Plato's Phaedon', § 40. The ridicule of Socrates in +'The Clouds' of Aristophanes includes the accusation that he +displaced Zeus and put in his place Dinos,--Rotation. When Socrates, at +the point of death, assents to the request that he should show grounds +for his faith + + 'that when the man is dead, the soul exists and retains thought and + power,' Plato represents him as suggesting: Not the sharpest censor + 'could say that in now discussing such matters, I am dealing with what + does not concern me.'] + + +[Footnote 3: The bitter attack upon Cæsar and his parasite Mamurra was +notwithdrawn, but remains to us as No. 29 of the Poems of Catullus. The +doubtful authority for Cæsar's answer to it is the statement in the Life +of Julius Cæsar by Suetonius that, on the day of its appearance, +Catullus apologized and was invited to supper; Cæsar abiding also by his +old familiar friendship with the poet's father. This is the attack said +to be referred to in one of Cicero's letters to Atticus (the last of Bk. +XIII.), in which he tells how Cæsar was + + 'after the eighth hour in the bath; then he heard _De Mamurrâ_; + did not change countenance; was anointed; lay down; took an emetic.'] + + +[Footnote 4: Claude Quillet published a Latin poem in four books, +entitled '_Callipædia_, seu de pulchræ prolis habendâ ratione,' at +Leyden, under the name of Calvidius Lætus, in 1655. In discussing unions +harmonious and inharmonious he digressed into an invective against +marriages of Powers, when not in accordance with certain conditions; and +complained that France entered into such unions prolific only of ill, +witness her gift of sovereign power to a Sicilian stranger. + + 'Trinacriis devectus ab oris advena.' + +Mazarin, though born at Rome, was of Sicilian family. In the second +edition, published at Paris in 1656, dedicated to the cardinal Mazarin, the +passages complained of were omitted for the reason and with the result told +in the text; the poet getting 'une jolie Abbaye de 400 pistoles,' which he +enjoyed until his death (aged 59) in 1661.] + + +[Footnote 5: Pasquino is the name of a torso, perhaps of Menelaus +supporting the dead body of Patroclus, in the Piazza di Pasquino in +Rome, at the corner of the Braschi Palace. To this modern Romans affixed +their scoffs at persons or laws open to ridicule or censure. The name of +the statue is accounted for by the tradition that there was in Rome, at +the beginning of the 16th century, a cobbler or tailor named Pasquino, +whose humour for sharp satire made his stall a place of common resort +for the idle, who would jest together at the passers-by. After +Pasquino's death his stall was removed, and in digging up its floor +there was found the broken statue of a gladiator. In this, when it was +set up, the gossips who still gathered there to exercise their wit, +declared that Pasquino lived again. There was a statue opposite to it +called Marforio--perhaps because it had been brought from the Forum of +Mars--with which the statue of Pasquin used to hold witty conversation; +questions affixed to one receiving soon afterwards salted answers on the +other. It was in answer to Marforio's question, Why he wore a dirty +shirt? that Pasquin's statue gave the answer cited in the text, when, in +1585, Pope Sixtus V. had brought to Rome, and lodged there in great +state, his sister Camilla, who had been a laundress and was married to a +carpenter. The Pope's bait for catching the offender was promise of life +and a thousand doubloons if he declared himself, death on the gallows if +his name were disclosed by another.] + + +[Footnote 6: The satirist Pietro d'Arezzo (Aretino), the most famous +among twenty of the name, was in his youth banished from Arezzo for +satire of the Indulgence trade of Leo XI. But he throve instead of +suffering by his audacity of bitterness, and rose to honour as the +Scourge of Princes, _il Flagello de' Principi_. Under Clement VII. +he was at Rome in the Pope's service. Francis I of France gave him a +gold chain. Emperor Charles V gave him a pension of 200 scudi. He died +in 1557, aged 66, called by himself and his compatriots, though his wit +often was beastly, Aretino 'the divine.'] + + +[Footnote 7: From the 'Fables of Æsop and other eminent Mythologists, +with 'Morals and Reflections. By Sir Roger l'Estrange.' The vol. +contains Fables of Æsop, Barlandus, Anianus, Abstemius, Poggio the +Florentine, Miscellany from a Common School Book, and a Supplement of +Fables out of several authors, in which last section is that of the Boys +and Frogs, which Addison has copied out verbatim. Sir R. l'Estrange had +died in 1704, aged 88.] + + +[Footnote 8: Easter Day in 1711 fell on the 1st of April.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 24. Wednesday, March 28, 1711. Steele. + + + + Accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum; + Arreptaque manu, Quid agis dulcissime rerum? + + Hor. + + +There are in this Town a great Number of insignificant People, who are +by no means fit for the better sort of Conversation, and yet have an +impertinent Ambition of appearing with those to whom they are not +welcome. If you walk in the _Park_, one of them will certainly joyn with +you, though you are in Company with Ladies; if you drink a Bottle, they +will find your Haunts. What makes [such Fellows [1]] the more burdensome +is, that they neither offend nor please so far as to be taken Notice of +for either. It is, I presume, for this Reason that my Correspondents are +willing by my Means to be rid of them. The two following Letters are +writ by Persons who suffer by such Impertinence. A worthy old +Batchelour, who sets in for his Dose of Claret every Night at such an +Hour, is teized by a Swarm of them; who because they are sure of Room +and good Fire, have taken it in their Heads to keep a sort of Club in +his Company; tho' the sober Gentleman himself is an utter Enemy to such +Meetings. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'The Aversion I for some Years have had to Clubs in general, gave me a + perfect Relish for your Speculation on that Subject; but I have since + been extremely mortified, by the malicious World's ranking me amongst + the Supporters of such impertinent Assemblies. I beg Leave to state my + Case fairly; and that done, I shall expect Redress from your judicious + Pen. + + I am, Sir, a Batchelour of some standing, and a Traveller; my + Business, to consult my own Humour, which I gratify without + controuling other People's; I have a Room and a whole Bed to myself; + and I have a Dog, a Fiddle, and a Gun; they please me, and injure no + Creature alive. My chief Meal is a Supper, which I always make at a + Tavern. I am constant to an Hour, and not ill-humour'd; for which + Reasons, tho' I invite no Body, I have no sooner supp'd, than I have a + Crowd about me of that sort of good Company that know not whither else + to go. It is true every Man pays his Share, yet as they are Intruders, + I have an undoubted Right to be the only Speaker, or at least the + loudest; which I maintain, and that to the great Emolument of my + Audience. I sometimes tell them their own in pretty free Language; and + sometimes divert them with merry Tales, according as I am in Humour. I + am one of those who live in Taverns to a great Age, by a sort of + regular Intemperance; I never go to Bed drunk, but always flustered; I + wear away very gently; am apt to be peevish, but never angry. Mr. + SPECTATOR, if you have kept various Company, you know there is in + every Tavern in Town some old Humourist or other, who is Master of the + House as much as he that keeps it. The Drawers are all in Awe of him; + and all the Customers who frequent his Company, yield him a sort of + comical Obedience. I do not know but I may be such a Fellow as this my + self. But I appeal to you, whether this is to be called a Club, + because so many Impertinents will break in upon me, and come without + Appointment? 'Clinch of Barnet' [2] has a nightly Meeting, and shows + to every one that will come in and pay; but then he is the only Actor. + Why should People miscall things? + + If his is allowed to be a Consort, why mayn't mine be a Lecture? + However, Sir, I submit it to you, and am, + + Sir, + + Your most obedient, Etc. + + Tho. Kimbow.' + + * * * + + Good Sir, + + 'You and I were press'd against each other last Winter in a Crowd, in + which uneasy Posture we suffer'd together for almost Half an Hour. I + thank you for all your Civilities ever since, in being of my + Acquaintance wherever you meet me. But the other Day you pulled off + your Hat to me in the _Park_, when I was walking with my Mistress: She + did not like your Air, and said she wonder'd what strange Fellows I + was acquainted with. Dear Sir, consider it is as much as my Life is + Worth, if she should think we were intimate; therefore I earnestly + intreat you for the Future to take no Manner of Notice of, + + Sir, + + Your obliged humble Servant, + + Will. Fashion.' + + +[A like [3]] Impertinence is also very troublesome to the superior and +more intelligent Part of the fair Sex. It is, it seems, a great +Inconvenience, that those of the meanest Capacities will pretend to make +Visits, tho' indeed they are qualify'd rather to add to the Furniture of +the House (by filling an empty Chair) than to the Conversation they come +into when they visit. A Friend of mine hopes for Redress in this Case, +by the Publication of her Letter in my Paper; which she thinks those she +would be rid of will take to themselves. It seems to be written with an +Eye to one of those pert giddy unthinking Girls, who, upon the +Recommendation only of an agreeable Person and a fashionable Air, take +themselves to be upon a Level with Women of the greatest Merit. + + + Madam, + + 'I take this Way to acquaint you with what common Rules and Forms + would never permit me to tell you otherwise; to wit, that you and I, + tho' Equals in Quality and Fortune, are by no Means suitable + Companions. You are, 'tis true, very pretty, can dance, and make a + very good Figure in a publick Assembly; but alass, Madam, you must go + no further; Distance and Silence are your best Recommendations; + therefore let me beg of you never to make me any more Visits. You come + in a literal Sense to see one, for you have nothing to say. I do not + say this that I would by any Means lose your Acquaintance; but I would + keep it up with the Strictest Forms of good Breeding. Let us pay + Visits, but never see one another: If you will be so good as to deny + your self always to me, I shall return the Obligation by giving the + same Orders to my Servants. When Accident makes us meet at a third + Place, we may mutually lament the Misfortune of never finding one + another at home, go in the same Party to a Benefit-Play, and smile at + each other and put down Glasses as we pass in our Coaches. Thus we may + enjoy as much of each others Friendship as we are capable: For there + are some People who are to be known only by Sight, with which sort of + Friendship I hope you will always honour, + + Madam, + Your most obedient humble Servant, + Mary Tuesday. + + + P.S. I subscribe my self by the Name of the Day I keep, that my + supernumerary Friends may know who I am. + + + +[Footnote 1: these People] + + +[Footnote 2: Clinch of Barnet, whose place of performance was at the +corner of Bartholomew Lane, behind the Royal Exchange, imitated, +according to his own advertisement, + + 'the Horses, the Huntsmen and a Pack of Hounds, a Sham Doctor, an old + Woman, the Bells, the Flute, the Double Curtell (or bassoon) and the + Organ,--all with his own Natural Voice, to the greatest perfection.' + +The price of admission was a shilling.] + + +[Footnote 3: This] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + + To prevent all Mistakes that may happen + among Gentlemen of the other End of the Town, + who come but once a Week to St. _James's_ Coffee-house, + either by miscalling the Servants, + or requiring such things from them + as are not properly within their respective Provinces; + this is to give Notice, + that _Kidney,_ Keeper of the Book-Debts of the outlying Customers, + and Observer of those who go off without paying, + having resigned that Employment, + is succeeded by _John Sowton_; + to whose Place of Enterer of Messages and first Coffee-Grinder, + _William Bird_ is promoted; + and _Samuel Burdock_ comes as Shooe-Cleaner + in the Room of the said _Bird_. + + R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 25. Thursday, March 29, 1711. Addison. + + + + ... Ægrescitque medendo. + + Vir. + + +The following Letter will explain it self, and needs no Apology. + + + SIR, + + 'I am one of that sickly Tribe who are commonly known by the Name of + _Valetudinarians_, and do confess to you, that I first contracted this + ill Habit of Body, or rather of Mind, by the Study of Physick. I no + sooner began to peruse Books of this Nature, but I found my Pulse was + irregular, and scarce ever read the Account of any Disease that I did + not fancy my self afflicted with. Dr. _Sydenham's_ learned Treatise of + Fevers [1] threw me into a lingring Hectick, which hung upon me all + the while I was reading that excellent Piece. I then applied my self + to the Study of several Authors, who have written upon Phthisical + Distempers, and by that means fell into a Consumption, till at length, + growing very fat, I was in a manner shamed out of that Imagination. + Not long after this I found in my self all the Symptoms of the Gout, + except Pain, but was cured of it by a Treatise upon the Gravel, + written by a very Ingenious Author, who (as it is usual for Physicians + to convert one Distemper into another) eased me of the Gout by giving + me the Stone. I at length studied my self into a Complication of + Distempers; but accidentally taking into my Hand that Ingenious + Discourse written by _Sanctorius_, [2] I was resolved to direct my + self by a Scheme of Rules, which I had collected from his + Observations. The Learned World are very well acquainted with that + Gentleman's Invention; who, for the better carrying on of his + Experiments, contrived a certain Mathematical Chair, which was so + Artifically hung upon Springs, that it would weigh any thing as well + as a Pair of Scales. By this means he discovered how many Ounces of + his Food pass'd by Perspiration, what quantity of it was turned into + Nourishment, and how much went away by the other Channels and + Distributions of Nature. + + Having provided myself with this Chair, I used to Study, Eat, Drink, + and Sleep in it; insomuch that I may be said, for these three last + Years, to have lived in a Pair of Scales. I compute my self, when I am + in full Health, to be precisely Two Hundred Weight, falling short of + it about a Pound after a Day's Fast, and exceeding it as much after a + very full Meal; so that it is my continual Employment, to trim the + Ballance between these two Volatile Pounds in my Constitution. In my + ordinary Meals I fetch my self up to two Hundred Weight and [a half + pound [3]]; and if after having dined I find my self fall short of it, + I drink just so much Small Beer, or eat such a quantity of Bread, as + is sufficient to make me weight. In my greatest Excesses I do not + transgress more than the other half Pound; which, for my Healths sake, + I do the first _Monday_ in every Month. As soon as I find my self duly + poised after Dinner, I walk till I have perspired five Ounces and four + Scruples; and when I discover, by my Chair, that I am so far reduced, + I fall to my Books, and Study away three Ounces more. As for the + remaining Parts of the Pound, I keep no account of them. I do not dine + and sup by the Clock, but by my Chair, for when that informs me my + Pound of Food is exhausted I conclude my self to be hungry, and lay in + another with all Diligence. In my Days of Abstinence I lose a Pound + and an half, and on solemn Fasts am two Pound lighter than on other + Days in the Year. + + I allow my self, one Night with another, a Quarter of a Pound of Sleep + within a few Grains more or less; and if upon my rising I find that I + have not consumed my whole quantity, I take out the rest in my Chair. + Upon an exact Calculation of what I expended and received the last + Year, which I always register in a Book, I find the Medium to be two + hundred weight, so that I cannot discover that I am impaired one Ounce + in my Health during a whole Twelvemonth. And yet, Sir, notwithstanding + this my great care to ballast my self equally every Day, and to keep + my Body in its proper Poise, so it is that I find my self in a sick + and languishing Condition. My Complexion is grown very sallow, my + Pulse low, and my Body Hydropical. Let me therefore beg you, Sir, to + consider me as your Patient, and to give me more certain Rules to walk + by than those I have already observed, and you will very much oblige + + _Your Humble Servant_.' + +This Letter puts me in mind of an _Italian_ Epitaph written on the +Monument of a Valetudinarian; 'Stavo ben, ma per star Meglio, sto +qui': Which it is impossible to translate. [4] The Fear of Death often +proves mortal, and sets People on Methods to save their Lives, which +infallibly destroy them. This is a Reflection made by some Historians, +upon observing that there are many more thousands killed in a Flight +than in a Battel, and may be applied to those Multitudes of Imaginary +Sick Persons that break their Constitutions by Physick, and throw +themselves into the Arms of Death, by endeavouring to escape it. This +Method is not only dangerous, but below the Practice of a Reasonable +Creature. To consult the Preservation of Life, as the only End of it, To +make our Health our Business, To engage in no Action that is not part of +a Regimen, or course of Physick, are Purposes so abject, so mean, so +unworthy human Nature, that a generous Soul would rather die than submit +to them. Besides that a continual Anxiety for Life vitiates all the +Relishes of it, and casts a Gloom over the whole Face of Nature; as it +is impossible we should take Delight in any thing that we are every +Moment afraid of losing. + +I do not mean, by what I have here said, that I think any one to blame +for taking due Care of their Health. On the contrary, as Cheerfulness of +Mind, and Capacity for Business, are in a great measure the Effects of a +well-tempered Constitution, a Man cannot be at too much Pains to +cultivate and preserve it. But this Care, which we are prompted to, not +only by common Sense, but by Duty and Instinct, should never engage us +in groundless Fears, melancholly Apprehensions and imaginary Distempers, +which are natural to every Man who is more anxious to live than how to +live. In short, the Preservation of Life should be only a secondary +Concern, and the Direction of it our Principal. If we have this Frame of +Mind, we shall take the best Means to preserve Life, without being +over-sollicitous about the Event; and shall arrive at that Point of +Felicity which _Martial_ has mentioned as the Perfection of Happiness, +of neither fearing nor wishing for Death. + +In answer to the Gentleman, who tempers his Health by Ounces and by +Scruples, and instead of complying with those natural Sollicitations of +Hunger and Thirst, Drowsiness or Love of Exercise, governs himself by +the Prescriptions of his Chair, I shall tell him a short Fable. + +_Jupiter_, says the Mythologist, to reward the Piety of a certain +Country-man, promised to give him whatever he would ask. The Country-man +desired that he might have the Management of the Weather in his own +Estate: He obtained his Request, and immediately distributed Rain, Snow, +and Sunshine, among his several Fields, as he thought the Nature of the +Soil required. At the end of the Year, when he expected to see a more +than ordinary Crop, his Harvest fell infinitely short of that of his +Neighbours: Upon which (says the fable) he desired _Jupiter_ to take the +Weather again into his own Hands, or that otherwise he should utterly +ruin himself. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Thomas Sydenham died in 1689, aged 65. He was the +friend of Boyle and Locke, and has sometimes been called the English +Hippocrates; though brethren of an older school endeavoured, but in +vain, to banish him as a heretic out of the College of Physicians. His +'Methodus Curandi Febres' was first published in 1666.] + + +[Footnote 2: Sanctorius, a Professor of Medicine at Padua, who died in +1636, aged 75, was the first to discover the insensible perspiration, +and he discriminated the amount of loss by it in experiments upon +himself by means of his Statical Chair. His observations were published +at Venice in 1614, in his 'Ars de Static Medicind', and led to the +increased use of Sudorifics. A translation of Sanctorius by Dr. John +Quincy appeared in 1712, the year after the publication of this essay. +The 'Art of Static Medicine' was also translated into French by M. Le +Breton, in 1722. Dr. John Quincy became well known as the author of a +'Complete Dispensatory' (1719, &c.).] + + +[Footnote 3: an half] + + +[Footnote 4: The old English reading is: + + 'I was well; I would be better; and here I am.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 26. Friday, March 30, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Pallida mors aquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas + Regumque turres, O beate Sexti, + Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. + Jam te premet nox, fabulæque manes, + Et domus exilis Plutonia.' + + Hor. + + +When I am in a serious Humour, I very often walk by my self in +_Westminster_ Abbey; where the Gloominess of the Place, and the Use to +which it is applied, with the Solemnity of the Building, and the +Condition of the People who lye in it, are apt to fill the Mind with a +kind of Melancholy, or rather Thoughtfulness, that is not disagreeable. +I Yesterday pass'd a whole Afternoon in the Church-yard, the Cloysters, +and the Church, amusing myself with the Tomb-stones and Inscriptions +that I met with in those several Regions of the Dead. Most of them +recorded nothing else of the buried Person, but that he was born upon +one Day and died upon another: The whole History of his Life, being +comprehended in those two Circumstances, that are common to all Mankind. +I could not but look upon these Registers of Existence, whether of Brass +or Marble, as a kind of Satyr upon the departed Persons; who had left no +other Memorial of them, but that they were born and that they died. They +put me in mind of several Persons mentioned in the Battles of Heroic +Poems, who have sounding Names given them, for no other Reason but that +they may be killed, and are celebrated for nothing but being knocked on +the Head. + + [Greek: Glaukon te, Medónta te, Thersilochón te]--Hom. + + _Glaucumque, Medontaque, Thersilochumque_.--Virg. + +The Life of these Men is finely described in Holy Writ by _the Path of +an Arrow_ which is immediately closed up and lost. Upon my going into +the Church, I entertain'd my self with the digging of a Grave; and saw +in every Shovel-full of it that was thrown up, the Fragment of a Bone or +Skull intermixt with a kind of fresh mouldering Earth that some time or +other had a Place in the Composition of an humane Body. Upon this, I +began to consider with my self, what innumerable Multitudes of People +lay confus'd together under the Pavement of that ancient Cathedral; how +Men and Women, Friends and Enemies, Priests and Soldiers, Monks and +Prebendaries, were crumbled amongst one another, and blended together in +the same common Mass; how Beauty, Strength, and Youth, with Old-age, +Weakness, and Deformity, lay undistinguish'd in the same promiscuous +Heap of Matter. + +After having thus surveyed this great Magazine of Mortality, as it were +in the Lump, I examined it more particularly by the Accounts which I +found on several of the Monuments [which [1]] are raised in every +Quarter of that ancient Fabrick. Some of them were covered with such +extravagant Epitaphs, that, if it were possible for the dead Person to +be acquainted with them, he would blush at the Praises which his Friends +[have [2]] bestowed upon him. There are others so excessively modest, +that they deliver the Character of the Person departed in Greek or +Hebrew, and by that Means are not understood once in a Twelve-month. In +the poetical Quarter, I found there were Poets [who [3]] had no +Monuments, and Monuments [which [4]] had no Poets. I observed indeed +that the present War [5] had filled the Church with many of these +uninhabited Monuments, which had been erected to the Memory of Persons +whose Bodies were perhaps buried in the Plains of _Blenheim_, or in +the Bosom of the Ocean. + +I could not but be very much delighted with several modern Epitaphs, +which are written with great Elegance of Expression and Justness of +Thought, and therefore do Honour to the Living as well as to the Dead. +As a Foreigner is very apt to conceive an Idea of the Ignorance or +Politeness of a Nation from the Turn of their publick Monuments and +Inscriptions, they should be submitted to the Perusal of Men of Learning +and Genius before they are put in Execution. Sir _Cloudesly +Shovel's_ Monument has very often given me great Offence: Instead of +the brave rough English Admiral, which was the distinguishing Character +of that plain gallant Man, [6] he is represented on his Tomb by the +Figure of a Beau, dress'd in a long Perriwig, and reposing himself upon +Velvet Cushions under a Canopy of State, The Inscription is answerable +to the Monument; for, instead of celebrating the many remarkable Actions +he had performed in the service of his Country, it acquaints us only +with the Manner of his Death, in which it was impossible for him to reap +any Honour. The _Dutch_, whom we are apt to despise for want of +Genius, shew an infinitely greater Taste of Antiquity and Politeness in +their Buildings and Works of this Nature, than what we meet with in +those of our own Country. The Monuments of their Admirals, which have +been erected at the publick Expence, represent them like themselves; and +are adorned with rostral Crowns and naval Ornaments, with beautiful +Festoons of [Seaweed], Shells, and Coral. + +But to return to our Subject. I have left the Repository of our English +Kings for the Contemplation of another Day, when I shall find my Mind +disposed for so serious an Amusement. I know that Entertainments of this +Nature, are apt to raise dark and dismal Thoughts in timorous Minds and +gloomy Imaginations; but for my own Part, though I am always serious, I +do not know what it is to be melancholy; and can, therefore, take a View +of Nature in her deep and solemn Scenes, with the same Pleasure as in +her most gay and delightful ones. By this Means I can improve my self +with those Objects, which others consider with Terror. When I look upon +the Tombs of the Great, every Emotion of Envy dies in me; when I read +the Epitaphs of the Beautiful, every inordinate Desire goes out; when I +meet with the Grief of Parents upon a Tombstone, my Heart melts with +Compassion; when I see the Tomb of the Parents themselves, I consider +the Vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow: When I see +Kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival Wits placed +Side by Side, or the holy Men that divided the World with their Contests +and Disputes, I reflect with Sorrow and Astonishment on the little +Competitions, Factions and Debates of Mankind. When I read the several +Dates of the Tombs, of some that dy'd Yesterday, and some six hundred +Years ago, I consider that great Day when we shall all of us be +Contemporaries, and make our Appearance together. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: had] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnote 5: At the close of the reign of William III. the exiled James +II died, and France proclaimed his son as King of England. William III +thus was enabled to take England with him into the European War of the +Spanish Succession. The accession of Queen Anne did not check the +movement, and, on the 4th of May, 1702, war was declared against France +and Spain by England, the Empire, and Holland. The war then begun had +lasted throughout the Queen's reign, and continued, after the writing of +the _Spectator_ Essays, until the signing of the Peace of Utrecht +on the 11th of April, 1713, which was not a year and a half before the +Queen's death, on the 1st of August, 1714. In this war Marlborough had +among his victories, Blenheim, 1704, Ramilies, 1706, Oudenarde, 1708, +Malplaquet, 1709. At sea Sir George Rooke had defeated the French fleet +off Vigo, in October, 1702, and in a bloody battle off Malaga, in +August, 1704, after his capture of Gibraltar.] + + +[Footnote 6: Sir Cloudesly Shovel, a brave man of humble birth, who, +from a cabin boy, became, through merit, an admiral, died by the wreck +of his fleet on the Scilly Islands as he was returning from an +unsuccessful attack on Toulon. His body was cast on the shore, robbed of +a ring by some fishermen, and buried in the sand. The ring discovering +his quality, he was disinterred, and brought home for burial in +Westminster Abbey.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 27. Saturday, March 31, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Ut nox longa, quibus Mentitur arnica, diesque + Longa videtur opus debentibus, ut piger Annus + Pupillis, quos dura premit Custodia matrum, + Sic mihi Tarda fluunt ingrataque Tempora, quæ spem + Consiliumque morantur agendi Gnaviter, id quod + Æquè pauperibus prodest, Locupletibus aquè, + Æquè neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit.' + + Hor. + + +There is scarce a thinking Man in the World, who is involved in the +Business of it, but lives under a secret Impatience of the Hurry and +Fatigue he suffers, and has formed a Resolution to fix himself, one time +or other, in such a State as is suitable to the End of his Being. You +hear Men every Day in Conversation profess, that all the Honour, Power, +and Riches which they propose to themselves, cannot give Satisfaction +enough to reward them for half the Anxiety they undergo in the Pursuit, +or Possession of them. While Men are in this Temper (which happens very +frequently) how inconsistent are they with themselves? They are wearied +with the Toil they bear, but cannot find in their Hearts to relinquish +it; Retirement is what they want, but they cannot betake themselves to +it; While they pant after Shade and Covert, they still affect to appear +in the most glittering Scenes of Life: But sure this is but just as +reasonable as if a Man should call for more Lights, when he has a mind +to go to Sleep. + +Since then it is certain that our own Hearts deceive us in the Love of +the World, and that we cannot command our selves enough to resign it, +tho' we every Day wish our selves disengaged from its Allurements; let +us not stand upon a Formal taking of Leave, but wean our selves from +them, while we are in the midst of them. + +It is certainly the general Intention of the greater Part of Mankind to +accomplish this Work, and live according to their own Approbation, as +soon as they possibly can: But since the Duration of Life is so +incertain, and that has been a common Topick of Discourse ever since +there was such a thing as Life it self, how is it possible that we +should defer a Moment the beginning to Live according to the Rules of +Reason? + +The Man of Business has ever some one Point to carry, and then he tells +himself he'll bid adieu to all the Vanity of Ambition: The Man of +Pleasure resolves to take his leave at least, and part civilly with his +Mistress: But the Ambitious Man is entangled every Moment in a fresh +Pursuit, and the Lover sees new Charms in the Object he fancy'd he could +abandon. It is, therefore, a fantastical way of thinking, when we +promise our selves an Alteration in our Conduct from change of Place, +and difference of Circumstances; the same Passions will attend us +where-ever we are, till they are Conquered, and we can never live to our +Satisfaction in the deepest Retirement, unless we are capable of living +so in some measure amidst the Noise and Business of the World. + +I have ever thought Men were better known, by what could be observed of +them from a Perusal of their private Letters, than any other way. My +Friend, the Clergyman, [1] the other Day, upon serious Discourse with +him concerning the Danger of Procrastination, gave me the following +Letters from Persons with whom he lives in great Friendship and +Intimacy, according to the good Breeding and good Sense of his +Character. The first is from a Man of Business, who is his Convert; The +second from one of whom he conceives good Hopes; The third from one who +is in no State at all, but carried one way and another by starts. + + + SIR, + + 'I know not with what Words to express to you the Sense I have of the + high Obligation you have laid upon me, in the Penance you enjoined me + of doing some Good or other, to a Person of Worth, every Day I live. + The Station I am in furnishes me with daily Opportunities of this + kind: and the Noble Principle with which you have inspired me, of + Benevolence to all I have to deal with, quickens my Application in + every thing I undertake. When I relieve Merit from Discountenance, + when I assist a Friendless Person, when I produce conceal'd Worth, I + am displeas'd with my self, for having design'd to leave the World in + order to be Virtuous. I am sorry you decline the Occasions which the + Condition I am in might afford me of enlarging your Fortunes; but know + I contribute more to your Satisfaction, when I acknowledge I am the + better Man, from the Influence and Authority you have over, + SIR, + Your most Oblig'd and Most Humble, Servant, + R. O.' + + + * * * + + SIR, + + 'I am intirely convinced of the Truth of what you were pleas'd to say + to me, when I was last with you alone. You told me then of the silly + way I was in; but you told me so, as I saw you loved me, otherwise I + could not obey your Commands in letting you know my Thoughts so + sincerely as I do at present. I know _the Creature for whom I resign + so much of my Character_ is all that you said of her; but then the + Trifler has something in her so undesigning and harmless, that her + Guilt in one kind disappears by the Comparison of her Innocence in + another. Will you, Virtuous Men, allow no alteration of Offences? Must + Dear [Chloe [2]] be called by the hard Name you pious People give to + common Women? I keep the solemn Promise I made you, in writing to you + the State of my Mind, after your kind Admonition; and will endeavour + to get the better of this Fondness, which makes me so much her humble + Servant, that I am almost asham'd to Subscribe my self + Yours, + T. D.' + + * * * + + SIR, + + 'There is no State of Life so Anxious as that of a Man who does not + live according to the Dictates of his own Reason. It will seem odd to + you, when I assure you that my Love of Retirement first of all brought + me to Court; but this will be no Riddle, when I acquaint you that I + placed my self here with a Design of getting so much Mony as might + enable me to Purchase a handsome Retreat in the Country. At present my + Circumstances enable me, and my Duty prompts me, to pass away the + remaining Part of my Life in such a Retirement as I at first proposed + to my self; but to my great Misfortune I have intirely lost the Relish + of it, and shou'd now return to the Country with greater Reluctance + than I at first came to Court. I am so unhappy, as to know that what I + am fond of are Trifles, and that what I neglect is of the greatest + Importance: In short, I find a Contest in my own Mind between Reason + and Fashion. I remember you once told me, that I might live in the + World, and out of it, at the same time. Let me beg of you to explain + this Paradox more at large to me, that I may conform my Life, if + possible, both to my Duty and my Inclination. + I am, + Your most humble Servant, + R.B.' + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: See the close of No. 2.] + + +[Footnote 2: blank left] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 28. Monday, April 2, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Neque semper arcum + Tendit Apollo.' + + Hor. + + +I shall here present my Reader with a Letter from a Projector, +concerning a new Office which he thinks may very much contribute to the +Embellishment of the City, and to the driving Barbarity out of our +Streets. [I consider it as a Satyr upon Projectors in general, and a +lively Picture of the whole Art of Modern Criticism. [1]] + + + SIR, + + 'Observing that you have Thoughts of creating certain Officers under + you for the Inspection of several petty Enormities which you your self + cannot attend to; and finding daily Absurdities hung out upon the + Sign-Posts of this City, [2] to the great Scandal of Foreigners, as + well as those of our own Country, who are curious Spectators of the + same: I do humbly propose, that you would be pleased to make me your + Superintendant of all such Figures and Devices, as are or shall be + made use of on this Occasion; with full Powers to rectify or expunge + whatever I shall find irregular or defective. For want of such an + Officer, there is nothing like sound Literature and good Sense to be + met with in those Objects, that are everywhere thrusting themselves + out to the Eye, and endeavouring to become visible. Our streets are + filled with blue Boars, black Swans, and red Lions; not to mention + flying Pigs, and Hogs in Armour, with many other Creatures more + extraordinary than any in the desarts of _Africk._ Strange! that one + who has all the Birds and Beasts in Nature to chuse out of, should + live at the Sign of an _Ens Rationis!_ + + My first Task, therefore, should be, like that of _Hercules_, to clear + the City from Monsters. In the second Place, I would forbid, that + Creatures of jarring and incongruous Natures should be joined together + in the same Sign; such as the Bell and the Neats-tongue, the Dog and + Gridiron. The Fox and Goose may be supposed to have met, but what has + the Fox and the Seven Stars to do together? and when did the Lamb [3] + and Dolphin ever meet, except upon a Sign-Post? As for the Cat and + Fiddle, there is a Conceit in it, and therefore, I do not intend that + anything I have here said should affect it. I must however observe to + you upon this Subject, that it is usual for a young Tradesman, at his + first setting up, to add to his own Sign that of the Master whom he + serv'd; as the Husband, after Marriage, gives a Place to his + Mistress's Arms in his own Coat. This I take to have given Rise to + many of those Absurdities which are committed over our Heads, and, as + I am inform'd, first occasioned the three Nuns and a Hare, which we + see so frequently joined together. I would, therefore, establish + certain Rules, for the determining how far one Tradesman may _give_ + the Sign of another, and in what Cases he may be allowed to quarter it + with his own. + + In the third place, I would enjoin every Shop to make use of a Sign + which bears some Affinity to the Wares in which it deals. What can be + more inconsistent, than to see a Bawd at the Sign of the Angel, or a + Taylor at the Lion? A Cook should not live at the Boot, nor a + Shoemaker at the roasted Pig; and yet, for want of this Regulation, I + have seen a Goat set up before the Door of a Perfumer, and the French + King's Head at a Sword-Cutler's. + + An ingenious Foreigner observes, that several of those Gentlemen who + value themselves upon their Families, and overlook such as are bred to + Trade, bear the Tools of their Fore-fathers in their Coats of Arms. I + will not examine how true this is in Fact: But though it may not be + necessary for Posterity thus to set up the Sign of their Fore-fathers; + I think it highly proper for those who actually profess the Trade, to + shew some such Marks of it before their Doors. + + When the Name gives an Occasion for an ingenious Sign-post, I would + likewise advise the Owner to take that Opportunity of letting the + World know who he is. It would have been ridiculous for the ingenious + Mrs. _Salmon_ [4] to have lived at the Sign of the Trout; for which + Reason she has erected before her House the Figure of the Fish that is + her Namesake. Mr. _Bell_ has likewise distinguished himself by a + Device of the same Nature: And here, Sir, I must beg Leave to observe + to you, that this particular Figure of a Bell has given Occasion to + several Pieces of Wit in this Kind. A Man of your Reading must know, + that _Abel Drugger_ gained great Applause by it in the Time of _Ben + Johnson_ [5]. Our Apocryphal Heathen God [6] is also represented by + this Figure; which, in conjunction with the Dragon, make a very + handsome picture in several of our Streets. As for the Bell-Savage, + which is the Sign of a savage Man standing by a Bell, I was formerly + very much puzzled upon the Conceit of it, till I accidentally fell + into the reading of an old Romance translated out of the French; which + gives an Account of a very beautiful Woman who was found in a + Wilderness, and is called in the French _la_ _belle Sauvage_; and is + everywhere translated by our Countrymen the Bell-Savage. This Piece of + Philology will, I hope, convince you that I have made Sign posts my + Study, and consequently qualified my self for the Employment which I + sollicit at your Hands. But before I conclude my Letter, I must + communicate to you another Remark, which I have made upon the Subject + with which I am now entertaining you, namely, that I can give a shrewd + Guess at the Humour of the Inhabitant by the Sign that hangs before + his Door. A surly cholerick Fellow generally makes Choice of a Bear; + as Men of milder Dispositions, frequently live at the Lamb. Seeing a + Punch-Bowl painted upon a Sign near _Charing Cross_, and very + curiously garnished, with a couple of Angels hovering over it and + squeezing a Lemmon into it, I had the Curiosity to ask after the + Master of the House, and found upon Inquiry, as I had guessed by the + little _Agréemens_ upon his Sign, that he was a Frenchman. I know, + Sir, it is not requisite for me to enlarge upon these Hints to a + Gentleman of your great Abilities; so humbly recommending my self to + your Favour and Patronage, + + I remain, &c. + + +I shall add to the foregoing Letter, another which came to me by the +same Penny-Post. + + + From my own Apartment near Charing-Cross. + + Honoured Sir, + + 'Having heard that this Nation is a great Encourager of Ingenuity, I + have brought with me a Rope-dancer that was caught in one of the Woods + belonging to the Great _Mogul_. He is by Birth a Monkey; but swings + upon a Rope, takes a pipe of Tobacco, and drinks a Glass of Ale, like + any reasonable Creature. He gives great Satisfaction to the Quality; + and if they will make a Subscription for him, I will send for a + Brother of his out of _Holland_, that is a very good Tumbler, and also + for another of the same Family, whom I design for my Merry-Andrew, as + being an excellent mimick, and the greatest Drole in the Country where + he now is. I hope to have this Entertainment in a Readiness for the + next Winter; and doubt not but it will please more than the Opera or + Puppet-Show. I will not say that a Monkey is a better Man than some of + the Opera Heroes; but certainly he is a better Representative of a + Man, than the most artificial Composition of Wood and Wire. If you + will be pleased to give me a good Word in your paper, you shall be + every Night a Spectator at my Show for nothing. + + I am, &c. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: It is as follows.] + + +[Footnote 2: In the 'Spectator's' time numbering of houses was so rare +that in Hatton's 'New View of London', published in 1708, special +mention is made of the fact that + + 'in Prescott Street, Goodman's Fields, instead of signs the houses are + distinguished by numbers, as the staircases in the Inns of Court and + Chancery.'] + + +[Footnote 3: sheep] + + +[Footnote 4: The sign before her Waxwork Exhibition, in Fleet Street, +near Temple Bar, was 'the Golden Salmon.' She had very recently removed +to this house from her old establishment in St. Martin's le Grand.] + + +[Footnote 5: Ben Jonson's Alchemist having taken gold from Abel Drugger, +the Tobacco Man, for the device of a sign--'a good lucky one, a thriving +sign'--will give him nothing so commonplace as a sign copied from the +constellation he was born under, but says: + + 'Subtle'. He shall have 'a bel', that's 'Abel'; + And by it standing one whose name is 'Dee' + In a 'rug' grown, there's 'D' and 'rug', that's 'Drug': + And right anenst him a dog snarling 'er', + There's 'Drugger', Abel Drugger. That's his sign. + And here's now mystery and hieroglyphic. + + 'Face'. Abel, thou art made. + + 'Drugger'. Sir, I do thank his worship.] + + +[Footnote 6: Bel, in the apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel, +called 'the 'History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 29. Tuesday, April 3, 1711 Addison + + + ... Sermo linguâ concinnus utrâque + Suavior: ut Chio nota si commista Falerni est. + + Hor. + + +There is nothing that [has] more startled our _English_ Audience, than +the _Italian Recitativo_ at its first Entrance upon the Stage. People +were wonderfully surprized to hear Generals singing the Word of Command, +and Ladies delivering Messages in Musick. Our Country-men could not +forbear laughing when they heard a Lover chanting out a Billet-doux, and +even the Superscription of a Letter set to a Tune. The Famous Blunder in +an old Play of _Enter a King and two Fidlers Solus_, was now no longer +an Absurdity, when it was impossible for a Hero in a Desart, or a +Princess in her Closet, to speak anything unaccompanied with Musical +Instruments. + +But however this _Italian_ method of acting in _Recitativo_ might appear +at first hearing, I cannot but think it much more just than that which +prevailed in our _English_ Opera before this Innovation: The Transition +from an Air to Recitative Musick being more natural than the passing +from a Song to plain and ordinary Speaking, which was the common Method +in _Purcell's_ Operas. + +The only Fault I find in our present Practice, is the making use of +_Italian Recitative_ with _English_ Words. + +To go to the Bottom of this Matter, I must observe, that the Tone, or +(as the _French_ call it) the Accent of every Nation in their ordinary +Speech is altogether different from that of every other People, as we +may see even in the _Welsh_ and _Scotch_, [who [1]] border so near upon +us. By the Tone or Accent, I do not mean the Pronunciation of each +particular Word, but the Sound of the whole Sentence. Thus it is very +common for an _English_ Gentleman, when he hears a _French_ Tragedy, to +complain that the Actors all of them speak in a Tone; and therefore he +very wisely prefers his own Country-men, not considering that a +Foreigner complains of the same Tone in an _English_ Actor. + +For this Reason, the Recitative Musick in every Language, should be as +different as the Tone or Accent of each Language; for otherwise, what +may properly express a Passion in one Language, will not do it in +another. Every one who has been long in _Italy_ knows very well, that +the Cadences in the _Recitativo_ bear a remote Affinity to the Tone of +their Voices in ordinary Conversation, or to speak more properly, are +only the Accents of their Language made more Musical and Tuneful. + +Thus the Notes of Interrogation, or Admiration, in the _Italian_ Musick +(if one may so call them) which resemble their Accents in Discourse on +such Occasions, are not unlike the ordinary Tones of an _English_ Voice +when we are angry; insomuch that I have often seen our Audiences +extreamly mistaken as to what has been doing upon the Stage, and +expecting to see the Hero knock down his Messenger, when he has been +[asking [2]] him a Question, or fancying that he quarrels with his +Friend, when he only bids him Good-morrow. + +For this Reason the _Italian_ Artists cannot agree with our _English_ +Musicians in admiring _Purcell's_ Compositions, [3] and thinking his +Tunes so wonderfully adapted to his Words, because both Nations do not +always express the same Passions by the same Sounds. + +I am therefore humbly of Opinion, that an _English_ Composer should not +follow the _Italian_ Recitative too servilely, but make use of many +gentle Deviations from it, in Compliance with his own Native Language. +He may Copy out of it all the lulling Softness and _Dying Falls_ (as +_Shakespear_ calls them), but should still remember that he ought to +accommodate himself to an _English_ Audience, and by humouring the Tone +of our Voices in ordinary Conversation, have the same Regard to the +Accent of his own Language, as those Persons had to theirs whom he +professes to imitate. It is observed, that several of the singing Birds +of our own Country learn to sweeten their Voices, and mellow the +Harshness of their natural Notes, by practising under those that come +from warmer Climates. In the same manner, I would allow the _Italian_ +Opera to lend our _English_ Musick as much as may grace and soften it, +but never entirely to annihilate and destroy it. Let the Infusion be as +strong as you please, but still let the Subject Matter of it be +_English_. + +A Composer should fit his Musick to the Genius of the People, and +consider that the Delicacy of Hearing, and Taste of Harmony, has been +formed upon those Sounds which every Country abounds with: In short, +that Musick is of a Relative Nature, and what is Harmony to one Ear, may +be Dissonance to another. + +The same Observations which I have made upon the Recitative part of +Musick may be applied to all our Songs and Airs in general. + +Signior _Baptist Lully_ [4] acted like a Man of Sense in this +Particular. He found the _French_ Musick extreamly defective, and very +often barbarous: However, knowing the Genius of the People, the Humour +of their Language, and the prejudiced Ears [he [5]] had to deal with he +did not pretend to extirpate the _French_ Musick, and plant the +_Italian_ in its stead; but only to Cultivate and Civilize it with +innumerable Graces and Modulations which he borrow'd from the _Italian_. +By this means the _French_ Musick is now perfect in its kind; and when +you say it is not so good as the _Italian_, you only mean that it does +not please you so well; for there is [scarce [6]] a _Frenchman_ who +would not wonder to hear you give the _Italian_ such a Preference. The +Musick of the _French_ is indeed very properly adapted to their +Pronunciation and Accent, as their whole Opera wonderfully favours the +Genius of such a gay airy People. The Chorus in which that Opera +abounds, gives the Parterre frequent Opportunities of joining in Consort +with the Stage. This Inclination of the Audience to Sing along with the +Actors, so prevails with them, that I have sometimes known the Performer +on the Stage do no more in a Celebrated Song, than the Clerk of a Parish +Church, who serves only to raise the Psalm, and is afterwards drown'd in +the Musick of the Congregation. Every Actor that comes on the Stage is a +Beau. The Queens and Heroines are so Painted, that they appear as Ruddy +and Cherry-cheek'd as Milk-maids. The Shepherds are all Embroider'd, and +acquit themselves in a Ball better than our _English_ Dancing Masters. I +have seen a couple of Rivers appear in red Stockings; and _Alpheus_, +instead of having his Head covered with Sedge and Bull-Rushes, making +Love in a fair full-bottomed Perriwig, and a Plume of Feathers; but with +a Voice so full of Shakes and Quavers that I should have thought the +Murmurs of a Country Brook the much more agreeable Musick. + +I remember the last Opera I saw in that merry Nation was the Rape of +_Proserpine_, where _Pluto_, to make the more tempting Figure, puts +himself in a _French_ Equipage, and brings _Ascalaphus_ along with him +as his _Valet de Chambre_. This is what we call Folly and Impertinence; +but what the _French_ look upon as Gay and Polite. + +I shall add no more to what I have here offer'd, than that Musick, +Architecture, and Painting, as well as Poetry, and Oratory, are to +deduce their Laws and Rules from the general Sense and Taste of Mankind, +and not from the Principles of those Arts themselves; or, in other +Words, the Taste is not to conform to the Art, but the Art to the Taste. +Music is not design'd to please only Chromatick Ears, but all that are +capable ef distinguishing harsh from disagreeable Notes. A Man of an +ordinary Ear is a Judge whether a Passion is express'd in proper Sounds, +and whether the Melody of those Sounds be more or less pleasing. [7] + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: only asking] + + +[Footnote 3: Henry Purcell died of consumption in 1695, aged 37. + + 'He was,' says Mr. Hullah, in his Lectures on the History of Modern + Music, 'the first Englishman to demonstrate the possibility of a + national opera. No Englishman of the last century succeeded in + following Purcell's lead into this domain of art; none, indeed, would + seem to have understood in what his excellence consisted, or how his + success was attained. His dramatic music exhibits the same qualities + which had already made the success of Lulli. ... For some years after + Purcell's death his compositions, of whatever kind, were the chief, if + not the only, music heard in England. His reign might have lasted + longer, but for the advent of a musician who, though not perhaps more + highly gifted, had enjoyed immeasurably greater opportunities of + cultivating his gifts,' + +Handel, who had also the advantage of being born thirty years later.] + + +[Footnote 4: John Baptist Lulli, a Florentine, died in 1687, aged 53. In +his youth he was an under-scullion in the kitchen of Madame de +Montpensier, niece to Louis XIV. The discovery of his musical genius led +to his becoming the King's Superintendent of Music, and one of the most +influential composers that has ever lived. He composed the occasional +music for Molière's comedies, besides about twenty lyric tragedies; +which succeeded beyond all others in France, not only because of his +dramatic genius, which enabled him to give to the persons of these +operas a musical language fitted to their characters and expressive of +the situations in which they were placed; but also, says Mr. Hullah, +because + + 'Lulli being the first modern composer who caught the French ear, was + the means, to a great extent, of forming the modern French taste.' + +His operas kept the stage for more than a century.] + + +[Footnote 5: that he] + + +[Footnote 6: not] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 30. [1] Wednesday, April 4, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Si, Mimnermus uti censet, sine amore Focisque + Nil est Jucundum; vivas in amore Jocisque.' + + Hor. + + +One common Calamity makes Men extremely affect each other, tho' they +differ in every other Particular. The Passion of Love is the most +general Concern among Men; and I am glad to hear by my last Advices from +_Oxford_, that there are a Set of Sighers in that University, who have +erected themselves into a Society in honour of that tender Passion. +These Gentlemen are of that Sort of Inamoratos, who are not so very much +lost to common Sense, but that they understand the Folly they are guilty +of; and for that Reason separate themselves from all other Company, +because they will enjoy the Pleasure of talking incoherently, without +being ridiculous to any but each other. When a Man comes into the Club, +he is not obliged to make any Introduction to his Discourse, but at +once, as he is seating himself in his Chair, speaks in the Thread of his +own Thoughts, 'She gave me a very obliging Glance, She Never look'd so +well in her Life as this Evening,' or the like Reflection, without +Regard to any other Members of the Society; for in this Assembly they do +not meet to talk to each other, but every Man claims the full Liberty of +talking to himself. Instead of Snuff-boxes and Canes, which are the +usual Helps to Discourse with other young Fellows, these have each some +Piece of Ribbon, a broken Fan, or an old Girdle, which they play with +while they talk of the fair Person remember'd by each respective Token. +According to the Representation of the Matter from my Letters, the +Company appear like so many Players rehearsing behind the Scenes; one is +sighing and lamenting his Destiny in beseeching Terms, another declaring +he will break his Chain, and another in dumb-Show, striving to express +his Passion by his Gesture. It is very ordinary in the Assembly for one +of a sudden to rise and make a Discourse concerning his Passion in +general, and describe the Temper of his Mind in such a Manner, as that +the whole Company shall join in the Description, and feel the Force of +it. In this Case, if any Man has declared the Violence of his Flame in +more pathetick Terms, he is made President for that Night, out of +respect to his superior Passion. + +We had some Years ago in this Town a Set of People who met and dressed +like Lovers, and were distinguished by the Name of the _Fringe-Glove +Club_; but they were Persons of such moderate Intellects even before +they were impaired by their Passion, that their Irregularities could not +furnish sufficient Variety of Folly to afford daily new Impertinencies; +by which Means that Institution dropp'd. These Fellows could express +their Passion in nothing but their Dress; but the _Oxonians_ are +Fantastical now they are Lovers, in proportion to their Learning and +Understanding before they became such. The Thoughts of the ancient Poets +on this agreeable Phrenzy, are translated in honour of some modern +Beauty; and _Chloris_ is won to Day, by the same Compliment that was +made to _Lesbia_ a thousand Years ago. But as far as I can learn, the +Patron of the Club is the renowned Don _Quixote_. The Adventures of that +gentle Knight are frequently mention'd in the Society, under the colour +of Laughing at the Passion and themselves: But at the same Time, tho' +they are sensible of the Extravagancies of that unhappy Warrior, they do +not observe, that to turn all the Reading of the best and wisest +Writings into Rhapsodies of Love, is a Phrenzy no less diverting than +that of the aforesaid accomplish'd _Spaniard_. A Gentleman who, I hope, +will continue his Correspondence, is lately admitted into the +Fraternity, and sent me the following Letter. + + SIR, + + 'Since I find you take Notice of Clubs, I beg Leave to give you an + Account of one in _Oxford_, which you have no where mention'd, and + perhaps never heard of. We distinguish our selves by the Title of the + _Amorous Club_, are all Votaries of _Cupid_, and Admirers of the Fair + Sex. The Reason that we are so little known in the World, is the + Secrecy which we are obliged to live under in the University. Our + Constitution runs counter to that of the Place wherein we live: For in + Love there are no Doctors, and we all profess so high Passion, that we + admit of no Graduates in it. Our Presidentship is bestow'd according + to the Dignity of Passion; our Number is unlimited; and our Statutes + are like those of the Druids, recorded in our own Breasts only, and + explained by the Majority of the Company. A Mistress, and a Poem in + her Praise, will introduce any Candidate: Without the latter no one + can be admitted; for he that is not in love enough to rhime, is + unqualified for our Society. To speak disrespectfully of any Woman, is + Expulsion from our gentle Society. As we are at present all of us + Gown-men, instead of duelling when we are Rivals, we drink together + the Health of our Mistress. The Manner of doing this sometimes indeed + creates Debates; on such Occasions we have Recourse to the Rules of + Love among the Antients. + + 'Naevia sex Cyathis, septem Justina bibatur.' + + This Method of a Glass to every Letter of her Name, occasioned the + other Night a Dispute of some Warmth. A young Student, who is in Love + with Mrs. _Elizabeth Dimple_, was so unreasonable as to begin her + Health under the Name of _Elizabetha_; which so exasperated the Club, + that by common Consent we retrenched it to _Betty_. We look upon a Man + as no Company, that does not sigh five times in a Quarter of an Hour; + and look upon a Member as very absurd, that is so much himself as to + make a direct Answer to a Question. In fine, the whole Assembly is + made up of absent Men, that is, of such Persons as have lost their + Locality, and whose Minds and Bodies never keep Company with one + another. As I am an unfortunate Member of this distracted Society, you + cannot expect a very regular Account of it; for which Reason, I hope + you will pardon me that I so abruptly subscribe my self, + + Sir, + + Your most obedient, + + humble Servant, + + T. B. + + I forgot to tell you, that _Albina_, who has six Votaries in this + Club, is one of your Readers.' + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: To this number of the Spectator was added in the original +daily issue an announcement of six places at which were to be sold +'Compleat Setts of this Paper for the Month of March.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 31. Thursday, April 5, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Sit mihi fas audita loqui!' + + Vir. + + +Last Night, upon my going into a Coffee-House not far from the +_Hay-Market_ Theatre, I diverted my self for above half an Hour with +overhearing the Discourse of one, who, by the Shabbiness of his Dress, +the Extravagance of his Conceptions, and the Hurry of his Speech, I +discovered to be of that Species who are generally distinguished by the +Title of Projectors. This Gentleman, for I found he was treated as such +by his Audience, was entertaining a whole Table of Listners with the +Project of an Opera, which he told us had not cost him above two or +three Mornings in the Contrivance, and which he was ready to put in +Execution, provided he might find his Account in it. He said, that he +had observed the great Trouble and Inconvenience which Ladies were at, +in travelling up and down to the several Shows that are exhibited in +different Quarters of the Town. The dancing Monkies are in one place; +the Puppet-Show in another; the Opera in a third; not to mention the +Lions, that are almost a whole Day's Journey from the Politer Part of +the Town. By this means People of Figure are forced to lose half the +Winter after their coming to Town, before they have seen all the strange +Sights about it. In order to remedy this great Inconvenience, our +Projector drew out of his Pocket the Scheme of an Opera, Entitled, _The +Expedition of Alexander the Great_; in which he had disposed of all the +remarkable Shows about Town, among the Scenes and Decorations of his +Piece. The Thought, he confessed, was not originally his own, but that +he had taken the Hint of it from several Performances which he had seen +upon our Stage: In one of which there was a Rary-Show; in another, a +Ladder-dance; and in others a Posture-man, a moving Picture, with many +Curiosities of the like nature. + +This _Expedition of Alexander_ opens with his consulting the oracle at +_Delphos_, in which the dumb Conjuror, who has been visited by so many +Persons of Quality of late Years, is to be introduced as telling him his +Fortune; At the same time _Clench_ of _Barnet_ is represented in another +Corner of the Temple, as ringing the Bells of _Delphos_, for joy of his +arrival. The Tent of _Darius_ is to be Peopled by the Ingenious Mrs. +_Salmon_, [1] where Alexander is to fall in Love with a Piece of +Wax-Work, that represents the beautiful _Statira_. When Alexander comes +into that Country, in which _Quintus Curtius_ tells us the Dogs were so +exceeding fierce that they would not loose their hold, tho' they were +cut to pieces Limb by Limb, and that they would hang upon their Prey by +their Teeth when they had nothing but a Mouth left, there is to be a +scene of _Hockley in the Hole_, [2] in which is to be represented all +the Diversions of that Place, the Bull-baiting only excepted, which +cannot possibly be exhibited in the Theatre, by Reason of the Lowness of +the Roof. The several Woods in _Asia_, which _Alexander_ must be +supposed to pass through, will give the Audience a Sight of Monkies +dancing upon Ropes, with many other Pleasantries of that ludicrous +Species. At the same time, if there chance to be any Strange Animals in +Town, whether Birds or Beasts, they may be either let loose among the +Woods, or driven across the Stage by some of the Country People of +_Asia_. In the last great Battel, Pinkethman [3] is to personate King +_Porus_ upon an _Elephant_, and is to be encountered by _Powell_ [4] +representing _Alexander_ the Great upon a Dromedary, which nevertheless +Mr. _Powell_ is desired to call by the Name of _Bucephalus_. Upon the +Close of this great decisive Battel, when the two Kings are thoroughly +reconciled, to shew the mutual Friendship and good Correspondence that +reigns between them, they both of them go together to a Puppet-Show, in +which the ingenious Mr. _Powell, junior_ [5] may have an Opportunity of +displaying his whole Art of Machinery, for the Diversion of the two +Monarchs. Some at the Table urged that a Puppet-Show was not a suitable +Entertainment for _Alexander_ the Great; and that it might be introduced +more properly, if we suppose the Conqueror touched upon that part of +_India_ which is said to be inhabited by the Pigmies. But this Objection +was looked upon as frivolous, and the Proposal immediately over-ruled. +Our Projector further added, that after the Reconciliation of these two +Kings they might invite one another to Dinner, and either of them +entertain his Guest with the _German Artist_, Mr. _Pinkethman's_ Heathen +Gods, [6] or any of the like Diversions, which shall then chance to be +in vogue. + +This Project was receiv'd with very great Applause by the whole Table. +Upon which the Undertaker told us, that he had not yet communicated to +us above half his Design; for that _Alexander_ being a _Greek_, it was +his Intention that the whole Opera should be acted in that Language, +which was a Tongue he was sure would wonderfully please the Ladies, +especially when it was a little raised and rounded by the _Ionick_ +Dialect; and could not but be [acceptable [8]] to the whole Audience, +because there are fewer of them who understand _Greek_ than _Italian_. +The only Difficulty that remained, was, how to get Performers, unless we +could persuade some Gentlemen of the Universities to learn to sing, in +order to qualify themselves for the Stage; but this Objection soon +vanished, when the Projector informed us that the _Greeks_ were at +present the only Musicians in the _Turkish_ Empire, and that it would be +very easy for our Factory at _Smyrna_ to furnish us every Year with a +Colony of Musicians, by the Opportunity of the _Turkey_ Fleet; besides, +says he, if we want any single Voice for any lower Part in the Opera, +_Lawrence_ can learn to speak _Greek_, as well as he does _Italian_, in +a Fortnight's time. + +The Projector having thus settled Matters, to the good liking of all +that heard him, he left his Seat at the Table, and planted himself +before the Fire, where I had unluckily taken my Stand for the +Convenience of over-hearing what he said. Whether he had observed me to +be more attentive than ordinary, I cannot tell, but he had not stood by +me above a Quarter of a Minute, but he turned short upon me on a sudden, +and catching me by a Button of my Coat, attacked me very abruptly after +the following manner. + + Besides, Sir, I have heard of a very extraordinary Genius for Musick + that lives in _Switzerland_, who has so strong a Spring in his + Fingers, that he can make the Board of an Organ sound like a Drum, and + if I could but procure a Subscription of about Ten Thousand Pound + every Winter, I would undertake to fetch him over, and oblige him by + Articles to set every thing that should be sung upon the _English_ + Stage. + +After this he looked full in my Face, expecting I would make an Answer, +when by good Luck, a Gentleman that had entered the Coffee-house since +the Projector applied himself to me, hearing him talk of his _Swiss_ +Compositions, cry'd out with a kind of Laugh, + +Is our Musick then to receive further Improvements from _Switzerland!_ +[8] + +This alarmed the Projector, who immediately let go my Button, and turned +about to answer him. I took the Opportunity of the Diversion, which +seemed to be made in favour of me, and laying down my Penny upon the +Bar, retired with some Precipitation. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: An advertisement of Mrs. Salmon's wax-work in the 'Tatler' +for Nov. 30, 1710, specifies among other attractions the Turkish +Seraglio in wax-work, the Fatal Sisters that spin, reel, and cut the +thread of man's life, 'an Old Woman flying from Time, who shakes his +head and hour-glass with sorrow at seeing age so unwilling to die. +Nothing but life can exceed the motions of the heads, hands, eyes, &c., +of these figures, &c.'] + + +[Footnote 2: Hockley-in-the-Hole, memorable for its Bear Garden, was on +the outskirt of the town, by Clerkenwell Green; with Mutton Lane on the +East and the fields on the West. By Town's End Lane (called Coppice Row +since the levelling of the coppice-crowned knoll over which it ran) +through Pickled-Egg Walk (now Crawford's Passage) one came to +Hockley-in-the-Hole or Hockley Hole, now Ray Street. The leveller has +been at work upon the eminences that surrounded it. In Hockley Hole, +dealers in rags and old iron congregated. This gave it the name of Rag +Street, euphonized into Ray Street since 1774. In the _Spectator's_ +time its Bear Garden, upon the site of which there are now metal works, +was a famous resort of the lowest classes. 'You must go to +Hockley-in-the-Hole, child, to learn valour,' says Mr. Peachum to Filch +in the _Beggar's Opera_.] + + +[Footnote 3: William Penkethman was a low comedian dear to the gallery +at Drury Lane as 'Pinkey,' very popular also as a Booth Manager at +Bartholomew Fair. Though a sour critic described him as 'the Flower of +Bartholomew Fair and the Idol of the Rabble; a Fellow that overdoes +everything, and spoils many a Part with his own Stuff,' the _Spectator_ +has in another paper given honourable fame to his skill as a comedian. +Here there is but the whimsical suggestion of a favourite showman and +low comedian mounted on an elephant to play King Porus.] + + +[Footnote 4: George Powell, who in 1711 and 1712 appeared in such +characters as Falstaff, Lear, and Cortez in 'the Indian Emperor,' now +and then also played the part of the favourite stage hero, Alexander the +Great in Lee's _Rival Queens_. He was a good actor, spoilt by +intemperance, who came on the stage sometimes warm with Nantz brandy, +and courted his heroines so furiously that Sir John Vanbrugh said they +were almost in danger of being conquered on the spot. His last new part +of any note was in 1713, Portius in Addison's Cato. He lived on for a +few wretched years, lost to the public, but much sought by sheriff's +officers.] + + +[Footnote 5: 'Powell junior' of the Puppet Show (see note [Footnote 2 of +No. 14], p. 59, _ante_) was a more prosperous man than his namesake of +Drury Lane. In De Foe's 'Groans of Great Britain,' published in 1813, we +read: + + 'I was the other Day at a Coffee-House when the following + Advertisement was thrown in.--_At_ Punch's _Theatre in the Little + Piazza, Covent-Garden, this present Evening will be performed an + Entertainment, called,_ The History of Sir Richard Whittington, + _shewing his Rise from a Scullion to be Lord-Mayor of London, with the + Comical Humours of Old Madge, the jolly Chamber-Maid, and the + Representation of the Sea, and the Court of Great Britain, concluding + with the Court of Aldermen, and_ Whittington _Lord-Mayor, honoured + with the Presence of K. Hen. VIII. and his Queen Anna Bullen, with + other diverting Decorations proper to the Play, beginning at 6 + o'clock_. Note, _No money to be returned after the Entertainment is + begun._ Boxes, 2s. Pit, 1s. _Vivat Regina_. + + On enquiring into the Matter, I find this has long been a noble + Diversion of our Quality and Gentry; and that Mr. Powell, by + Subscriptions and full Houses, has gathered such Wealth as is ten + times sufficient to buy all the Poets in England; that he seldom goes + out without his Chair, and thrives on this incredible Folly to that + degree, that, were he a Freeman, he might hope that some future + Puppet-Show might celebrate his being Lord Mayor, as he has done Sir + R. Whittington.'] + + +[Footnote 6: + + 'Mr. Penkethman's Wonderful Invention call'd the Pantheon: or, the + Temple of the Heathen Gods. The Work of several Years, and great + Expense, is now perfected; being a most surprising and magnificent + Machine, consisting of 5 several curious Pictures, the Painting and + contrivance whereof is beyond Expression Admirable. The Figures, which + are above 100, and move their Heads, Legs, Arms, and Fingers, so + exactly to what they perform, and setting one Foot before another, + like living Creatures, that it justly deserves to be esteem'd the + greatest Wonder of the Age. To be seen from 10 in the Morning till 10 + at Night, in the Little Piazza, Covent Garden, in the same House where + Punch's Opera is. Price 1s. 6d., 1s., and the lowest, 6d.' + +This Advertisement was published in 46 and a few following numbers of +the _Spectator_.] + + +[Footnote 7: wonderfully acceptable] + + +[Footnote 8: The satire is against Heidegger. See note [Footnote 1 of +No. 14], p. 56, _ante_.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 32. Friday, April 6, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Nil illi larvâ aut tragicis opus esse Cothurnis.' + + Hor. + + +The late Discourse concerning the Statutes of the _Ugly-Club_, +having been so well received at _Oxford_, that, contrary to the +strict Rules of the Society, they have been so partial as to take my own +Testimonial, and admit me into that select Body; I could not restrain +the Vanity of publishing to the World the Honour which is done me. It is +no small Satisfaction, that I have given Occasion for the President's +shewing both his Invention and Reading to such Advantage as my +Correspondent reports he did: But it is not to be doubted there were +many very proper Hums and Pauses in his Harangue, which lose their +Ugliness in the Narration, and which my Correspondent (begging his +Pardon) has no very good Talent at representing. I very much approve of +the Contempt the Society has of Beauty: Nothing ought to be laudable in +a Man, in which his Will is not concerned; therefore our Society can +follow Nature, and where she has thought fit, as it were, to mock +herself, we can do so too, and be merry upon the Occasion. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'Your making publick the late Trouble I gave you, you will find to + have been the Occasion of this: Who should I meet at the Coffee-house + Door t'other Night, but my old Friend Mr. President? I saw somewhat + had pleased him; and as soon as he had cast his Eye upon me, + + "Oho, Doctor, rare News from _London_, (says he); the SPECTATOR has + made honourable Mention of the Club (Man) and published to the World + his sincere Desire to be a Member, with a recommendatory Description + of his Phiz: And tho' our Constitution has made no particular + Provision for short Faces, yet, his being an extraordinary Case, I + believe we shall find an Hole for him to creep in at; for I assure + you he is not against the Canon; and if his Sides are as compact as + his Joles, he need not disguise himself to make one of us." + + I presently called for the Paper to see how you looked in Print; and + after we had regaled our selves a while upon the pleasant Image of our + Proselite, Mr. President told me I should be his Stranger at the next + Night's Club: Where we were no sooner come, and Pipes brought, but Mr. + President began an Harangue upon your Introduction to my Epistle; + setting forth with no less Volubility of Speech than Strength of + Reason, "That a Speculation of this Nature was what had been long and + much wanted; and that he doubted not but it would be of inestimable + Value to the Publick, in reconciling even of Bodies and Souls; in + composing and quieting the Minds of Men under all corporal + Redundancies, Deficiencies, and Irregularities whatsoever; and making + every one sit down content in his own Carcase, though it were not + perhaps so mathematically put together as he could wish." And again, + "How that for want of a due Consideration of what you first advance, + _viz._ that our Faces are not of our own choosing, People had been + transported beyond all good Breeding, and hurried themselves into + unaccountable and fatal Extravagancies: As, how many impartial + Looking-Glasses had been censured and calumniated, nay, and sometimes + shivered into ten thousand Splinters, only for a fair Representation + of the Truth? How many Headstrings and Garters had been made + accessory, and actually forfeited, only because Folks must needs + quarrel with their own Shadows? And who (continues he) but is deeply + sensible, that one great Source of the Uneasiness and Misery of human + Life, especially amongst those of Distinction, arises from nothing in + the World else, but too severe a Contemplation of an indefeasible + Contexture of our external Parts, or certain natural and invincible + Disposition to be fat or lean? When a little more of Mr. SPECTATOR'S + Philosophy would take off all this; and in the mean time let them + observe, that there's not one of their Grievances of this Sort, but + perhaps in some Ages of the World has been highly in vogue; and may be + so again, nay, in some Country or other ten to one is so at this Day. + My Lady _Ample_ is the most miserable Woman in the World, purely of + her own making: She even grudges her self Meat and Drink, for fear she + should thrive by them; and is constantly crying out, In a Quarter of a + Year more I shall be quite out of all manner of Shape! Now [the[1]] + Lady's Misfortune seems to be only this, that she is planted in a + wrong Soil; for, go but t'other Side of the Water, it's a Jest at + _Harlem_ to talk of a Shape under eighteen Stone. These wise Traders + regulate their Beauties as they do their Butter, by the Pound; and + Miss _Cross_, when she first arrived in the _Low-Countries_, was not + computed to be so handsom as Madam _Van Brisket_ by near half a Tun. + On the other hand, there's 'Squire _Lath_, a proper Gentleman of + Fifteen hundred Pound _per Annum_, as well as of an unblameable Life + and Conversation; yet would not I be the Esquire for half his Estate; + for if it was as much more, he'd freely pare with it all for a pair of + Legs to his Mind: Whereas in the Reign of our first King _Edward_ of + glorious Memory, nothing more modish than a Brace of your fine taper + Supporters; and his Majesty without an Inch of Calf, managed Affairs + in Peace and War as laudably as the bravest and most politick of his + Ancestors; and was as terrible to his Neighbours under the Royal Name + of _Long-shanks_, as _Coeur de Lion_ to the _Saracens_ before him. If + we look farther back into History we shall find, that _Alexander_ the + Great wore his Head a little over the left Shoulder; and then not a + Soul stirred out 'till he had adjusted his Neck-bone; the whole + Nobility addressed the Prince and each other obliquely, and all + Matters of Importance were concerted and carried on in the + _Macedonian_ Court with their Polls on one Side. For about the first + Century nothing made more Noise in the World than _Roman_ Noses, and + then not a Word of them till they revived again in Eighty eight. [2] + Nor is it so very long since _Richard_ the Third set up half the Backs + of the Nation; and high Shoulders, as well as high Noses, were the Top + of the Fashion. But to come to our selves, Gentlemen, tho' I find by + my quinquennial Observations that we shall never get Ladies enough to + make a Party in our own Country, yet might we meet with better Success + among some of our Allies. And what think you if our Board sate for a + _Dutch_ Piece? Truly I am of Opinion, that as odd as we appear in + Flesh and Blood, we should be no such strange Things in Metzo-Tinto. + But this Project may rest 'till our Number is compleat; and this being + our Election Night, give me leave to propose Mr. SPECTATOR: You see + his Inclinations, and perhaps we may not have his Fellow." + + I found most of them (as it is usual in all such Cases) were prepared; + but one of the Seniors (whom by the by Mr. President had taken all + this Pains to bring over) sate still, and cocking his Chin, which + seemed only to be levelled at his Nose, very gravely declared, + + "That in case he had had sufficient Knowledge of you, no Man should + have been more willing to have served you; but that he, for his + part, had always had regard to his own Conscience, as well as other + Peoples Merit; and he did not know but that you might be a handsome + Fellow; for as for your own Certificate, it was every Body's + Business to speak for themselves." + + Mr. President immediately retorted, + + "A handsome Fellow! why he is a Wit (Sir) and you know the Proverb;" + + and to ease the old Gentleman of his Scruples, cried, + + "That for Matter of Merit it was all one, you might wear a Mask." + + This threw him into a Pause, and he looked, desirous of three Days to + consider on it; but Mr. President improved the Thought, and followed + him up with an old Story, + + "That Wits were privileged to wear what Masks they pleased in all + Ages; and that a Vizard had been the constant Crown of their + Labours, which was generally presented them by the Hand of some + Satyr, and sometimes of _Apollo_ himself:" + + For the Truth of which he appealed to the Frontispiece of several + Books, and particularly to the _English Juvenal_, [3] to which he + referred him; and only added, + + "That such Authors were the _Larvati_ [4] or _Larvâ donati_ of the + Ancients." + + This cleared up all, and in the Conclusion you were chose Probationer; + and Mr. President put round your Health as such, protesting, + + "That tho' indeed he talked of a Vizard, he did not believe all the + while you had any more Occasion for it than the Cat-a-mountain;" + + so that all you have to do now is to pay your Fees, which here are + very reasonable if you are not imposed upon; and you may stile your + self _Informis Societatis Socius_: Which I am desired to acquaint you + with; and upon the same I beg you to accept of the Congratulation of, + + SIR, + + Your oblig'd humble Servant, + + R. A. C. + + Oxford March 21. + + + +[Footnote 1: this] + + +[Footnote 2: At the coming of William III.] + + +[Footnote 3: The third edition of Dryden's Satires of Juvenal and +Persius, published in 1702, was the first 'adorn'd with Sculptures.' The +Frontispiece represents at full length Juvenal receiving a mask of Satyr +from Apollo's hand, and hovered over by a Cupid who will bind the Head +to its Vizard with a Laurel Crown.] + + +[Footnote 4: Larvati were bewitched persons; from Larva, of which the +original meaning is a ghost or spectre; the derived meanings are, a Mask +and a Skeleton.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 33 Saturday, April 7, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Fervidus tecum Puer, et solutis + Gratiæ zonis, properentque Nymphæ, + Et parum comis sine te Juventas, + Mercuriusque.' + + Hor. 'ad Venerem.' + + +A friend of mine has two Daughters, whom I will call _Lætitia_ and +_Daphne_; The Former is one of the Greatest Beauties of the Age in which +she lives, the Latter no way remarkable for any Charms in her Person. +Upon this one Circumstance of their Outward Form, the Good and Ill of +their Life seems to turn. _Lætitia_ has not, from her very Childhood, +heard any thing else but Commendations of her Features and Complexion, +by which means she is no other than Nature made her, a very beautiful +Outside. The Consciousness of her Charms has rendered her insupportably +Vain and Insolent, towards all who have to do with her. _Daphne_, who +was almost Twenty before one civil Thing had ever been said to her, +found her self obliged to acquire some Accomplishments to make up for +the want of those Attractions which she saw in her Sister. Poor _Daphne_ +was seldom submitted to in a Debate wherein she was concerned; her +Discourse had nothing to recommend it but the good Sense of it, and she +was always under a Necessity to have very well considered what she was +to say before she uttered it; while _Lætitia_ was listened to with +Partiality, and Approbation sate in the Countenances of those she +conversed with, before she communicated what she had to say. These +Causes have produced suitable Effects, and _Lætitia_ is as insipid a +Companion, as _Daphne_ is an agreeable one. _Lætitia_, confident of +Favour, has studied no Arts to please; _Daphne_, despairing of any +Inclination towards her Person, has depended only on her Merit. +_Lætitia_ has always something in her Air that is sullen, grave and +disconsolate. _Daphne_ has a Countenance that appears chearful, open and +unconcerned. A young Gentleman saw _Lætitia_ this Winter at a Play, and +became her Captive. His Fortune was such, that he wanted very little +Introduction to speak his Sentiments to her Father. The Lover was +admitted with the utmost Freedom into the Family, where a constrained +Behaviour, severe Looks, and distant Civilities, were the highest +Favours he could obtain of _Lætitia_; while _Daphne_ used him with the +good Humour, Familiarity, and Innocence of a Sister: Insomuch that he +would often say to her, _Dear_ Daphne; _wert thou but as Handsome as +Lætitia!_--She received such Language with that ingenuous and pleasing +Mirth, which is natural to a Woman without Design. He still Sighed in +vain for _Lætitia_, but found certain Relief in the agreeable +Conversation of _Daphne_. At length, heartily tired with the haughty +Impertinence of _Lætitia_, and charmed with repeated Instances of good +Humour he had observed in _Daphne_, he one Day told the latter, that he +had something to say to her he hoped she would be pleased with.--_Faith +Daphne,_ continued he, _I am in Love with thee, and despise thy Sister +sincerely_. The Manner of his declaring himself gave his Mistress +occasion for a very hearty Laughter.--_Nay,_ says he, _I knew you would +Laugh at me, but I'll ask your Father._ He did so; the Father received +his Intelligence with no less Joy than Surprize, and was very glad he +had now no Care left but for his _Beauty_, which he thought he could +carry to Market at his Leisure. I do not know any thing that has pleased +me so much a great while, as this Conquest of my Friend _Daphne's_. All +her Acquaintance congratulate her upon her Chance. Medley, and laugh at +that premeditating Murderer her Sister. As it is an Argument of a light +Mind, to think the worse of our selves for the Imperfections of our +Persons, it is equally below us to value our selves upon the Advantages +of them. The Female World seem to be almost incorrigibly gone astray in +this Particular; for which Reason, I shall recommend the following +Extract out of a Friend's Letter to the Profess'd Beauties, who are a +People almost as unsufferable as the Profess'd Wits. + + Monsieur St. _Evremont_ [1] has concluded one of his Essays, with + affirming that the last Sighs of a Handsome Woman are not so much for + the loss of her Life, as of her Beauty. Perhaps this Raillery is + pursued too far, yet it is turn'd upon a very obvious Remark, that + Woman's strongest Passion is for her own Beauty, and that she values + it as her Favourite Distinction. From hence it is that all Arts, which + pretend to improve or preserve it, meet with so general a Reception + among the Sex. To say nothing of many False Helps and Contraband Wares + of Beauty, which are daily vended in this great Mart, there is not a + Maiden-Gentlewoman, of a good Family in any County of _South-Britain_, + who has not heard of the Virtues of _May_-Dew, or is unfurnished with + some Receipt or other in Favour of her Complexion; and I have known a + Physician of Learning and Sense, after Eight Years Study in the + University, and a Course of Travels into most Countries of _Europe_, + owe the first raising of his Fortunes to a Cosmetick Wash. + + This has given me Occasion to consider how so Universal a Disposition + in Womankind, which springs from a laudable Motive, the Desire of + Pleasing, and proceeds upon an Opinion, not altogether groundless, + that Nature may be helped by Art, may be turn'd to their Advantage. + And, methinks, it would be an acceptable Service to take them out of + the Hands of Quacks and Pretenders, and to prevent their imposing upon + themselves, by discovering to them the true Secret and Art of + improving Beauty. + + In order to this, before I touch upon it directly, it will be + necessary to lay down a few Preliminary Maxims, _viz_. + + That no Woman can be Handsome by the Force of Features alone, any + more than she can be Witty only by the Help of Speech. + + That Pride destroys all Symmetry and Grace, and Affectation is a + more terrible Enemy to fine Faces than the Small-Pox. + + That no Woman is capable of being Beautiful, who is not incapable of + being False. + + And, That what would be Odious in a Friend, is Deformity in a + Mistress. + + From these few Principles, thus laid down, it will be easie to prove, + that the true Art of assisting Beauty consists in Embellishing the + whole Person by the proper Ornaments of virtuous and commendable + Qualities. By this Help alone it is that those who are the Favourite + Work of Nature, or, as Mr. _Dryden_ expresses it, the Porcelain Clay + of human Kind [2], become animated, and are in a Capacity of exerting + their Charms: And those who seem to have been neglected by her, like + Models wrought in haste, are capable, in a great measure, of finishing + what She has left imperfect. + + It is, methinks, a low and degrading Idea of that Sex, which was + created to refine the Joys, and soften the Cares of Humanity, by the + most agreeable Participation, to consider them meerly as Objects of + Sight. This is abridging them of their natural Extent of Power, to put + them upon a Level with their Pictures at _Kneller's_. How much nobler + is the Contemplation of Beauty heighten'd by Virtue, and commanding + our Esteem and Love, while it draws our Observation? How faint and + spiritless are the Charms of a Coquet, when compar'd with the real + Loveliness of _Sophronia's_ Innocence, Piety, good Humour and Truth; + Virtues which add a new Softness to her Sex, and even beautify her + Beauty! That Agreeableness, which must otherwise have appeared no + longer in the modest Virgin, is now preserv'd in the tender Mother, + the prudent Friend, and the faithful Wife. Colours, artfully spread + upon Canvas, may entertain the Eye, but not affect the Heart; and she, + who takes no care to add to the natural Graces of her Person any + excelling Qualities, may be allowed still to amuse, as a Picture, but + not to triumph as a Beauty. + + When _Adam_ is introduced by _Milton_ describing _Eve_ in Paradise, + and relating to the Angel the Impressions he felt upon seeing her at + her first Creation, he does not represent her like a _Grecian Venus_ + by her Shape or Features, but by the Lustre of her Mind which shone in + them, and gave them their Power of charming. + + _Grace was in all her Steps, Heaven in her Eye, + In all her Gestures Dignity and Love._ + + Without this irradiating Power the proudest Fair One ought to know, + whatever her Glass may tell her to the contrary, that her most perfect + Features are Uninform'd and Dead. + + I cannot better close this Moral, than by a short Epitaph written by + _Ben Johnson_, with a Spirit which nothing could inspire but such an + Object as I have been describing. + + Underneath this Stone doth lie + As much Virtue as cou'd die, + Which when alive did Vigour give + To as much Beauty as cou'd live. [3] + + I am, Sir, + Your most humble Servant, + R. B. + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Charles de St. Denis, Sieur de St. Evremond, died in 1703, +aged 95, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His military and +diplomatic career in France was closed in 1661, when his condemnations +of Mazarin, although the Cardinal was then dead, obliged him to fly from +the wrath of the French Court to Holland and afterwards to England, +where Charles II granted him a pension of £300 a-year. At Charles's +death the pension lapsed, and St. Evremond declined the post of cabinet +secretary to James II. After the Revolution he had William III for +friend, and when, at last, he was invited back, in his old age, to +France, he chose to stay and die among his English friends. In a second +volume of 'Miscellany Essays by Monsieur de St. Evremont,' done into +English by Mr. Brown (1694), an Essay 'Of the Pleasure that Women take +in their Beauty' ends (p. 135) with the thought quoted by Steele.] + + +[Footnote 2: In 'Don Sebastian, King of Portugal,' act I, says Muley +Moloch, Emperor of Barbary, + + Ay; There look like the Workmanship of Heav'n: + This is the Porcelain Clay of Human Kind.] + + +[Footnote 3: The lines are in the Epitaph 'on Elizabeth L.H.' + + 'One name was Elizabeth, + The other, let it sleep in death.' + +But Steele, quoting from memory, altered the words to his purpose. Ben +Johnson's lines were: + + 'Underneath this stone doth lie, + As much Beauty as could die, + Which in Life did Harbour give + To more Virture than doth live.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 34. Monday, April 9, 1711 Addison. + + + '... parcit + Cognatis maculis similis fera ...' + + Juv. + + + +The Club of which I am a Member, is very luckily composed of such +persons as are engaged in different Ways of Life, and disputed as it +were out of the most conspicuous Classes of Mankind: By this Means I am +furnished with the greatest Variety of Hints and Materials, and know +every thing that passes in the different Quarters and Divisions, not +only of this great City, but of the whole Kingdom. My Readers too have +the Satisfaction to find, that there is no Rank or Degree among them who +have not their Representative in this Club, and that there is always +some Body present who will take Care of their respective Interests, that +nothing may be written or published to the Prejudice or Infringement of +their just Rights and Privileges. + +I last Night sat very late in company with this select Body of Friends, +who entertain'd me with several Remarks which they and others had made +upon these my Speculations, as also with the various Success which they +had met with among their several Ranks and Degrees of Readers. WILL. +HONEYCOMB told me, in the softest Manner he could, That there were some +Ladies (but for your Comfort, says WILL., they are not those of the most +Wit) that were offended at the Liberties I had taken with the Opera and +the Puppet-Show: That some of them were likewise very much surpriz'd, +that I should think such serious Points as the Dress and Equipage of +Persons of Quality, proper Subjects for Raillery. + +He was going on, when Sir ANDREW FREEPORT took him up short, and told +him, That the Papers he hinted at had done great Good in the City, and +that all their Wives and Daughters were the better for them: And further +added, That the whole City thought themselves very much obliged to me +for declaring my generous Intentions to scourge Vice and Folly as they +appear in a Multitude, without condescending to be a Publisher of +particular Intrigues and Cuckoldoms. In short, says Sir ANDREW, if you +avoid that foolish beaten Road of falling upon Aldermen and Citizens, +and employ your Pen upon the Vanity and Luxury of Courts, your Paper +must needs be of general Use. + +Upon this my Friend the TEMPLAR told Sir ANDREW, That he wondered to +hear a Man of his Sense talk after that Manner; that the City had always +been the Province for Satyr; and that the Wits of King _Charles's_ Time +jested upon nothing else during his whole Reign. He then shewed, by the +Examples of _Horace, Juvenal, Boileau_, and the best Writers of every +Age, that the Follies of the Stage and Court had never been accounted +too sacred for Ridicule, how great so-ever the Persons might be that +patronized them. But after all, says he, I think your Raillery has made +too great an Excursion, in attacking several Persons of the Inns of +Court; and I do not believe you can shew me any Precedent for your +Behaviour in that Particular. + +My good Friend Sir ROGER DE COVERL[E]Y, who had said nothing all this +while, began his Speech with a Pish! and told us. That he wondered to +see so many Men of Sense so very serious upon Fooleries. Let our good +Friend, says he, attack every one that deserves it: I would only advise +you, Mr. SPECTATOR, applying himself to me, to take Care how you meddle +with Country Squires: They are the Ornaments of the _English_ Nation; +Men of good Heads and sound Bodies! and let me tell you, some of them +take it ill of you that you mention Fox-hunters with so little Respect. + +Captain SENTRY spoke very sparingly on this Occasion. What he said was +only to commend my Prudence in not touching upon the Army, and advised +me to continue to act discreetly in that Point. + +By this Time I found every subject of my Speculations was taken away +from me by one or other of the Club; and began to think my self in the +Condition of the good Man that had one Wife who took a Dislike to his +grey Hairs, and another to his black, till by their picking out what +each of them had an Aversion to, they left his Head altogether bald and +naked. + +While I was thus musing with my self, my worthy Friend the Clergy-man, +who, very luckily for me, was at the Club that Night, undertook my +Cause. He told us, That he wondered any Order of Persons should think +themselves too considerable to be advis'd: That it was not Quality, but +Innocence which exempted Men from Reproof; That Vice and Folly ought to +be attacked where-ever they could be met with, and especially when they +were placed in high and conspicuous Stations of Life. He further added, +That my Paper would only serve to aggravate the Pains of Poverty, if it +chiefly expos'd those who are already depressed, and in some measure +turn'd into Ridicule, by the Meanness of their Conditions and +Circumstances. He afterwards proceeded to take Notice of the great Use +this Paper might be of to the Publick, by reprehending those Vices which +are too trivial for the Chastisement of the Law, and too fantastical for +the Cognizance of the Pulpit. He then advised me to prosecute my +Undertaking with Chearfulness; and assured me, that whoever might be +displeased with me, I should be approved by all those whose Praises do +Honour to the Persons on whom they are bestowed. + +The whole Club pays a particular Deference to the Discourse of this +Gentleman, and are drawn into what he says as much by the candid and +ingenuous Manner with which he delivers himself, as by the Strength of +Argument and Force of Reason which he makes use of. WILL. HONEYCOMB +immediately agreed, that what he had said was right; and that for his +Part, he would not insist upon the Quarter which he had demanded for the +Ladies. Sir ANDREW gave up the City with the same Frankness. The TEMPLAR +would not stand out; and was followed by Sir ROGER and the CAPTAIN: Who +all agreed that I should be at Liberty to carry the War into what +Quarter I pleased; provided I continued to combat with Criminals in a +Body, and to assault the Vice without hurting the Person. + +This Debate, which was held for the Good of Mankind, put me in Mind of +that which the _Roman_ Triumvirate were formerly engaged in, for their +Destruction. Every Man at first stood hard for his Friend, till they +found that by this Means they should spoil their Proscription: And at +length, making a Sacrifice of all their Acquaintance and Relations, +furnished out a very decent Execution. + +Having thus taken my Resolution to march on boldly in the Cause of +Virtue and good Sense, and to annoy their Adversaries in whatever Degree +or Rank of Men they may be found: I shall be deaf for the future to all +the Remonstrances that shall be made to me on this Account. If _Punch_ +grow extravagant, I shall reprimand him very freely: If the Stage +becomes a Nursery of Folly and Impertinence, I shall not be afraid to +animadvert upon it. In short, If I meet with any thing in City, Court, +or Country, that shocks Modesty or good Manners, I shall use my utmost +Endeavours to make an Example of it. I must however intreat every +particular Person, who does me the Honour to be a Reader of this Paper, +never to think himself, or any one of his Friends or Enemies, aimed at +in what is said: For I promise him, never to draw a faulty Character +which does not fit at least a Thousand People; or to publish a single +Paper, that is not written in the Spirit of Benevolence and with a Love +to Mankind. + +C. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 35. Tuesday, April 10, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Risu inepto res ineptior milla est.' + + Mart. + + +Among all kinds of Writing, there is none in which Authors are more apt +to miscarry than in Works of Humour, as there is none in which they are +more ambitious to excell. It is not an Imagination that teems with +Monsters, an Head that is filled with extravagant Conceptions, which is +capable of furnishing the World with Diversions of this nature; and yet +if we look into the Productions of several Writers, who set up for Men +of Humour, what wild irregular Fancies, what unnatural Distortions of +Thought, do we meet with? If they speak Nonsense, they believe they are +talking Humour; and when they have drawn together a Scheme of absurd, +inconsistent Ideas, they are not able to read it over to themselves +without laughing. These poor Gentlemen endeavour to gain themselves the +Reputation of Wits and Humourists, by such monstrous Conceits as almost +qualify them for _Bedlam;_ not considering that Humour should always lye +under the Check of Reason, and that it requires the Direction of the +nicest Judgment, by so much the more as it indulges it self in the most +boundless Freedoms. There is a kind of Nature that is to be observed in +this sort of Compositions, as well as in all other, and a certain +Regularity of Thought [which [1]] must discover the Writer to be a Man +of Sense, at the same time that he appears altogether given up to +Caprice: For my part, when I read the delirious Mirth of an unskilful +Author, I cannot be so barbarous as to divert my self with it, but am +rather apt to pity the Man, than to laugh at any thing he writes. + +The deceased Mr. _Shadwell_, who had himself a great deal of the Talent, +which I am treating of, represents an empty Rake, in one of his Plays, +as very much surprized to hear one say that breaking of Windows was not +Humour;[2] and I question not but several _English_ Readers will be as +much startled to hear me affirm, that many of those raving incoherent +Pieces, which are often spread among us, under odd Chimerical Titles, +are rather the Offsprings of a Distempered Brain, than Works of Humour. + +It is indeed much easier to describe what is not Humour, than what is; +and very difficult to define it otherwise than as _Cowley_ has done Wit, +by Negatives. Were I to give my own Notions of it, I would deliver them +after _Plato's_ manner, in a kind of Allegory, and by supposing Humour +to be a Person, deduce to him all his Qualifications, according to the +following Genealogy. TRUTH was the Founder of the Family, and the Father +of GOOD SENSE. GOOD SENSE was the Father of WIT, who married a Lady of a +Collateral Line called MIRTH, by whom he had Issue HUMOUR. HUMOUR +therefore being the youngest of this Illustrious Family, and descended +from Parents of such different Dispositions, is very various and unequal +in his Temper; sometimes you see him putting on grave Looks and a solemn +Habit, sometimes airy in his Behaviour and fantastick in his Dress: +Insomuch that at different times he appears as serious as a Judge, and +as jocular as a _Merry-Andrew_. But as he has a great deal of the Mother +in his Constitution, whatever Mood he is in, he never fails to make his +Company laugh. + +But since there [is an Impostor [3]] abroad, who [takes upon him [4]] +the Name of this young Gentleman, and would willingly pass for him in +the World; to the end that well-meaning Persons may not be imposed upon +by [Cheats [5]], I would desire my Readers, when they meet with [this +Pretender [6]], to look into his Parentage, and to examine him strictly, +whether or no he be remotely allied to TRUTH, and lineally descended +from GOOD SENSE; if not, they may conclude him a Counterfeit. They may +likewise distinguish him by a loud and excessive Laughter, in which he +seldom gets his Company to join with him. For, as TRUE HUMOUR generally +looks serious, whilst every Body laughs [about him [7]]; FALSE HUMOUR is +always laughing, whilst every Body about him looks serious. I shall only +add, if he has not in him a Mixture of both Parents, that is, if he +would pass for the Offspring of WIT without MIRTH, or MIRTH without WIT, +you may conclude him to be altogether Spurious, and a Cheat. + +The Impostor, of whom I am speaking, descends Originally from FALSEHOOD, +who was the Mother of NONSENSE, who was brought to Bed of a Son called +FRENZY, who Married one of the Daughters of FOLLY, commonly known by the +Name of LAUGHTER, on whom he begot that Monstrous Infant of which I have +been here speaking. I shall set down at length the Genealogical Table of +FALSE HUMOUR, and, at the same time, place under it the Genealogy of +TRUE HUMOUR, that the Reader may at one View behold their different +Pedigrees and Relations. + + + FALSEHOOD. TRUTH. + | | + NONSENSE. GOOD SENSE. + | | + FRENZY.=LAUGHTER. WIT.=MIRTH. + | | + FALSE HUMOUR. HUMOUR. + + +I might extend the Allegory, by mentioning several of the Children of +FALSE HUMOUR, who are more in Number than the Sands of the Sea, and +might in particular enumerate the many Sons and Daughters which he has +begot in this Island. But as this would be a very invidious Task, I +shall only observe in general, that FALSE HUMOUR differs from the TRUE, +as a Monkey does from a Man. + + _First_ of all, He is exceedingly given to little Apish Tricks and + Buffooneries. + + _Secondly_, He so much delights in Mimickry, that it is all one to him + whether he exposes by it Vice and Folly, Luxury and Avarice; or, on + the contrary, Virtue and Wisdom, Pain and Poverty. + + _Thirdly_, He is wonderfully unlucky, insomuch that he will bite the + Hand that feeds him, and endeavour to ridicule both Friends and Foes + indifferently. For having but small Talents, he must be merry where he + can, not where he _should_. + + _Fourthly_, Being entirely void of Reason, he pursues no Point either + of Morality or Instruction, but is ludicrous only for the sake of + being so. + + _Fifthly_, Being incapable of any thing but Mock-Representations, his + Ridicule is always Personal, and aimed at the Vicious Man, or the + Writer; not at the Vice, or at the Writing. + +I have here only pointed at the whole Species of False Humourists; but +as one of my principal Designs in this Paper is to beat down that +malignant Spirit, which discovers it self in the Writings of the present +Age, I shall not scruple, for the future, to single out any of the small +Wits, that infest the World with such Compositions as are ill-natured, +immoral and absurd. This is the only Exception which I shall make to the +general Rule I have prescribed my self, of _attacking Multitudes_: Since +every honest Man ought to look upon himself as in a Natural State of War +with the Libeller and Lampooner, and to annoy them where-ever they fall +in his way. This is but retaliating upon them, and treating them as they +treat others. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: Wit, in the town sense, is talked of to satiety in +Shadwell's plays; and window-breaking by the street rioters called +'Scowrers,' who are the heroes of an entire play of his, named after +them, is represented to the life by a street scene in the third act of +his 'Woman Captain.'] + + +[Footnote 3: are several Impostors] + + +[Footnote 4: take upon them] + + +[Footnote 5: Counterfeits] + + +[Footnote 6: any of these Pretenders] + + +[Footnote 7: that is about him] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 36. Wednesday, April 11, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Immania monstra + Perferimus ...' + + Virg. + + +I shall not put my self to any further Pains for this Day's +Entertainment, than barely to publish the Letters and Titles of +Petitions from the Play-house, with the Minutes I have made upon the +Latter for my Conduct in relation to them. + + + Drury-Lane, April [1] the 9th. + + 'Upon reading the Project which is set forth in one of your late + Papers, [2] of making an Alliance between all the Bulls, Bears, + Elephants, and Lions, which are separately exposed to publick View in + the Cities of _London_ and _Westminster_; together with the other + Wonders, Shows, and Monsters, whereof you made respective Mention in + the said Speculation; We, the chief Actors of this Playhouse, met and + sat upon the said Design. It is with great Delight that We expect the + Execution of this Work; and in order to contribute to it, We have + given Warning to all our Ghosts to get their Livelihoods where they + can, and not to appear among us after Day-break of the 16th Instant. + We are resolved to take this Opportunity to part with every thing + which does not contribute to the Representation of humane Life; and + shall make a free Gift of all animated Utensils to your Projector. The + Hangings you formerly mentioned are run away; as are likewise a Set of + Chairs, each of which was met upon two Legs going through the _Rose_ + Tavern at Two this Morning. We hope, Sir, you will give proper Notice + to the Town that we are endeavouring at these Regulations; and that we + intend for the future to show no Monsters, but Men who are converted + into such by their own Industry and Affectation. If you will please to + be at the House to-night, you will see me do my Endeavour to show some + unnatural Appearances which are in vogue among the Polite and + Well-bred. I am to represent, in the Character of a fine Lady Dancing, + all the Distortions which are frequently taken for Graces in Mien and + Gesture. This, Sir, is a Specimen of the Method we shall take to + expose the Monsters which come within the Notice of a regular Theatre; + and we desire nothing more gross may be admitted by you Spectators for + the future. We have cashiered three Companies of Theatrical Guards, + and design our Kings shall for the future make Love and sit in Council + without an Army: and wait only your Direction, whether you will have + them reinforce King _Porus_ or join the Troops of _Macedon_. Mr. + _Penkethman_ resolves to consult his _Pantheon_ of Heathen Gods in + Opposition to the Oracle of _Delphos_, and doubts not but he shall + turn the Fortunes of _Porus_ when he personates him. I am desired by + the Company to inform you, that they submit to your Censures; and + shall have you in greater Veneration than _Hercules_ was in of old, if + you can drive Monsters from the Theatre; and think your Merit will be + as much greater than his, as to convince is more than to conquer. + + I am, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, T.D. + + + SIR, When I acquaint you with the great and unexpected Vicissitudes of + my Fortune, I doubt not but I shall obtain your Pity and Favour. I + have for many Years last past been Thunderer to the Play-house; and + have not only made as much Noise out of the Clouds as any Predecessor + of mine in the Theatre that ever bore that Character, but also have + descended and spoke on the Stage as the bold Thunder in _The + Rehearsal_ [1] + + When they got me down thus low, they thought fit to degrade me + further, and make me a Ghost. I was contented with this for these two + last Winters; but they carry their Tyranny still further, and not + satisfied that I am banished from above Ground, they have given me to + understand that I am wholly to depart their Dominions, and taken from + me even my subterraneous Employment. Now, Sir, what I desire of you + is, that if your Undertaker thinks fit to use Fire-Arms (as other + Authors have done) in the Time of _Alexander_, I may be a Cannon + against _Porus_, or else provide for me in the Burning of + _Persepolis_, or what other Method you shall think fit. + + Salmoneus of Covent-Garden.' + + +The Petition of all the Devils of the Play-house in behalf of themselves +and Families, setting forth their Expulsion from thence, with +Certificates of their good Life and Conversation, and praying Relief. + + _The Merit of this Petition referred to Mr._ Chr. Rich, _who made them + Devils._ + +The Petition of the Grave-digger in 'Hamlet', to command the Pioneers in +the Expedition of _Alexander_. + + _Granted._ + +The Petition of _William Bullock_, to be _Hephestion_ to _Penkethman the +Great_. [4] + + _Granted._ + + * * * * * + + The caricature here, and in following lines, is of a passage in Sir + Robert Stapylton's 'Slighted Maid': 'I am the Evening, dark as + Night,' &c. + + In the 'Spectator's' time the Rehearsal was an acted play, in which + Penkethman had the part of the gentleman Usher, and Bullock was one + of the two Kings of Brentford; Thunder was Johnson, who played also + the Grave-digger in Hamlet and other reputable parts. + + + * * * * * + + + +[Footnote 1: 'March' was written by an oversight left in the first reprint +uncorrected.] + + +[Footnote 2: No. 31.] + + +[Footnote 3: Mr. Bayes, the poet, in the Duke of Buckingham's +'Rehearsal', after showing how he has planned a Thunder and Lightning +Prologue for his play, says, + + Come out, Thunder and Lightning. + + [Enter Thunder and Lightning.] + + 'Thun'. I am the bold 'Thunder'. + + 'Bayes'. Mr. Cartwright, prithee speak that a little louder, and + with a hoarse voice. I am the bold Thunder: pshaw! Speak + it me in a voice that thunders it out indeed: I am the + bold 'Thunder'. + + 'Thun'. I am the bold 'Thunder'. + + 'Light'. The brisk Lightning, I.'] + + +[Footnote 4: William Bullock was a good and popular comedian, whom some +preferred to Penkethman, because he spoke no more than was set down for +him, and did not overact his parts. He was now with Penkethman, now with +Cibber and others, joint-manager of a theatrical booth at Bartholomew +Fair. When this essay was written Bullock and Penkethman were acting +together in a play called 'Injured Love', produced at Drury Lane on the +7th of April, Bullock as 'Sir Bookish Outside,' Penkethman as 'Tipple,' +a Servant. Penkethman, Bullock and Dogget were in those days Macbeth's +three witches. Bullock had a son on the stage capable of courtly parts, +who really had played Hephestion in 'the Rival Queens', in a theatre +opened by Penkethman at Greenwich in the preceding summer.] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + + _A Widow Gentlewoman, wellborn both by Father and Mother's Side, + being the Daughter of_ Thomas Prater, _once an eminent + Practitioner in the Law, and of_ Letitia Tattle, _a Family well + known in all Parts of this Kingdom, having been reduc'd by + Misfortunes to wait on several great Persons, and for some time to + be Teacher at a Boarding-School of young Ladies; giveth Notice to + the Publick, That she hath lately taken a House near_ Bloomsbury- + Square, _commodiously situated next the Fields in a good Air; + where she teaches all sorts of Birds of the loquacious Kinds, as + Parrots, Starlings, Magpies, and others, to imitate human Voices + in greater Perfection than ever yet was practis'd. They are not + only instructed to pronounce Words distinctly, and in a proper + Tone and Accent, but to speak the Language with great Purity and + Volubility of Tongue, together with all the fashionable Phrases + and Compliments now in use either at Tea-Tables or visiting Days. + Those that have good Voices may be taught to sing the newest + Opera-Airs, and, if requir'd, to speak either_ Italian _or_ + French, _paying something extraordinary above the common Rates. + They whose Friends are not able to pay the full Prices may be + taken as Half-boarders. She teaches such as are design'd for the + Diversion of the Publick, and to act in enchanted Woods on the + Theatres, by the Great. As she has often observ'd with much + Concern how indecent an Education is usually given these innocent + Creatures, which in some Measure is owing to their being plac'd in + Rooms next the Street, where, to the great Offence of chaste and + tender Ears, they learn Ribaldry, obscene Songs, and immodest + Expressions from Passengers and idle People, and also to cry Fish + and Card-matches, with other useless Parts of Learning to Birds + who have rich Friends, she has fitted up proper and neat + Apartments for them in the back Part of her said House; where she + suffers none to approach them but her self, and a Servant Maid who + is deaf and dumb, and whom she provided on purpose to prepare + their Food and cleanse their Cages; having found by long + Experience how hard a thing it is for those to keep Silence who + have the Use of Speech, and the Dangers her Scholars are expos'd + to by the strong Impressions that are made by harsh Sounds and + vulgar Dialects. In short, if they are Birds of any Parts or + Capacity, she will undertake to render them so accomplish'd in the + Compass of a Twelve-month, that they shall be fit Conversation for + such Ladies as love to chuse their Friends and Companions out of + this Species_. + +R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 37. Thursday, April 12, 1711. Addison. + + + ... Non illa colo calathisve Minervæ + Foemineas assueta manus ... + + Virg. + + +Some Months ago, my Friend Sir Roger, being in the Country, enclosed a +Letter to me, directed to a certain Lady whom I shall here call by the +Name of _Leonora_, and as it contained Matters of Consequence, desired +me to deliver it to her with my own Hand. Accordingly I waited upon her +Ladyship pretty early in the Morning, and was desired by her Woman to +walk into her Lady's Library, till such time as she was in a Readiness +to receive me. The very Sound of a _Lady's Library_ gave me a great +Curiosity to see it; and as it was some time before the Lady came to me, +I had an Opportunity of turning over a great many of her Books, which +were ranged together in a very beautiful Order. At the End of the +_Folios_ (which were finely bound and gilt) were great Jars of _China_ +placed one above another in a very noble Piece of Architecture. The +_Quartos_ were separated from the _Octavos_ by a Pile of smaller +Vessels, which rose in a [delightful[1]] Pyramid. The _Octavos_ were +bounded by Tea Dishes of all Shapes Colours and Sizes, which were so +disposed on a wooden Frame, that they looked like one continued Pillar +indented with the finest Strokes of Sculpture, and stained with the +greatest Variety of Dyes. That Part of the Library which was designed +for the Reception of Plays and Pamphlets, and other loose Papers, was +enclosed in a kind of Square, consisting of one of the prettiest +Grotesque Works that ever I saw, and made up of Scaramouches, Lions, +Monkies, Mandarines, Trees, Shells, and a thousand other odd Figures in +_China_ Ware. In the midst of the Room was a little Japan Table, with a +Quire of gilt Paper upon it, and on the Paper a Silver Snuff-box made in +the Shape of a little Book. I found there were several other Counterfeit +Books upon the upper Shelves, which were carved in Wood, and served only +to fill up the Number, like Fagots in the muster of a Regiment. I was +wonderfully pleased with such a mixt kind of Furniture, as seemed very +suitable both to the Lady and the Scholar, and did not know at first +whether I should fancy my self in a Grotto, or in a Library. + +Upon my looking into the Books, I found there were some few which the +Lady had bought for her own use, but that most of them had been got +together, either because she had heard them praised, or because she had +seen the Authors of them. Among several that I examin'd, I very well +remember these that follow. [2] + + _Ogleby's Virgil_. + _Dryden's Juvenal_. + _Cassandra_. + _Cleopatra_. + _Astraea_. + _Sir Isaac Newton's_ Works. + The _Grand Cyrus:_ With a Pin stuck in one of the middle Leaves. + _Pembroke's Arcadia_. + _Locke_ of Human Understanding: With a Paper of Patches in it. + A Spelling-Book. + A Dictionary for the Explanation of hard Words. + _Sherlock_ upon Death. + The fifteen Comforts of Matrimony. + Sir _William Temptle's_ Essays. + Father _Malbranche's_ Search after Truth, translated into _English_. + A Book of Novels. + The Academy of Compliments. + _Culpepper's_ Midwifry. + The Ladies Calling. + Tales in Verse by Mr. _Durfey_: Bound in Red Leather, gilt on the + Back, and doubled down in several Places. + All the Classick Authors in Wood. + A set of _Elzevers_ by the same Hand. + _Clelia_: Which opened of it self in the Place that describes two + Lovers in a Bower. + _Baker's_ Chronicle. + Advice to a Daughter. + The New _Atalantis_, with a Key to it. + Mr. _Steel's_ Christian Heroe. + A Prayer Book: With a Bottle of _Hungary_ Water by the side of it. + Dr. _Sacheverell's_ Speech. + _Fielding's_ Tryal. + _Seneca's_ Morals. + _Taylor's_ holy Living and Dying. + _La ferte's_ Instructions for Country Dances. + +I was taking a Catalogue in my Pocket-Book of these, and several other +Authors, when _Leonora_ entred, and upon my presenting her with the +Letter from the Knight, told me, with an unspeakable Grace, that she +hoped Sir ROGER was in good Health: I answered _Yes_, for I hate long +Speeches, and after a Bow or two retired. + +_Leonora_ was formerly a celebrated Beauty, and is still a very lovely +Woman. She has been a Widow for two or three Years, and being +unfortunate in her first Marriage, has taken a Resolution never to +venture upon a second. She has no Children to take care of, and leaves +the Management of her Estate to my good Friend Sir ROGER. But as the +Mind naturally sinks into a kind of Lethargy, and falls asleep, that is +not agitated by some Favourite Pleasures and Pursuits, _Leonora_ has +turned all the Passions of her Sex into a Love of Books and Retirement. +She converses chiefly with Men (as she has often said herself), but it +is only in their Writings; and admits of very few Male-Visitants, +except my Friend Sir ROGER, whom she hears with great Pleasure, and +without Scandal. As her Reading has lain very much among Romances, it +has given her a very particular Turn of Thinking, and discovers it self +even in her House, her Gardens, and her Furniture. Sir ROGER has +entertained me an Hour together with a Description of her Country-Seat, +which is situated in a kind of Wilderness, about an hundred Miles +distant from _London_, and looks like a little Enchanted Palace. The +Rocks about her are shaped into Artificial Grottoes covered with +Wood-Bines and Jessamines. The Woods are cut into shady Walks, twisted +into Bowers, and filled with Cages of Turtles. The Springs are made to +run among Pebbles, and by that means taught to Murmur very agreeably. +They are likewise collected into a Beatiful Lake that is Inhabited by a +Couple of Swans, and empties it self by a litte Rivulet which runs +through a Green Meadow, and is known in the Family by the Name of _The +Purling Stream_. The Knight likewise tells me, that this Lady preserves +her Game better than any of the Gentlemen in the Country, not (says Sir +ROGER) that she sets so great a Value upon her Partridges and Pheasants, +as upon her Larks and Nightingales. For she says that every Bird which +is killed in her Ground, will spoil a Consort, and that she shall +certainly miss him the next Year. + +When I think how odly this Lady is improved by Learning, I look upon her +with a Mixture of Admiration and Pity. Amidst these Innocent +Entertainments which she has formed to her self, how much more Valuable +does she appear than those of her Sex, [who [3]] employ themselves in +Diversions that are less Reasonable, tho' more in Fashion? What +Improvements would a Woman have made, who is so Susceptible of +Impressions from what she reads, had she been guided to such Books as +have a Tendency to enlighten the Understanding and rectify the Passions, +as well as to those which are of little more use than to divert the +Imagination? + +But the manner of a Lady's Employing her self usefully in Reading shall +be the Subject of another Paper, in which I design to recommend such +particular Books as may be proper for the Improvement of the Sex. And as +this is a Subject of a very nice Nature, I shall desire my +Correspondents to give me their Thoughts upon it. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: very delightful] + + +[Footnote 2: John Ogilby, or Ogilvy, who died in 1676, aged 76, was +originally a dancing-master, then Deputy Master of the Revels in Dublin; +then, after the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion, a student of Latin and +Greek in Cambridge. Finally, he settled down as a cosmographer. He +produced translations of both Virgil and Homer into English verse. His +'Virgil', published in 1649, was handsomely printed and the first which +gave the entire works in English, nearly half a century before Dryden's +which appeared in 1697. + +The translation of 'Juvenal' and 'Persius' by Dryden, with help of his +two sons, and of Congreve, Creech, Tate, and others, was first published +in 1693. Dryden translated Satires 1, 3, 6, 10, and 16 of Juvenal, and +the whole of Persius. His Essay on Satire was prefixed. + +'Cassandra' and 'Cleopatra' were romances from the French of Gautier de +Costes, Seigneur de la Calprenède, who died in 1663. He published +'Cassandra' in 10 volumes in 1642, 'Cleopatra' in 12 volumes in 1656, +besides other romances. The custom was to publish these romances a +volume at a time. A pretty and rich widow smitten with the 'Cleopatra' +while it was appearing, married La Calprenède upon condition that he +finished it, and his promise to do so was formally inserted in the +marriage contract. The English translations of these French Romances +were always in folio. 'Cassandra', translated by Sir Charles Cotterell, +was published in 1652; 'Cleopatra' in 1668, translated by Robert +Loveday. 'Astraea' was a pastoral Romance of the days of Henri IV. by +Honoré D'Urfe, which had been translated by John Pyper in 1620, and was +again translated by a Person 'of Quality' in 1657. It was of the same +school as Sir Philip Sydney's 'Arcadia', first published after his death +by his sister Mary, Countess of Pembroke, in 1590, and from her, for +whom, indeed, it had been written, called the Countess of Pembroke's +Arcadia. + +Sir Isaac Newton was living in the 'Spectator's' time. He died in 1727, +aged 85. John Locke had died in 1704. His 'Essay on the Human +Understanding' was first published in 1690. Sir William Temple had died +in 1699, aged 71. + +The 'Grand Cyrus', by Magdeleine de Scudéri, was the most famous of the +French Romances of its day. The authoress, who died in 1701, aged 94, +was called the Sappho of her time. Cardinal Mazarin left her a pension +by his will, and she had a pension of two thousand livres from the king. +Her 'Grand Cyrus', published in 10 volumes in 1650, was translated (in +one volume, folio) in 1653. 'Clelia', presently afterwards included in +the list of Leonora's books, was another very popular romance by the +same authoress, published in 10 volumes, a few years later, immediately +translated into English by John Davies, and printed in the usual folio +form. + +Dr. William Sherlock, who after some scruple about taking the oaths to +King William, did so, and was made Dean of St. Paul's, published his +very popular 'Practical Discourse concerning Death', in 1689. He died in +1707. + +Father Nicolas Malebranche, in the 'Spectator's' time, was living in +enjoyment of his reputation as one of the best French writers and +philosophers. The foundations of his fame had been laid by his +'Recherche de la Vérité', of which the first volume appeared in 1673. An +English translation of it, by Thomas Taylor, was published (in folio) in +1694. He died in 1715, Aged 77. + +Thomas D'Urfey was a licentious writer of plays and songs, whose tunes +Charles II. would hum as he leant on their writer's shoulder. His 'New +Poems, with Songs' appeared in 1690. He died in 1723, aged 95. + +The 'New Atalantis' was a scandalous book by Mary de la Riviere Manley, +a daughter of Sir Roger Manley, governor of Guernsey. She began her +career as the victim of a false marriage, deserted and left to support +herself; became a busy writer and a woman of intrigue, who was living in +the 'Spectator's' time, and died in 1724, in the house of Alderman +Barber, with whom she was then living. Her 'New Atalantis', published in +1709, was entitled 'Secret Memoirs and Manners of several Persons of +Quality of both sexes, from the New Atalantis, an Island in the +Mediterranean.' Under feigned names it especially attacked members of +Whig families, and led to proceedings for libel. + +La Ferte was a dancing master of the days of the 'Spectator', who in +Nos. 52 and 54 advertised his School + + 'in Compton Street, Soho, over against St. Ann's Church Back-door,' + adding that, 'at the desire of several gentlemen in the City,' he + taught dancing on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the neighhourhood of the + Royal Exchange.] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 38. Friday, April 13, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Cupias non placuisse nimis.' + + Mart. + + +A Late Conversation which I fell into, gave me an Opportunity of +observing a great deal of Beauty in a very handsome Woman, and as much +Wit in an ingenious Man, turned into Deformity in the one, and Absurdity +in the other, by the meer Force of Affectation. The Fair One had +something in her Person upon which her Thoughts were fixed, that she +attempted to shew to Advantage in every Look, Word, and Gesture. The +Gentleman was as diligent to do Justice to his fine Parts, as the Lady +to her beauteous Form: You might see his Imagination on the Stretch to +find out something uncommon, and what they call bright, to entertain +her; while she writhed her self into as many different Postures to +engage him. When she laughed, her Lips were to sever at a greater +Distance than ordinary to shew her Teeth: Her Fan was to point to +somewhat at a Distance, that in the Reach she may discover the Roundness +of her Arm; then she is utterly mistaken in what she saw, falls back, +smiles at her own Folly, and is so wholly discomposed, that her Tucker +is to be adjusted, her Bosom exposed, and the whole Woman put into new +Airs and Graces. While she was doing all this, the Gallant had Time to +think of something very pleasant to say next to her, or make some unkind +Observation on some other Lady to feed her Vanity. These unhappy Effects +of Affectation, naturally led me to look into that strange State of Mind +which so generally discolours the Behaviour of most People we meet with. + +The learned Dr. _Burnet_, [1] in his Theory of the Earth, takes Occasion +to observe, That every Thought is attended with Consciousness and +Representativeness; the Mind has nothing presented to it but what is +immediately followed by a Reflection or Conscience, which tells you +whether that which was so presented is graceful or unbecoming. This Act +of the Mind discovers it self in the Gesture, by a proper Behaviour in +those whose Consciousness goes no further than to direct them in the +just Progress of their present Thought or Action; but betrays an +Interruption in every second Thought, when the Consciousness is employed +in too fondly approving a Man's own Conceptions; which sort of +Consciousness is what we call Affectation. + +As the Love of Praise is implanted in our Bosoms as a strong Incentive +to worthy Actions, it is a very difficult Task to get above a Desire of +it for things that should be wholly indifferent. Women, whose Hearts are +fixed upon the Pleasure they have in the Consciousness that they are the +Objects of Love and Admiration, are ever changing the Air of their +Countenances, and altering the Attitude of their Bodies, to strike the +Hearts of their Beholders with new Sense of their Beauty. The dressing +Part of our Sex, whose Minds are the same with the sillyer Part of the +other, are exactly in the like uneasy Condition to be regarded for a +well-tied Cravat, an Hat cocked with an unusual Briskness, a very +well-chosen Coat, or other Instances of Merit, which they are impatient +to see unobserved. + +But this apparent Affectation, arising from an ill-governed +Consciousness, is not so much to be wonder'd at in such loose and +trivial Minds as these: But when you see it reign in Characters of Worth +and Distinction, it is what you cannot but lament, not without some +Indignation. It creeps into the Heart of the wise Man, as well as that +of the Coxcomb. When you see a Man of Sense look about for Applause, and +discover an itching Inclination to be commended; lay Traps for a little +Incense, even from those whose Opinion he values in nothing but his own +Favour; Who is safe against this Weakness? or who knows whether he is +guilty of it or not? The best Way to get clear of such a light Fondness +for Applause, is to take all possible Care to throw off the Love of it +upon Occasions that are not in themselves laudable; but, as it appears, +we hope for no Praise from them. Of this Nature are all Graces in Mens +Persons, Dress and bodily Deportment; which will naturally be winning +and attractive if we think not of them, but lose their Force in +proportion to our Endeavour to make them such. + +When our Consciousness turns upon the main Design of Life, and our +Thoughts are employed upon the chief Purpose either in Business or +Pleasure, we shall never betray an Affectation, for we cannot be guilty +of it: But when we give the Passion for Praise an unbridled Liberty, our +Pleasure in little Perfections, robs us of what is due to us for great +Virtues and worthy Qualities. How many excellent Speeches and honest +Actions are lost, for want of being indifferent where we ought? Men are +oppressed with regard to their Way of speaking and acting; instead of +having their Thought bent upon what they should do or say, and by that +Means bury a Capacity for great things, by their fear of failing in +indifferent things. This, perhaps, cannot be called Affectation; but it +has some Tincture of it, at least so far, as that their Fear of erring +in a thing of no Consequence, argues they would be too much pleased in +performing it. + +It is only from a thorough Disregard to himself in such Particulars, +that a Man can act with a laudable Sufficiency: His Heart is fixed upon +one Point in view; and he commits no Errors, because he thinks nothing +an Error but what deviates from that Intention. + +The wild Havock Affectation makes in that Part of the World which should +be most polite, is visible where ever we turn our Eyes: It pushes Men +not only into Impertinencies in Conversation, but also in their +premeditated Speeches. At the Bar it torments the Bench, whose Business +it is to cut off all Superfluities in what is spoken before it by the +Practitioner; as well as several little Pieces of Injustice which arise +from the Law it self. I have seen it make a Man run from the Purpose +before a Judge, who was, when at the Bar himself, so close and logical a +Pleader, that with all the Pomp of Eloquence in his Power, he never +spoke a Word too much. [2] + +It might be born even here, but it often ascends the Pulpit it self; and +the Declaimer, in that sacred Place, is frequently so impertinently +witty, speaks of the last Day it self with so many quaint Phrases, that +there is no Man who understands Raillery, but must resolve to sin no +more: Nay, you may behold him sometimes in Prayer for a proper Delivery +of the great Truths he is to utter, humble himself with so very well +turned Phrase, and mention his own Unworthiness in a Way so very +becoming, that the Air of the pretty Gentleman is preserved, under the +Lowliness of the Preacher. + +I shall end this with a short Letter I writ the other Day to a very +witty Man, over-run with the Fault I am speaking of. + + + Dear SIR, + + 'I Spent some Time with you the other Day, and must take the Liberty + of a Friend to tell you of the unsufferable Affectation you are guilty + of in all you say and do. When I gave you an Hint of it, you asked me + whether a Man is to be cold to what his Friends think of him? No; but + Praise is not to be the Entertainment of every Moment: He that hopes + for it must be able to suspend the Possession of it till proper + Periods of Life, or Death it self. If you would not rather be + commended than be Praiseworthy, contemn little Merits; and allow no + Man to be so free with you, as to praise you to your Face. Your Vanity + by this Means will want its Food. At the same time your Passion for + Esteem will be more fully gratified; Men will praise you in their + Actions: Where you now receive one Compliment, you will then receive + twenty Civilities. Till then you will never have of either, further + than + + SIR, + + Your humble Servant.' + + R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Thomas Burnet, who produced in 1681 the 'Telluris +Theoria Sacra,' translated in 1690 as 'the Sacred Theory of the Earth,' +was living in the 'Spectator's' time. He died in 1715, aged 80. He was +for 30 years Master of the Charter-house, and set himself against James +II. in refusing to admit a Roman Catholic as a Poor Brother. Burnet's +Theory, a romance that passed for science in its day, was opposed in +1696 by Whiston in his 'New Theory of the Earth' (one all for Fire, the +other all for Water), and the new Romance was Science even in the eyes +of Locke. Addison, from Oxford in 1699, addressed a Latin ode to Burnet.] + + +[Footnote 2: Lord Cowper.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 39. Saturday, April 14, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Multa fero, ut placem genus irritabile vatum, + Cum scribo.' + + Hor. + + +As a perfect Tragedy is the Noblest Production of Human Nature, so it is +capable of giving the Mind one of the most delightful and most improving +Entertainments. A virtuous Man (says _Seneca_) struggling with +Misfortunes, is such a Spectacle as Gods might look upon with Pleasure: +[1] And such a Pleasure it is which one meets with in the Representation +of a well-written Tragedy. Diversions of this kind wear out of our +Thoughts every thing that is mean and little. They cherish and cultivate +that Humanity which is the Ornament of our Nature. They soften +Insolence, sooth Affliction, and subdue the Mind to the Dispensations of +Providence. + +It is no Wonder therefore that in all the polite Nations of the World, +this part of the _Drama_ has met with publick Encouragement. + +The modern Tragedy excels that of _Greece_ and _Rome_, in the Intricacy +and Disposition of the Fable; but, what a Christian Writer would be +ashamed to own, falls infinitely short of it in the Moral Part of the +Performance. + +This I [may [2]] shew more at large hereafter; and in the mean time, +that I may contribute something towards the Improvement of the _English_ +Tragedy, I shall take notice, in this and in other following Papers, of +some particular Parts in it that seem liable to Exception. + +_Aristotle_ [3] observes, that the _Iambick_ Verse in the _Greek_ Tongue +was the most proper for Tragedy: Because at the same time that it lifted +up the Discourse from Prose, it was that which approached nearer to it +than any other kind of Verse. For, says he, we may observe that Men in +Ordinary Discourse very often speak _Iambicks_, without taking notice of +it. We may make the same Observation of our _English_ Blank Verse, which +often enters into our Common Discourse, though we do not attend to it, +and is such a due Medium between Rhyme and Prose, that it seems +wonderfully adapted to Tragedy. I am therefore very much offended when I +see a Play in Rhyme, which is as absurd in _English_, as a Tragedy of +_Hexameters_ would have been in _Greek_ or _Latin_. The Solaecism is, I +think, still greater, in those Plays that have some Scenes in Rhyme and +some in Blank Verse, which are to be looked upon as two several +Languages; or where we see some particular Similies dignifyed with +Rhyme, at the same time that everything about them lyes in Blank Verse. +I would not however debar the Poet from concluding his Tragedy, or, if +he pleases, every Act of it, with two or three Couplets, which may have +the same Effect as an Air in the _Italian_ Opera after a long +_Recitativo_, and give the Actor a graceful _Exit_. Besides that we see +a Diversity of Numbers in some Parts of the Old Tragedy, in order to +hinder the Ear from being tired with the same continued Modulation of +Voice. For the same Reason I do not dislike the Speeches in our +_English_ Tragedy that close with an _Hemistick_, or half Verse, +notwithstanding the Person who speaks after it begins a new Verse, +without filling up the preceding one; Nor with abrupt Pauses and +Breakings-off in the middle of a Verse, when they humour any Passion +that is expressed by it. + +Since I am upon this Subject, I must observe that our _English_ Poets +have succeeded much better in the Style, than in the Sentiments of their +Tragedies. Their Language is very often Noble and Sonorous, but the +Sense either very trifling or very common. On the contrary, in the +Ancient Tragedies, and indeed in those of _Corneille_ and _Racine_ [4] +tho' the Expressions are very great, it is the Thought that bears them +up and swells them. For my own part, I prefer a noble Sentiment that is +depressed with homely Language, infinitely before a vulgar one that is +blown up with all the Sound and Energy of Expression. Whether this +Defect in our Tragedies may arise from Want of Genius, Knowledge, or +Experience in the Writers, or from their Compliance with the vicious +Taste of their Readers, who are better Judges of the Language than of +the Sentiments, and consequently relish the one more than the other, I +cannot determine. But I believe it might rectify the Conduct both of the +one and of the other, if the Writer laid down the whole Contexture of +his Dialogue in plain _English_, before he turned it into Blank Verse; +and if the Reader, after the Perusal of a Scene, would consider the +naked Thought of every Speech in it, when divested of all its Tragick +Ornaments. By this means, without being imposed upon by Words, we may +judge impartially of the Thought, and consider whether it be natural or +great enough for the Person that utters it, whether it deserves to shine +in such a Blaze of Eloquence, or shew itself in such a Variety of Lights +as are generally made use of by the Writers of our _English_ Tragedy. + +I must in the next place observe, that when our Thoughts are great and +just, they are often obscured by the sounding Phrases, hard Metaphors, +and forced Expressions in which they are cloathed. _Shakespear_ is often +very Faulty in this Particular. There is a fine Observation in +_Aristotle_ to this purpose, which I have never seen quoted. The +Expression, says he, ought to be very much laboured in the unactive +Parts of the Fable, as in Descriptions, Similitudes, Narrations, and the +like; in which the Opinions, Manners and Passions of Men are not +represented; for these (namely the Opinions, Manners and Passions) are +apt to be obscured by Pompous Phrases, and Elaborate Expressions. [5] +_Horace_, who copied most of his Criticisms after _Aristotle_, seems to +have had his Eye on the foregoing Rule in the following Verses: + + Et Tragicus plerumque dolet Sermone pedestri, + Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exul uterque, + Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, + Si curat cor Spectantis tetigisse querelâ. + + Tragedians too lay by their State, to grieve_. + Peleus _and_ Telephus, _Exit'd and Poor, + Forget their Swelling and Gigantick Words. + + (Ld. ROSCOMMON.) + +Among our Modern _English_ Poets, there is none who was better turned +for Tragedy than _Lee_; [6] if instead of favouring the Impetuosity of +his Genius, he had restrained it, and kept it within its proper Bounds. +His Thoughts are wonderfully suited to Tragedy, but frequently lost in +such a Cloud of Words, that it is hard to see the Beauty of them: There +is an infinite Fire in his Works, but so involved in Smoak, that it does +not appear in half its Lustre. He frequently succeeds in the Passionate +Parts of the Tragedy, but more particularly where he slackens his +Efforts, and eases the Style of those Epithets and Metaphors, in which +he so much abounds. What can be more Natural, more Soft, or more +Passionate, than that Line in _Statira's_ Speech, where she describes +the Charms of _Alexander's_ Conversation? + + _Then he would talk: Good Gods! how he would talk!_ + +That unexpected Break in the Line, and turning the Description of his +Manner of Talking into an Admiration of it, is inexpressibly Beautiful, +and wonderfully suited, to the fond Character of the Person that speaks +it. There is a Simplicity in the Words, that outshines the utmost Pride +of Expression. + +_Otway_ [7] has followed Nature in the Language of his Tragedy, and +therefore shines in the Passionate Parts, more than any of our _English_ +Poets. As there is something Familiar and Domestick in the Fable of his +Tragedy, more than in those of any other Poet, he has little Pomp, but +great Force in his Expressions. For which Reason, though he has +admirably succeeded in the tender and melting Part of his Tragedies, he +sometimes falls into too great a Familiarity of Phrase in those Parts, +which, by _Aristotle's_ Rule, ought to have been raised and supported by +the Dignity of Expression. + +It has been observed by others, that this Poet has founded his Tragedy +of _Venice Preserved_ on so wrong a Plot, that the greatest Characters +in it are those of Rebels and Traitors. Had the Hero of his Play +discovered the same good Qualities in the Defence of his Country, that +he showed for its Ruin and Subversion, the Audience could not enough +pity and admire him: But as he is now represented, we can only say of +him what the _Roman_ Historian says of _Catiline_, that his Fall would +have been Glorious (_si pro Patriâ sic concidisset_) had he so fallen in +the Service of his Country. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: From Seneca on Providence: + + "'De Providentiâ', sive Quare Bonis Viris Mala Accidant cum sit + Providentia' § 2, + 'Ecce spectaculum dignum, ad quod respiciat intentus operi suo Deus: + ecce par Deo dignum, vir fortis cum malâ fortunâ compositus, utique si + et provocavit." + +So also Minutius Felix, 'Adversus Gentes:' + + "Quam pulchrum spectaculum Deo, cum Christianus cum dolore + congueditur? cum adversus minas, et supplicia, et tormenta componitur? + cum libertatem suam adversus reges ac Principes erigit." + +Epictetus also bids the endangered man remember that he has been sent by +God as an athlete into the arena.] + + +[Footnote 2: shall] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Poetics', Part I. § 7. Also in the 'Rhetoric', bk III. ch. +i.] + + +[Footnote 4: These chiefs of the French tragic drama died, Corneille in +1684, and his brother Thomas in 1708; Racine in 1699.] + + +[Footnote 5: It is the last sentence in Part III. of the 'Poetics'.] + + +[Footnote 6: Nathaniel Lee died in 1692 of injury received during a +drunken frolic. Disappointed of a fellowship at Cambridge, he turned +actor; failed upon the stage, but prospered as a writer for it. His +career as a dramatist began with 'Nero', in 1675, and he wrote in all +eleven plays. His most successful play was the 'Rival Queens', or the +Death of Alexander the Great, produced in 1677. Next to it in success, +and superior in merit, was his 'Theodosius', or the Force of Love, +produced in 1680. He took part with Dryden in writing the very +successful adaptation of 'OEdipus', produced in 1679, as an English +Tragedy based upon Sophocles and Seneca. During two years of his life +Lee was a lunatic in Bedlam.] + + +[Footnote 7: Thomas Otway died of want in 1685, at the age of 34. Like +Lee, he left college for the stage, attempted as an actor, then turned +dramatist, and produced his first tragedy, 'Alcibiades', in 1675, the +year in which Lee produced also his first tragedy, 'Nero'. Otway's +second play, 'Don Carlos', was very successful, but his best were, the +'Orphan', produced in 1680, remarkable for its departure from the kings +and queens of tragedy for pathos founded upon incidents in middle life, +and 'Venice Preserved', produced in 1682.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 40. Monday, April 16, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Ac ne forte putes, me, que facere ipse recusem, + Cum recte tractant alii, laudare maligne; + Ille per extentum funem mihi fosse videtur + Ire Poeta, meum qui pectus inaniter angit, + Irritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet, + Ut magus; et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.' + + Hor. + + +The _English_ Writers of Tragedy are possessed with a Notion, that when +they represent a virtuous or innocent Person in Distress, they ought not +to leave him till they have delivered him out of his Troubles, or made +him triumph over his Enemies. This Error they have been led into by a +ridiculous Doctrine in modern Criticism, that they are obliged to an +equal Distribution of Rewards and Punishments, and an impartial +Execution of poetical Justice. Who were the first that established this +Rule I know not; but I am sure it has no Foundation in Nature, in +Reason, or in the Practice of the Ancients. We find that Good and Evil +happen alike to all Men on this side the Grave; and as the principal +Design of Tragedy is to raise Commiseration and Terror in the Minds of +the Audience, we shall defeat this great End, if we always make Virtue +and Innocence happy and successful. Whatever Crosses and Disappointments +a good Man suffers in the Body of the Tragedy, they will make but small +Impression on our Minds, when we know that in the last Act he is to +arrive at the End of his Wishes and Desires. When we see him engaged in +the Depth of his Afflictions, we are apt to comfort our selves, because +we are sure he will find his Way out of them: and that his Grief, how +great soever it may be at present, will soon terminate in Gladness. For +this Reason the ancient Writers of Tragedy treated Men in their Plays, +as they are dealt with in the World, by making Virtue sometimes happy +and sometimes miserable, as they found it in the Fable which they made +choice of, or as it might affect their Audience in the most agreeable +Manner. _Aristotle_ considers the Tragedies that were written in either +of these Kinds, and observes, That those which ended unhappily had +always pleased the People, and carried away the Prize in the publick +Disputes of the Stage, from those that ended happily. [1] Terror and +Commiseration leave a pleasing Anguish in the Mind; and fix the Audience +in such a serious Composure of Thought as is much more lasting and +delightful than any little transient Starts of Joy and Satisfaction. +Accordingly, we find, that more of our English Tragedies have succeeded, +in which the Favourites of the Audience sink under their Calamities, +than those in which they recover themselves out of them. The best Plays +of this Kind are 'The Orphan', 'Venice Preserved', 'Alexander the +Great', 'Theodosius', 'All for Love', 'OEdipus', 'Oroonoko', 'Othello', +[2] &c. 'King Lear' is an admirable Tragedy of the same Kind, as +'Shakespear' wrote it; but as it is reformed according to the chymerical +Notion of Poetical Justice, in my humble Opinion it has lost half its +Beauty. At the same time I must allow, that there are very noble +Tragedies which have been framed upon the other Plan, and have ended +happily; as indeed most of the good Tragedies, which have been written +since the starting of the above-mentioned Criticism, have taken this +Turn: As 'The Mourning Bride', 'Tamerlane', 'Ulysses', 'Phædra' and +'Hippolitus', with most of Mr. _Dryden's_. [3] I must also allow, that +many of _Shakespear's_, and several of the celebrated Tragedies of +Antiquity, are cast in the same Form. I do not therefore dispute against +this Way of writing Tragedies, but against the Criticism that would +establish this as the only Method; and by that Means would very much +cramp the _English_ Tragedy, and perhaps give a wrong Bent to the Genius +of our Writers. + +The Tragi-Comedy, which is the Product of the _English_ Theatre, is one +of the most monstrous Inventions that ever entered into a Poet's +Thoughts. An Author might as well think of weaving the Adventures of +_Æneas_ and _Hudibras_ into one Poem, as of writing such a motly Piece +of Mirth and Sorrow. But the Absurdity of these Performances is so very +visible, that I shall not insist upon it. + +The same Objections which are made to Tragi-Comedy, may in some Measure +be applied to all Tragedies that have a double Plot in them; which are +likewise more frequent upon the _English_ Stage, than upon any other: +For though the Grief of the Audience, in such Performances, be not +changed into another Passion, as in Tragi-Comedies; it is diverted upon +another Object, which weakens their Concern for the principal Action, +and breaks the Tide of Sorrow, by throwing it into different Channels. +This Inconvenience, however, may in a great Measure be cured, if not +wholly removed, by the skilful Choice of an Under-Plot, which may bear +such a near Relation to the principal Design, as to contribute towards +the Completion of it, and be concluded by the same Catastrophe. + +There is also another Particular, which may be reckoned among the +Blemishes, or rather the false Beauties, of our _English_ Tragedy: I +mean those particular Speeches, which are commonly known by the Name of +_Rants_. The warm and passionate Parts of a Tragedy, are always the most +taking with the Audience; for which Reason we often see the Players +pronouncing, in all the Violence of Action, several Parts of the Tragedy +which the Author writ with great Temper, and designed that they should +have been so acted. I have seen _Powell_ very often raise himself a loud +Clap by this Artifice. The Poets that were acquainted with this Secret, +have given frequent Occasion for such Emotions in the Actor, by adding +Vehemence to Words where there was no Passion, or inflaming a real +Passion into Fustian. This hath filled the Mouths of our Heroes with +Bombast; and given them such Sentiments, as proceed rather from a +Swelling than a Greatness of Mind. Unnatural Exclamations, Curses, Vows, +Blasphemies, a Defiance of Mankind, and an Outraging of the Gods, +frequently pass upon the Audience for tow'ring Thoughts, and have +accordingly met with infinite Applause. + +I shall here add a Remark, which I am afraid our Tragick Writers may +make an ill use of. As our Heroes are generally Lovers, their Swelling +and Blustring upon the Stage very much recommends them to the fair Part +of their Audience. The Ladies are wonderfully pleased to see a Man +insulting Kings, or affronting the Gods, in one Scene, and throwing +himself at the Feet of his Mistress in another. Let him behave himself +insolently towards the Men, and abjectly towards the Fair One, and it is +ten to one but he proves a Favourite of the Boxes. _Dryden_ and _Lee_, +in several of their Tragedies, have practised this Secret with good +Success. + +But to shew how a Rant pleases beyond the most just and natural Thought +that is not pronounced with Vehemence, I would desire the Reader when he +sees the Tragedy of _OEdipus_, to observe how quietly the Hero is +dismissed at the End of the third Act, after having pronounced the +following Lines, in which the Thought is very natural, and apt to move +Compassion; + + 'To you, good Gods, I make my last Appeal; + Or clear my Virtues, or my Crimes reveal. + If in the Maze of Fate I blindly run, + And backward trod those Paths I sought to shun; + Impute my Errors to your own Decree: + My Hands are guilty, but my Heart is free.' + +Let us then observe with what Thunder-claps of Applause he leaves the +Stage, after the Impieties and Execrations at the End of the fourth Act; +[4] and you will wonder to see an Audience so cursed and so pleased at +the same time; + + 'O that as oft have at Athens seen,-- + +[Where, by the Way, there was no Stage till many Years after OEdipus.] + + ... The Stage arise, and the big Clouds descend; + So now, in very Deed, I might behold + This pond'rous Globe, and all yen marble Roof, + Meet like the Hands of Jove, and crush Mankind. + For all the Elements, &c.' + + + +[Footnote 1: Here Aristotle is not quite accurately quoted. What he says +of the tragedies which end unhappily is, that Euripides was right in +preferring them, + + 'and as the strongest proof of it we find that upon the stage, and in + the dramatic contests, such tragedies, if they succeed, have always + the most tragic effect.' + +Poetics, Part II. § 12.] + + +[Footnote 2: Of the two plays in this list, besides 'Othello', which +have not been mentioned in the preceding notes, 'All for Love', produced +in 1678, was Dryden's 'Antony and Cleopatra', 'Oroonoko', first acted +in, 1678, was a tragedy by Thomas Southerne, which included comic +scenes. Southerne, who held a commission in the army, was living in the +'Spectator's' time, and died in 1746, aged 86. It was in his best play, +'Isabella', or the Fatal Marriage, that Mrs. Siddons, in 1782, made her +first appearance on the London stage.] + + +[Footnote 3: Congreve's 'Mourning Bride' was first acted in 1697; Rowe's +'Tamerlane' (with a hero planned in complement to William III.) in 1702; +Rowe's 'Ulysses' in 1706; Edmund Smith's 'Phaedra' and 'Hippolitus' in +1707.] + + +[Footnote 4: The third Act of 'OEdipus' was by Dryden, the fourth by +Lee. Dryden wrote also the first Act, the rest was Lee's.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT + + _Having spoken of Mr._ Powell, +as sometimes raising himself Applause from the ill Taste of an Audience; + I must do him the Justice to own, + that he is excellently formed for a Tragoedian, + and, when he pleases, deserves the Admiration of the best Judges; + as I doubt not but he will in the Conquest of Mexico, + _which is acted for his own Benefit To-morrow Night_. + + C. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 41. Tuesday, April 17, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Tu non inventa reperta es.' + + Ovid + + +Compassion for the Gentleman who writes the following Letter, should not +prevail upon me to fall upon the Fair Sex, if it were not that I find +they are frequently Fairer than they ought to be. Such Impostures are +not to be tolerated in Civil Society; and I think his Misfortune ought +to be made publick, as a Warning for other Men always to Examine into +what they Admire. + + + SIR, + + Supposing you to be a Person of general Knowledge, I make my + Application to you on a very particular Occasion. I have a great Mind + to be rid of my Wife, and hope, when you consider my Case, you will be + of Opinion I have very just Pretensions to a Divorce. I am a mere Man + of the Town, and have very little Improvement, but what I have got + from Plays. I remember in _The Silent Woman_ the Learned Dr. + _Cutberd_, or Dr. _Otter_ (I forget which) makes one of the Causes of + Separation to be _Error Personæ_, when a Man marries a Woman, and + finds her not to be the same Woman whom he intended to marry, but + another. [1] If that be Law, it is, I presume, exactly my Case. For + you are to know, Mr. SPECTATOR, that there are Women who do not let + their Husbands see their Faces till they are married. + + Not to keep you in suspence, I mean plainly, that Part of the Sex who + paint. They are some of them so Exquisitely skilful this Way, that + give them but a Tolerable Pair of Eyes to set up with, and they will + make Bosoms, Lips, Cheeks, and Eye-brows, by their own Industry. As + for my Dear, never Man was so Enamour'd as I was of her fair Forehead, + Neck, and Arms, as well as the bright Jett of her Hair; but to my + great Astonishment, I find they were all the Effects of Art: Her Skin + is so Tarnished with this Practice, that when she first wakes in a + Morning, she scarce seems young enough to be the Mother of her whom I + carried to Bed the Night before. I shall take the Liberty to part with + her by the first Opportunity, unless her Father will make her Portion + suitable to her real, not her assumed, Countenance. This I thought fit + to let him and her know by your Means. + + I am, SIR, Your most obedient, humble Servant. + + +I cannot tell what the Law, or the Parents of the Lady, will do for this +Injured Gentleman, but must allow he has very much Justice on his Side. +I have indeed very long observed this Evil, and distinguished those of +our Women who wear their own, from those in borrowed Complexions, by the +_Picts_ and the _British_. There does not need any great Discernment to +judge which are which. The _British_ have a lively, animated Aspect; The +_Picts_, tho' never so Beautiful, have dead, uninformed Countenances. +The Muscles of a real Face sometimes swell with soft Passion, sudden +Surprize, and are flushed with agreeable Confusions, according as the +Objects before them, or the Ideas presented to them, affect their +Imagination. But the _Picts_ behold all things with the same Air, +whether they are Joyful or Sad; the same fixed Insensibility appears +upon all Occasions. A _Pict_, tho' she takes all that Pains to invite +the Approach of Lovers, is obliged to keep them at a certain Distance; a +Sigh in a Languishing Lover, if fetched too near her, would dissolve a +Feature; and a Kiss snatched by a Forward one, might transfer the +Complexion of the Mistress to the Admirer. It is hard to speak of these +false Fair Ones, without saying something uncomplaisant, but I would +only recommend to them to consider how they like coming into a Room new +Painted; they may assure themselves, the near Approach of a Lady who +uses this Practice is much more offensive. + +WILL. HONEYCOMB told us, one Day, an Adventure he once had with a +_Pict_. This Lady had Wit, as well as Beauty, at Will; and made it her +Business to gain Hearts, for no other Reason, but to rally the Torments +of her Lovers. She would make great Advances to insnare Men, but without +any manner of Scruple break off when there was no Provocation. Her +Ill-Nature and Vanity made my Friend very easily Proof against the +Charms of her Wit and Conversation; but her beauteous Form, instead of +being blemished by her Falshood and Inconstancy, every Day increased +upon him, and she had new Attractions every time he saw her. When she +observed WILL. irrevocably her Slave, she began to use him as such, and +after many Steps towards such a Cruelty, she at last utterly banished +him. The unhappy Lover strove in vain, by servile Epistles, to revoke +his Doom; till at length he was forced to the last Refuge, a round Sum +of Money to her Maid. This corrupt Attendant placed him early in the +Morning behind the Hangings in her Mistress's Dressing-Room. He stood +very conveniently to observe, without being seen. The _Pict_ begins the +Face she designed to wear that Day, and I have heard him protest she had +worked a full half Hour before he knew her to be the same Woman. As soon +as he saw the Dawn of that Complexion, for which he had so long +languished, he thought fit to break from his Concealment, repeating that +of _Cowley:_ + + 'Th' adorning Thee, with so much Art, + Is but a barbarous Skill; + 'Tis like the Pois'ning of a Dart, + Too apt before to kill.' [2] + +The _Pict_ stood before him in the utmost Confusion, with the prettiest +Smirk imaginable on the finished side of her Face, pale as Ashes on the +other. HONEYCOMB seized all her Gallypots and Washes, and carried off +his Han kerchief full of Brushes, Scraps of _Spanish_ Wool, and Phials +of Unguents. The Lady went into the Country, the Lover was cured. + +It is certain no Faith ought to be kept with Cheats, and an Oath made to +a _Pict_ is of it self void. I would therefore exhort all the _British_ +Ladies to single them out, nor do I know any but _Lindamira_, who should +be Exempt from Discovery; for her own Complexion is so delicate, that +she ought to be allowed the covering it with Paint, as a Punishment for +choosing to be the worst Piece of Art extant, instead of the Masterpiece +of Nature. As for my part, who have no Expectations from Women, and +consider them only as they are Part of the Species, I do not half so +much fear offending a Beauty, as a Woman of Sense; I shall therefore +produce several Faces which have been in Publick this many Years, and +never appeared. It will be a very pretty Entertainment in the Playhouse +(when I have abolished this Custom) to see so many Ladies, when they +first lay it down, _incog._, in their own Faces. + +In the mean time, as a Pattern for improving their Charms, let the Sex +study the agreeable _Statira_. Her Features are enlivened with the +Chearfulness of her Mind, and good Humour gives an Alacrity to her Eyes. +She is Graceful without affecting an Air, and Unconcerned without +appearing Careless. Her having no manner of Art in her Mind, makes her +want none in her Person. + +How like is this Lady, and how unlike is a _Pict_, to that Description +Dr. _Donne_ gives of his Mistress? + + Her pure and eloquent Blood + Spoke in her Cheeks, and so distinctly wrought, + That one would almost say her Body thought. [3] + + + +[Footnote 1: Ben Jonson's 'Epicoene', or the Silent Woman, kept the +stage in the Spectator's time, and was altered by G. Colman for Drury +Lane, in 1776. Cutbeard in the play is a barber, and Thomas Otter a Land +and Sea Captain. + + "Tom Otter's bull, bear, and horse is known all over England, 'in + rerum naturâ.'" + +In the fifth act Morose, who has married a Silent Woman and discovered +her tongue after marriage, is played upon by the introduction of Otter, +disguised as a Divine, and Cutbeard, as a Canon Lawyer, to explain to +him + + 'for how many causes a man may have 'divortium legitimum', a + lawful divorce.' + +Cutbeard, in opening with burlesque pedantry a budget of twelve +impediments which make the bond null, is thus supported by Otter: + + 'Cutb.' The first is 'impedimentum erroris'. + + 'Otter.' Of which there are several species. + + 'Cutb.' Ay, 'as error personæ'. + + 'Otter. If you contract yourself to one person, thinking her + another.'] + + +[Footnote 2: This is fourth of five stanzas to 'The Waiting-Maid,' in +the collection of poems called 'The Mistress.'] + + +[Footnote 3: Donne's Funeral Elegies, on occasion of the untimely death +of Mistress Elizabeth Drury. 'Of the Progress of the Soul,' Second +Anniversary. It is the strain not of a mourning lover, but of a mourning +friend. Sir Robert Drury was so cordial a friend that he gave to Donne +and his wife a lodging rent free in his own large house in Drury Lane, + + 'and was also,' says Isaac Walton, 'a cherisher of his studies, and + such a friend as sympathized 'with him and his, in all their joys and + sorrows.' + +The lines quoted by Steele show that the sympathy was mutual; +but the poetry in them is a flash out of the clouds of a dull context. +It is hardly worth noticing that Steele, quoting from memory, puts +'would' for 'might' in the last line. Sir Robert's daughter Elizabeth, +who, it is said, was to have been the wife of Prince Henry, eldest son +of James I, died at the age of fifteen in 1610.] + + + + + + * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + _A young Gentlewoman of about Nineteen Years of Age + (bred in the Family of a Person of Quality lately deceased,) + who Paints the finest Flesh-colour, + wants a Place, + and is to be heard of at the House of + Minheer_ Grotesque _a Dutch Painter in_ Barbican. + + N. B. _She is also well-skilled in the Drapery-part, + and puts on Hoods and mixes Ribbons + so as to suit the Colours of the Face + with great Art and Success_. + + R. + + + + + + * * * * + + + + + +No. 42. Wednesday, April 18, 1711. Addison. + + + Garganum inugire putes nemus aut mare Thuscum, + Tanto cum strepitu ludi spectantur; et artes, + Divitiæque peregrina, quibus oblitus actor + Cum stetit in Scena, concurrit dextera lævæ. + Dixit adhuc aliquid? Nil sane. Quid placet ergo? + Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno. + + Hor. + + +Aristotle [1] has observed, That ordinary Writers in Tragedy endeavour +to raise Terror and Pity in their Audience, not by proper Sentiments and +Expressions, but by the Dresses and Decorations of the Stage. There is +something of this kind very ridiculous in the _English_ Theatre. When +the Author has a mind to terrify us, it thunders; When he would make us +melancholy, the Stage is darkened. But among all our Tragick Artifices, +I am the most offended at those which are made use of to inspire us with +magnificent Ideas of the Persons that speak. The ordinary Method of +making an Hero, is to clap a huge Plume of Feathers upon his Head, which +rises so very high, that there is often a greater Length from his Chin +to the Top of his Head, than to the sole of his Foot. One would believe, +that we thought a great Man and a tall Man the same thing. This very +much embarrasses the Actor, who is forced to hold his Neck extremely +stiff and steady all the while he speaks; and notwithstanding any +Anxieties which he pretends for his Mistress, his Country, or his +Friends, one may see by his Action, that his greatest Care and Concern +is to keep the Plume of Feathers from falling off his Head. For my own +part, when I see a Man uttering his Complaints under such a Mountain of +Feathers, I am apt to look upon him rather as an unfortunate Lunatick, +than a distressed Hero. As these superfluous Ornaments upon the Head +make a great Man, a Princess generally receives her Grandeur from those +additional Incumbrances that fall into her Tail: I mean the broad +sweeping Train that follows her in all her Motions, and finds constant +Employment for a Boy who stands behind her to open and spread it to +Advantage. I do not know how others are affected at this Sight, but, I +must confess, my Eyes are wholly taken up with the Page's Part; and as +for the Queen, I am not so attentive to any thing she speaks, as to the +right adjusting of her Train, lest it should chance to trip up her +Heels, or incommode her, as she walks to and fro upon the Stage. It is, +in my Opinion, a very odd Spectacle, to see a Queen venting her Passion +in a disordered Motion, and a little Boy taking care all the while that +they do not ruffle the Tail of her Gown. The Parts that the two Persons +act on the Stage at the same Time, are very different: The Princess is +afraid lest she should incur the Displeasure of the King her Father, or +lose the Hero her Lover, whilst her Attendant is only concerned lest she +should entangle her Feet in her Petticoat. + +We are told, That an ancient Tragick Poet, to move the Pity of his +Audience for his exiled Kings and distressed Heroes, used to make the +Actors represent them in Dresses and Cloaths that were thread-bare and +decayed. This Artifice for moving Pity, seems as ill-contrived, as that +we have been speaking of to inspire us with a great Idea of the Persons +introduced upon the Stage. In short, I would have our Conceptions raised +by the Dignity of Thought and Sublimity of Expression, rather than by a +Train of Robes or a Plume of Feathers. + +Another mechanical Method of making great Men, and adding Dignity to +Kings and Queens, is to accompany them with Halberts and Battle-axes. +Two or three Shifters of Scenes, with the two Candle-snuffers, make up a +compleat Body of Guards upon the _English_ Stage; and by the Addition of +a few Porters dressed in Red Coats, can represent above a Dozen Legions. +I have sometimes seen a Couple of Armies drawn up together upon the +Stage, when the Poet has been disposed to do Honour to his Generals. It +is impossible for the Reader's Imagination to multiply twenty Men into +such prodigious Multitudes, or to fancy that two or three hundred +thousand Soldiers are fighting in a Room of forty or fifty Yards in +Compass. Incidents of such a Nature should be told, not represented. + + 'Non tamen intus + Digna geri promes in scenam: multaque tolles + Ex oculis, qua mox narret facundia proesens.' + + Hor. + + + 'Yet there are things improper for a Scene, + Which Men of Judgment only will relate.' + + (L. Roscom.) + + +I should therefore, in this Particular, recommend to my Countrymen the +Example of the _French_ Stage, where the Kings and Queens always appear +unattended, and leave their Guards behind the Scenes. I should likewise +be glad if we imitated the _French_ in banishing from our Stage the +Noise of Drums, Trumpets, and Huzzas; which is sometimes so very great, +that when there is a Battle in the _Hay-Market_ Theatre, one may hear it +as far as _Charing-Cross_. + +I have here only touched upon those Particulars which are made use of to +raise and aggrandize Persons in Tragedy; and shall shew in another Paper +the several Expedients which are practised by Authors of a vulgar Genius +to move Terror, Pity, or Admiration, in their Hearers. + +The Tailor and the Painter often contribute to the Success of a Tragedy +more than the Poet. Scenes affect ordinary Minds as much as Speeches; +and our Actors are very sensible, that a well-dressed Play his sometimes +brought them as full Audiences, as a well-written one. The _Italians_ +have a very good Phrase to express this Art of imposing upon the +Spectators by Appearances: They call it the _Fourberia della Scena, The +Knavery or trickish Part of the Drama_. But however the Show and Outside +of the Tragedy may work upon the Vulgar, the more understanding Part of +the Audience immediately see through it and despise it. + +A good Poet will give the Reader a more lively Idea of an Army or a +Battle in a Description, than if he actually saw them drawn up in +Squadrons and Battalions, or engaged in the Confusion of a Fight. Our +Minds should be opened to great Conceptions and inflamed with glorious +Sentiments by what the Actor speaks, more than by what he appears. Can +all the Trappings or Equipage of a King or Hero give _Brutus_ half that +Pomp and Majesty which he receives from a few Lines in _Shakespear_? + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Poetics', Part II. § 13.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 43. Thursday, April 19, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Ha tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem, + Parcere Subjectis, et debellare Superbos.' + + Virg. + + +There are Crowds of Men, whose great Misfortune it is that they were not +bound to Mechanick Arts or Trades; it being absolutely necessary for +them to be led by some continual Task or Employment. These are such as +we commonly call dull Fellows; Persons, who for want of something to do, +out of a certain Vacancy of Thought, rather than Curiosity, are ever +meddling with things for which they are unfit. I cannot give you a +Notion of them better than by presenting you with a Letter from a +Gentleman, who belongs to a Society of this Order of Men, residing at +_Oxford_. + + + Oxford, April 13, 1711. Four a Clock in the Morning. + + SIR, + + 'In some of your late Speculations, I find some Sketches towards an + History of Clubs: But you seem to me to shew them in somewhat too + ludicrous a Light. I have well weighed that Matter, and think, that + the most important Negotiations may best be carried on in such + Assemblies. I shall therefore, for the Good of Mankind, (which, I + trust, you and I are equally concerned for) propose an Institution of + that Nature for Example sake. + + I must confess, the Design and Transactions of too many Clubs are + trifling, and manifestly of no consequence to the Nation or Publick + Weal: Those I'll give you up. But you must do me then the Justice to + own, that nothing can be more useful or laudable than the Scheme we go + upon. To avoid Nicknames and Witticisms, we call ourselves _The + Hebdomadal Meeting:_ Our President continues for a Year at least, and + sometimes four or five: We are all Grave, Serious, Designing Men, in + our Way: We think it our Duty, as far as in us lies, to take care the + Constitution receives no Harm,--_Ne quid detrimenti Res capiat + publica_--To censure Doctrines or Facts, Persons or Things, which we + don't like; To settle the Nation at home, and to carry on the War + abroad, where and in what manner we see fit: If other People are not + of our Opinion, we can't help that. 'Twere better they were. Moreover, + we now and then condescend to direct, in some measure, the little + Affairs of our own University. + + Verily, _Mr_. SPECTATOR, we are much offended at the Act for importing + _French_ Wines: [1] A Bottle or two of good solid Edifying Port, at + honest _George's_, made a Night chearful, and threw off Reserve. But + this plaguy _French_ Claret will not only cost us more Mony, but do us + less Good: Had we been aware of it, before it had gone too far, I must + tell you, we would have petitioned to be heard upon that Subject. But + let that pass. + + I must let you know likewise, good Sir, that we look upon a certain + Northern Prince's March, in Conjunction with Infidels, [2] to be + palpably against our Goodwill and Liking; and, for all Monsieur + Palmquist, [3] a most dangerous Innovation; and we are by no means yet + sure, that some People are not at the Bottom on't. At least, my own + private Letters leave room for a Politician well versed in matters of + this Nature, to suspect as much, as a penetrating Friend of mine tells + me. + + We think we have at last done the business with the Malecontents in + _Hungary_, and shall clap up a Peace there. [4] + + What the Neutrality Army [5] is to do, or what the Army in + _Flanders_, and what two or three other Princes, is not yet fully + determined among us; and we wait impatiently for the coming in of the + next _Dyer's_ [6] who, you must know, is our Authentick Intelligence, + our _Aristotle_ in Politics. And 'tis indeed but fit there should be + some Dernier Resort, the Absolute Decider of all Controversies. + + We were lately informed, that the Gallant Train'd Bands had patroll'd + all Night long about the Streets of _London:_ We indeed could not + imagine any Occasion for it, we guessed not a Tittle on't aforehand, + we were in nothing of the Secret; and that City Tradesmen, or their + Apprentices, should do Duty, or work, during the Holidays, we thought + absolutely impossible: But _Dyer_ being positive in it, and some + Letters from other People, who had talked with some who had it from + those who should know, giving some Countenance to it, the Chairman + reported from the Committee, appointed to examine into that Affair, + That 'twas Possible there might be something in't. I have much more to + say to you, but my two good Friends and Neighbours, _Dominick_ and + _Slyboots_, are just come in, and the Coffee's ready. I am, in the + mean time, + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + _Your Admirer, and + + Humble Servant,_ + + Abraham Froth. + + +You may observe the Turn of their Minds tends only to Novelty, and not +Satisfaction in any thing. It would be Disappointment to them, to come +to Certainty in any thing, for that would gravel them, and put an end to +their Enquiries, which dull Fellows do not make for Information, but for +Exercise. I do not know but this may be a very good way of accounting +for what we frequently see, to wit, that dull Fellows prove very good +Men of Business. Business relieves them from their own natural +Heaviness, by furnishing them with what to do; whereas Business to +Mercurial Men, is an Interruption from their real Existence and +Happiness. Tho' the dull Part of Mankind are harmless in their +Amusements, it were to be wished they had no vacant Time, because they +usually undertake something that makes their Wants conspicuous, by their +manner of supplying them. You shall seldom find a dull Fellow of good +Education, but (if he happens to have any Leisure upon his Hands,) will +turn his Head to one of those two Amusements, for all Fools of Eminence, +Politicks or Poetry. The former of these Arts, is the Study of all dull +People in general; but when Dulness is lodged in a Person of a quick +Animal Life, it generally exerts it self in Poetry. One might here +mention a few Military Writers, who give great Entertainment to the Age, +by reason that the Stupidity of their Heads is quickened by the Alacrity +of their Hearts. This Constitution in a dull Fellow, gives Vigour to +Nonsense, and makes the Puddle boil, which would otherwise stagnate. The +_British Prince_, that Celebrated Poem, which was written in the Reign +of King Charles the Second, and deservedly called by the Wits of that +Age _Incomparable_, [7] was the Effect of such an happy Genius as we are +speaking of. From among many other Disticks no less to be quoted on this +Account, I cannot but recite the two following Lines. + + _A painted Vest Prince_ Voltager _had on, + Which from a Naked_ Pict _his Grandsire won_. + +Here if the Poet had not been Vivacious, as well as Stupid, he could +[not,] in the Warmth and Hurry of Nonsense, [have] been capable of +forgetting that neither Prince _Voltager_, nor his Grandfather, could +strip a Naked Man of his Doublet; but a Fool of a colder Constitution, +would have staid to have Flea'd the _Pict_, and made Buff of his Skin, +for the Wearing of the Conqueror. + +To bring these Observations to some useful Purpose of Life, what I would +propose should be, that we imitated those wise Nations, wherein every +Man learns some Handycraft-Work. Would it not employ a Beau prettily +enough, if instead of eternally playing with a Snuff-box, he spent some +part of his Time in making one? Such a Method as this, would very much +conduce to the Publick Emolument, by making every Man living good for +something; for there would then be no one Member of Human Society, but +would have some little Pretension for some Degree in it; like him who +came to _Will's_ Coffee-house, upon the Merit of having writ a Posie of +a Ring. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Like the chopping in two of the _Respublica_ in the +quotation just above of the well-known Roman formula by which consuls +were to see _ne quid Respublica detrimenti capiat_, this is a jest on +the ignorance of the political wiseacres. Port wine had been forced on +England in 1703 in place of Claret, and the drinking of it made an act +of patriotism,--which then meant hostility to France,--by the Methuen +treaty, so named from its negotiator, Paul Methuen, the English Minister +at Lisbon. It is the shortest treaty upon record, having only two +clauses, one providing that Portugal should admit British cloths; the +other that England should admit Portuguese wines at one-third less duty +than those of France. This lasted until 1831, and so the English were +made Port wine drinkers. Abraham Froth and his friends of the +'Hebdomadal Meeting', all 'Grave, Serious, Designing Men in their Way' +have a confused notion in 1711 of the Methuen Treaty of 1703 as 'the Act +for importing French wines,' with which they are much offended. The +slowness and confusion of their ideas upon a piece of policy then so +familiar, gives point to the whimsical solemnity of their 'Had we been +aware,' &c.] + + +[Footnote 2: The subject of Mr. Froth's profound comment is now the +memorable March of Charles XII of Sweden to the Ukraine, ending on the +8th of July, 1709, in the decisive battle of Pultowa, that established +the fortune of Czar Peter the Great, and put an end to the preponderance +of Sweden in northern Europe. Charles had seemed to be on his way to +Moscow, when he turned south and marched through desolation to the +Ukraine, whither he was tempted by Ivan Mazeppa, a Hetman of the +Cossacks, who, though 80 years old, was ambitious of independence to be +won for him by the prowess of Charles XII. Instead of 30,000 men Mazeppa +brought to the King of Sweden only himself as a fugitive with 40 or 50 +attendants; but in the spring of 1809 he procured for the wayworn and +part shoeless army of Charles the alliance of the Saporogue Cossacks. +Although doubled by these and by Wallachians, the army was in all but +20,000 strong with which he then determined to besiege Pullowa; and +there, after two months' siege, he ventured to give battle to a +relieving army of 60,000 Russians. Of his 20,000 men, 9000 were left on +that battle-field, and 3000 made prisoners. Of the rest--all that +survived of 54,000 Swedes with whom he had quitted Saxony to cross the +steppes of Russia, and of 16,000 sent to him as reinforcement +afterwards--part perished, and they who were left surrendered on +capitulation, Charles himself having taken refuge at Bender in +Bessarabia with the Turks, Mr. Froth's Infidels.] + + +[Footnote 3: Perhaps Monsieur Palmquist is the form in which these +'Grave, Serious, Designing Men in their Way' have picked up the name of +Charles's brave general, Count Poniatowski, to whom he owed his escape +after the battle of Pultowa, and who won over Turkey to support his +failing fortunes. The Turks, his subsequent friends, are the 'Infidels' +before-mentioned, the wise politicians being apparently under the +impression that they had marched with the Swedes out of Saxony.] + + +[Footnote 4: Here Mr. Froth and his friends were truer prophets than +anyone knew when this number of the _Spectator_ appeared, on the 19th of +April. The news had not reached England of the death of the Emperor +Joseph I on the 17th of April. During his reign, and throughout the war, +the Hungarians, desiring independence, had been fighting on the side of +France. The Archduke Charles, now become Emperor, was ready to give the +Hungarians such privileges, especially in matters of religion, as +restored their friendship.] + + +[Footnote 5: After Pultowa, Frederick IV of Denmark, Augustus II of +Poland, and Czar Peter, formed an alliance against Sweden; and in the +course of 1710 the Emperor of Germany, Great Britain, and the +States-General concluded two treaties guaranteeing the neutrality of all +the States of the Empire. This suggests to Mr. Froth and his friends the +idea that there is a 'Neutrality Army' operating somewhere.] + + +[Footnote 6: Dyer was a Jacobite printer, whose News-letter was twice in +trouble for 'misrepresenting the proceedings of the House,' and who, in +1703, had given occasion for a proclamation against 'printing and +spreading false 'news.'] + + +[Footnote 7: ''The British Princes', an Heroick Poem,' by the Hon. +Edward Howard, was published in 1669. The author produced also five +plays, and a volume of Poems and Essays, with a Paraphrase on Cicero's +Laelius in Heroic Verse. The Earls of Rochester and Dorset devoted some +verses to jest both on 'The British Princes' and on Edward Howard's +Plays. Even Dr. Sprat had his rhymed joke with the rest, in lines to a +Person of Honour 'upon his Incomparable, Incomprehensible Poem, intitled +'The British Princes'.' Edward Howard did not print the nonsense here +ascribed to him. It was a burlesque of his lines: + + 'A vest as admir'd Vortiger had on, + Which from this Island's foes his Grandsire won.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 44. Friday, April 20, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Tu, quid ego et populus mecum desideret, audi.' + + Hor. + + +Among the several Artifices which are put in Practice by the Poets to +fill the Minds of [an] [1] Audience with Terror, the first Place is due +to Thunder and Lightning, which are often made use of at the Descending +of a God, or the Rising of a Ghost, at the Vanishing of a Devil, or at +the Death of a Tyrant. I have known a Bell introduced into several +Tragedies with good Effect; and have seen the whole Assembly in a very +great Alarm all the while it has been ringing. But there is nothing +which delights and terrifies our 'English' Theatre so much as a Ghost, +especially when he appears in a bloody Shirt. A Spectre has very often +saved a Play, though he has done nothing but stalked across the Stage, +or rose through a Cleft of it, and sunk again without speaking one Word. +There may be a proper Season for these several Terrors; and when they +only come in as Aids and Assistances to the Poet, they are not only to +be excused, but to be applauded. Thus the sounding of the Clock in +'Venice Preserved', [2] makes the Hearts of the whole Audience quake; +and conveys a stronger Terror to the Mind than it is possible for Words +to do. The Appearance of the Ghost in 'Hamlet' is a Master-piece in its +kind, and wrought up with all the Circumstances that can create either +Attention or Horror. The Mind of the Reader is wonderfully prepared for +his Reception by the Discourses that precede it: His Dumb Behaviour at +his first Entrance, strikes the Imagination very strongly; but every +time he enters, he is still more terrifying. Who can read the Speech +with which young 'Hamlet' accosts him, without trembling? + + + Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes! + + Ham. Angels and Ministers of Grace defend us! + Be thou a Spirit of Health, or Goblin damn'd; + Bring with thee Airs from Heav'n, or Blasts from Hell; + Be thy Events wicked or charitable; + Thou com'st in such a questionable Shape + That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet, + King, Father, Royal Dane: Oh! Oh! Answer me, + Let me not burst in Ignorance; but tell + Why thy canoniz'd Bones, hearsed in Death, + Have burst their Cearments? Why the Sepulchre, + Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn'd, + Hath op'd his ponderous and marble Jaws + To cast thee up again? What may this mean? + That thou dead Coarse again in compleat Steel + Revisit'st thus the Glimpses of the Moon, + Making Night hideous? + + +I do not therefore find Fault with the Artifices above-mentioned when +they are introduced with Skill, and accompanied by proportionable +Sentiments and Expressions in the Writing. + +For the moving of Pity, our principal Machine is the Handkerchief; and +indeed in our common Tragedies, we should not know very often that the +Persons are in Distress by any thing they say, if they did not from time +to time apply their Handkerchiefs to their Eyes. Far be it from me to +think of banishing this Instrument of Sorrow from the Stage; I know a +Tragedy could not subsist without it: All that I would contend for, is, +to keep it from being misapplied. In a Word, I would have the Actor's +Tongue sympathize with his Eyes. + +A disconsolate Mother, with a Child in her Hand, has frequently drawn +Compassion from the Audience, and has therefore gained a place in +several Tragedies. A Modern Writer, that observed how this had took in +other Plays, being resolved to double the Distress, and melt his +Audience twice as much as those before him had done, brought a Princess +upon the Stage with a little Boy in one Hand and a Girl in the other. +This too had a very good Effect. A third Poet, being resolved to +out-write all his Predecessors, a few Years ago introduced three +Children, with great Success: And as I am informed, a young Gentleman, +who is fully determined to break the most obdurate Hearts, has a Tragedy +by him, where the first Person that appears upon the Stage, is an +afflicted Widow in her mourning Weeds, with half a Dozen fatherless +Children attending her, like those that usually hang about the Figure of +Charity. Thus several Incidents that are beautiful in a good Writer, +become ridiculous by falling into the Hands of a bad one. + +But among all our Methods of moving Pity or Terror, there is none so +absurd and barbarous, and what more exposes us to the Contempt and +Ridicule of our Neighbours, than that dreadful butchering of one +another, which is so very frequent upon the _English_ Stage. To delight +in seeing Men stabbed, poysoned, racked, or impaled, is certainly the +Sign of a cruel Temper: And as this is often practised before the +_British_ Audience, several _French_ Criticks, who think these are +grateful Spectacles to us, take occasion from them to represent us as a +People that delight in Blood. [3] It is indeed very odd, to see our +Stage strowed with Carcasses in the last Scene of a Tragedy; and to +observe in the Ward-robe of a Play-house several Daggers, Poniards, +Wheels, Bowls for Poison, and many other Instruments of Death. Murders +and Executions are always transacted behind the Scenes in the _French_ +Theatre; which in general is very agreeable to the Manners of a polite +and civilized People: But as there are no Exceptions to this Rule on the +_French_ Stage, it leads them into Absurdities almost as ridiculous as +that which falls under our present Censure. I remember in the famous +Play of _Corneille_, written upon the Subject of the _Horatii_ and +_Curiatii_; the fierce young hero who had overcome the _Curiatii_ one +after another, (instead of being congratulated by his Sister for his +Victory, being upbraided by her for having slain her Lover,) in the +Height of his Passion and Resentment kills her. If any thing could +extenuate so brutal an Action, it would be the doing of it on a sudden, +before the Sentiments of Nature, Reason, or Manhood could take Place in +him. However, to avoid _publick Blood-shed_, as soon as his Passion is +wrought to its Height, he follows his Sister the whole length of the +Stage, and forbears killing her till they are both withdrawn behind the +Scenes. I must confess, had he murder'd her before the Audience, the +Indecency might have been greater; but as it is, it appears very +unnatural, and looks like killing in cold Blood. To give my Opinion upon +this Case; the Fact ought not to have been represented, but to have been +told, if there was any Occasion for it. + +It may not be unacceptable to the Reader, to see how _Sophocles_ has +conducted a Tragedy under the like delicate Circumstances. _Orestes_ was +in the same Condition with _Hamlet_ in _Shakespear_, his Mother having +murdered his Father, and taken possession of his Kingdom in Conspiracy +with her Adulterer. That young Prince therefore, being determined to +revenge his Father's Death upon those who filled his Throne, conveys +himself by a beautiful Stratagem into his Mother's Apartment with a +Resolution to kill her. But because such a Spectacle would have been too +shocking to the Audience, this dreadful Resolution is executed behind +the Scenes: The Mother is heard calling out to her Son for Mercy; and +the Son answering her, that she shewed no Mercy to his Father; after +which she shrieks out that she is wounded, and by what follows we find +that she is slain. I do not remember that in any of our Plays there are +Speeches made behind the Scenes, though there are other Instances of +this Nature to be met with in those of the Ancients: And I believe my +Reader will agree with me, that there is something infinitely more +affecting in this dreadful Dialogue between the Mother and her Son +behind the Scenes, than could have been in anything transacted before +the Audience. _Orestes_ immediately after meets the Usurper at the +Entrance of his Palace; and by a very happy Thought of the Poet avoids +killing him before the Audience, by telling him that he should live some +Time in his present Bitterness of Soul before he would dispatch him; and +[by] ordering him to retire into that Part of the Palace where he had +slain his Father, whose Murther he would revenge in the very same Place +where it was committed. By this means the Poet observes that Decency, +which _Horace_ afterwards established by a Rule, of forbearing to commit +Parricides or unnatural Murthers before the Audience. + + _Nec coram populo natos_ Medea _trucidet_. + + _Let not_ Medea _draw her murth'ring Knife, + And spill her Children's Blood upon the Stage._ + +The _French_ have therefore refin'd too much upon _Horace's_ Rule, who +never designed to banish all Kinds of Death from the Stage; but only +such as had too much Horror in them, and which would have a better +Effect upon the Audience when transacted behind the Scenes. I would +therefore recommend to my Countrymen the Practice of the ancient Poets, +who were very sparing of their publick Executions, and rather chose to +perform them behind the Scenes, if it could be done with as great an +Effect upon the Audience. At the same time I must observe, that though +the devoted Persons of the Tragedy were seldom slain before the +Audience, which has generally something ridiculous in it, their Bodies +were often produced after their Death, which has always in it something +melancholy or terrifying; so that the killing on the Stage does not seem +to have been avoided only as an Indecency, but also as an Improbability. + + _Nec pueros coram populo_ Medea _trucidet; + Aut humana palam coquat exta nefarius_ Atreus; + _Aut in avem_ Progne _vertatur_, Cadmus _in anguem, + Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi_. + + Hor. + + + Medea _must not draw her murth'ring Knife, + Nor_ Atreus _there his horrid Feast prepare._ + Cadmus _and_ Progne's _Metamorphosis, + (She to a Swallow turn'd, he to a Snake) + And whatsoever contradicts my Sense, + I hate to see, and never can believe._ + + (Ld. ROSCOMMON.) [4] + + +I have now gone through the several Dramatick Inventions which are made +use of by [the] Ignorant Poets to supply the Place of Tragedy, and by +[the] Skilful to improve it; some of which I could wish entirely +rejected, and the rest to be used with Caution. It would be an endless +Task to consider Comedy in the same Light, and to mention the +innumerable Shifts that small Wits put in practice to raise a Laugh. +_Bullock_ in a short Coat, and _Norris_ in a long one, seldom fail of +this Effect. [5] In ordinary Comedies, a broad and a narrow brim'd Hat +are different Characters. Sometimes the Wit of the Scene lies in a +Shoulder-belt, and Sometimes in a Pair of Whiskers. A Lover running +about the Stage, with his Head peeping out of a Barrel, was thought a +very good Jest in King _Charles_ the Second's time; and invented by one +of the first Wits of that Age. [6] But because Ridicule is not so +delicate as Compassion, and [because] [7] the Objects that make us laugh +are infinitely more numerous than those that make us weep, there is a +much greater Latitude for comick than tragick Artifices, and by +Consequence a much greater Indulgence to be allowed them. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: the] + + +[Footnote 2: In Act V The toll of the passing bell for Pierre in the +parting scene between Jaffier and Belvidera.] + + +[Footnote 3: Thus Rene Rapin,--whom Dryden declared alone + + 'sufficient, were all other critics lost, to teach anew the rules of + writing,' + +said in his 'Reflections on Aristotle's Treatise of Poetry,' translated +by Rymer in 1694, + + The English, our Neighbours, love Blood in their Sports, by the + quality of their Temperament: These are _Insulaires_, separated from + the rest of men; we are more humane ... The English have more of + Genius for Tragedy than other People, as well by the Spirit of their + Nation, which delights in Cruelty, as also by the Character of their + Language, which is proper for Great Expressions.'] + + +[Footnote 4: The Earl of Roscommon, who died in 1684, aged about 50, +besides his 'Essay on Translated Verse,' produced, in 1680, a +Translation of 'Horace's Art of Poetry' into English Blank Verse, with +Remarks. Of his 'Essay,' Dryden said: + + 'The Muse's Empire is restored again + In Charles his reign, and by Roscommon's pen.'] + + +[Footnote 5: Of Bullock see note, p. 138, _ante_. Norris had at one +time, by his acting of Dicky in Farquhar's 'Trip to the Jubilee,' +acquired the name of Jubilee Dicky. + + +[Footnote 6: Sir George Etherege. It was his first play, 'The Comical +Revenge, or Love in a Tub', produced in 1664, which introduced him to +the society of Rochester, Buckingham, &c. + + +[Footnote 7: as] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 45. Saturday, April 21, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Natio Comæda est.' + + Juv. + + +There is nothing which I more desire than a safe and honourable Peace, +[1] tho' at the same time I am very apprehensive of many ill +Consequences that may attend it. I do not mean in regard to our +Politicks, but to our Manners. What an Inundation of Ribbons and +Brocades will break in upon us? What Peals of Laughter and Impertinence +shall we be exposed to? For the Prevention of these great Evils, I could +heartily wish that there was an Act of Parliament for Prohibiting the +Importation of _French_ Fopperies. + +The Female Inhabitants of our Island have already received very strong +Impressions from this ludicrous Nation, tho' by the Length of the War +(as there is no Evil which has not some Good attending it) they are +pretty well worn out and forgotten. I remember the time when some of our +well-bred Country-Women kept their _Valet de Chambre_, because, +forsooth, a Man was much more handy about them than one of their own +Sex. I myself have seen one of these Male _Abigails_ tripping about the +Room with a Looking-glass in his Hand, and combing his Lady's Hair a +whole Morning together. Whether or no there was any Truth in the Story +of a Lady's being got with Child by one of these her Handmaids I cannot +tell, but I think at present the whole Race of them is extinct in our +own Country. + +About the Time that several of our Sex were taken into this kind of +Service, the Ladies likewise brought up the Fashion of receiving Visits +in their Beds. [2] It was then look'd upon as a piece of Ill Breeding, +for a Woman to refuse to see a Man, because she was not stirring; and a +Porter would have been thought unfit for his Place, that could have made +so awkward an Excuse. As I love to see every thing that is new, I once +prevailed upon my Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB to carry me along with him to +one of these Travelled Ladies, desiring him, at the same time, to +present me as a Foreigner who could not speak _English_, that so I might +not be obliged to bear a Part in the Discourse. The Lady, tho' willing +to appear undrest, had put on her best Looks, and painted her self for +our Reception. Her Hair appeared in a very nice Disorder, as the +Night-Gown which was thrown upon her Shoulders was ruffled with great +Care. For my part, I am so shocked with every thing which looks immodest +in the Fair Sex, that I could not forbear taking off my Eye from her +when she moved in her Bed, and was in the greatest Confusion imaginable +every time she stired a Leg or an Arm. As the Coquets, who introduced +this Custom, grew old, they left it off by Degrees; well knowing that a +Woman of Threescore may kick and tumble her Heart out, without making +any Impressions. + +_Sempronia_ is at present the most profest Admirer of the _French_ +Nation, but is so modest as to admit her Visitants no further than her +Toilet. It is a very odd Sight that beautiful Creature makes, when she +is talking Politicks with her Tresses flowing about her Shoulders, and +examining that Face in the Glass, which does such Execution upon all the +Male Standers-by. How prettily does she divide her Discourse between her +Woman and her Visitants? What sprightly Transitions does she make from +an Opera or a Sermon, to an Ivory Comb or a Pincushion? How have I been +pleased to see her interrupted in an Account of her Travels, by a +Message to her Footman; and holding her Tongue, in the midst of a Moral +Reflexion, by applying the Tip of it to a Patch? + +There is nothing which exposes a Woman to greater dangers, than that +Gaiety and Airiness of Temper, which are natural to most of the Sex. It +should be therefore the Concern of every wise and virtuous Woman, to +keep this Sprightliness from degenerating into Levity. On the contrary, +the whole Discourse and Behaviour of the _French_ is to make the Sex +more Fantastical, or (as they are pleased to term it,) _more awakened_, +than is consistent either with Virtue or Discretion. To speak Loud in +Publick Assemblies, to let every one hear you talk of Things that should +only be mentioned in Private or in Whisper, are looked upon as Parts of +a refined Education. At the same time, a Blush is unfashionable, and +Silence more ill-bred than any thing that can be spoken. In short, +Discretion and Modesty, which in all other Ages and Countries have been +regarded as the greatest Ornaments of the Fair Sex, are considered as +the Ingredients of narrow Conversation, and Family Behaviour. + +Some Years ago I was at the Tragedy of _Macbeth_, and unfortunately +placed myself under a Woman of Quality that is since Dead; who, as I +found by the Noise she made, was newly returned from _France_. A little +before the rising of the Curtain, she broke out into a loud Soliloquy, +_When will the dear Witches enter?_ and immediately upon their first +Appearance, asked a Lady that sat three Boxes from her, on her +Right-hand, if those Witches were not charming Creatures. A little +after, as _Betterton_ was in one of the finest Speeches of the Play, she +shook her Fan at another Lady, who sat as far on the Left hand, and told +her with a Whisper, that might be heard all over the Pit, We must not +expect to see _Balloon_ to-night. [3] Not long after, calling out to a +young Baronet by his Name, who sat three Seats before me, she asked him +whether _Macbeth's_ Wife was still alive; and before he could give an +Answer, fell a talking of the Ghost of _Banquo_. She had by this time +formed a little Audience to herself, and fixed the Attention of all +about her. But as I had a mind to hear the Play, I got out of the Sphere +of her Impertinence, and planted myself in one of the remotest Corners +of the Pit. + +This pretty Childishness of Behaviour is one of the most refined Parts +of Coquetry, and is not to be attained in Perfection, by Ladies that do +not Travel for their Improvement. A natural and unconstrained Behaviour +has something in it so agreeable, that it is no Wonder to see People +endeavouring after it. But at the same time, it is so very hard to hit, +when it is not Born with us, that People often make themselves +Ridiculous in attempting it. + +A very ingenious _French_ Author [4] tells us, that the Ladies of the +Court of _France_, in his Time, thought it Ill-breeding, and a kind of +Female Pedantry, to pronounce an hard Word right; for which Reason they +took frequent occasion to use hard Words, that they might shew a +Politeness in murdering them. He further adds, that a Lady of some +Quality at Court, having accidentally made use of an hard Word in a +proper Place, and pronounced it right, the whole Assembly was out of +Countenance for her. + +I must however be so just to own, that there are many Ladies who have +Travelled several Thousand of Miles without being the worse for it, and +have brought Home with them all the Modesty, Discretion and good Sense +that they went abroad with. As on the contrary, there are great Numbers +of _Travelled_ Ladies, [who] [5] have lived all their Days within the +Smoke of _London_. I have known a Woman that never was out of the Parish +of St. _James's_, [betray] [6] as many Foreign Fopperies in her +Carriage, as she could have Gleaned up in half the Countries of +_Europe_. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: At this date the news would just have reached England of +the death of the Emperor Joseph and accession of Archduke Charles to the +German crown. The Archduke's claim to the crown of Spain had been +supported as that of a younger brother of the House of Austria, in whose +person the two crowns of Germany and Spain were not likely to be united. +When, therefore, Charles became head of the German empire, the war of +the Spanish succession changed its aspect altogether, and the English +looked for peace. That of 1711 was, in fact, Marlborough's last +campaign; peace negotiations were at the same time going on between +France and England, and preliminaries were signed in London in October +of this year, 1711. England was accused of betraying the allied cause; +but the changed political conditions led to her withdrawal from it, and +her withdrawal compelled the assent of the allies to the general peace +made by the Treaty of Utrecht, which, after tedious negotiations, was +not signed until the 11th of April, 1713, the continuous issue of the +_Spectator_ having ended, with Vol. VII., in December, 1712.] + + +[Footnote 2: The custom was copied from the French _Précieuses_, at a +time when _courir les ruelles_ (to take the run of the bedsides) was a +Parisian phrase for fashionable morning calls upon the ladies. The +_ruelle_ is the little path between the bedside and the wall.] + + +[Footnote 3: _Balloon_ was a game like tennis played with a foot-ball; +but the word may be applied here to a person. It had not the sense which +now first occurs to the mind of a modern reader. Air balloons are not +older than 1783.] + + +[Footnote 4: Describing perhaps one form of reaction against the verbal +pedantry and _Phébus_ of the _Précieuses_.] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: with] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No 46. Monday, April 23, 1711. Addison + + + Non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum. + + Ovid. + + +When I want Materials for this Paper, it is my Custom to go abroad in +quest of Game; and when I meet any proper Subject, I take the first +Opportunity of setting down an Hint of it upon Paper. At the same time I +look into the Letters of my Correspondents, and if I find any thing +suggested in them that may afford Matter of Speculation, I likewise +enter a Minute of it in my Collection of Materials. By this means I +frequently carry about me a whole Sheetful of Hints, that would look +like a Rhapsody of Nonsense to any Body but myself: There is nothing in +them but Obscurity and Confusion, Raving and Inconsistency. In short, +they are my Speculations in the first Principles, that (like the World +in its Chaos) are void of all Light, Distinction, and Order. + +About a Week since there happened to me a very odd Accident, by Reason +of one of these my Papers of Minutes which I had accidentally dropped at +_Lloyd's_ [1] Coffee-house, where the Auctions are usually kept. Before +I missed it, there were a Cluster of People who had found it, and were +diverting themselves with it at one End of the Coffee-house: It had +raised so much Laughter among them before I had observed what they were +about, that I had not the Courage to own it. The Boy of the +Coffee-house, when they had done with it, carried it about in his Hand, +asking every Body if they had dropped a written Paper; but no Body +challenging it, he was ordered by those merry Gentlemen who had before +perused it, to get up into the Auction Pulpit, and read it to the whole +Room, that if any one would own it they might. The Boy accordingly +mounted the Pulpit, and with a very audible Voice read as follows. + + + MINUTES. + + Sir _Roger de Coverly's_ Country Seat--Yes, for I hate long + Speeches--Query, if a good Christian may be a + Conjurer--_Childermas-day_, Saltseller, House-Dog, Screech-owl, + Cricket--Mr. _Thomas Inkle of London_, in the good Ship called _The + Achilles_. _Yarico--Ægrescitique medendo_--Ghosts--The Lady's + Library--Lion by Trade a Taylor--Dromedary called + _Bucephalus_--Equipage the Lady's _summum bonum_--_Charles Lillie_ to + be taken notice of [2]--Short Face a Relief to Envy--Redundancies in + the three Professions--King _Latinus_ a Recruit--Jew devouring an Ham + of Bacon--_Westminster Abbey_--_Grand Cairo_--Procrastination--_April_ + Fools--Blue Boars, Red Lions, Hogs in Armour--Enter a King and two + Fidlers _solus_--Admission into the Ugly Club--Beauty, how + improveable--Families of true and false Humour--The Parrot's + School-Mistress--Face half _Pict_ half _British_--no Man to be an Hero + of Tragedy under Six foot--Club of Sighers--Letters from Flower-Pots, + Elbow-Chairs, Tapestry-Figures, Lion, Thunder--The Bell rings to the + Puppet-Show--Old-Woman with a Beard married to a smock-faced Boy--My + next Coat to be turned up with Blue--Fable of Tongs and + Gridiron--Flower Dyers--The Soldier's Prayer--Thank ye for nothing, + says the Gally-Pot--_Pactolus_ in Stockings, with golden Clocks to + them--Bamboos, Cudgels, Drumsticks--Slip of my Landlady's eldest + Daughter--The black Mare with a Star in her Forehead--The Barber's + Pole--WILL. HONEYCOMB'S Coat-pocket--_Cæsar's_ Behaviour and my own in + Parallel Circumstances--Poem in Patch-work--_Nulli gravis est + percussus Achilles_--The Female Conventicler--The Ogle Master. + +The reading of this Paper made the whole Coffee-house very merry; some +of them concluded it was written by a Madman, and others by some Body +that had been taking Notes out of the Spectator. One who had the +Appearance of a very substantial Citizen, told us, with several politick +Winks and Nods, that he wished there was no more in the Paper than what +was expressed in it: That for his part, he looked upon the Dromedary, +the Gridiron, and the Barber's Pole, to signify something more than what +is usually meant by those Words; and that he thought the Coffee-man +could not do better than to carry the Paper to one of the Secretaries of +State. He further added, that he did not like the Name of the outlandish +Man with the golden Clock in his Stockings. A young [_Oxford_ Scholar +[3]], who chanced to be with his Uncle at the Coffee-house, discover'd +to us who this _Pactolus_ was; and by that means turned the whole Scheme +of this worthy Citizen into Ridicule. While they were making their +several Conjectures upon this innocent Paper, I reach'd out my Arm to +the Boy, as he was coming out of the Pulpit, to give it me; which he did +accordingly. This drew the Eyes of the whole Company upon me; but after +having cast a cursory Glance over it, and shook my Head twice or thrice +at the reading of it, I twisted it into a kind of Match, and litt my +Pipe with it. My profound Silence, together with the Steadiness of my +Countenance, and the Gravity of my Behaviour during this whole +Transaction, raised a very loud Laugh on all Sides of me; but as I had +escaped all Suspicion of being the Author, I was very well satisfied, +and applying myself to my Pipe, and the _Post-man_, took no [further] +Notice of any thing that passed about me. + +My Reader will find, that I have already made use of above half the +Contents of the foregoing Paper; and will easily Suppose, that those +Subjects which are yet untouched were such Provisions as I had made for +his future Entertainment. But as I have been unluckily prevented by this +Accident, I shall only give him the Letters which relate to the two last +Hints. The first of them I should not have published, were I not +informed that there is many a Husband who suffers very much in his +private Affairs by the indiscreet Zeal of such a Partner as is hereafter +mentioned; to whom I may apply the barbarous Inscription quoted by the +Bishop of _Salisbury_ in his Travels; [4] _Dum nimia pia est, facta est +impia_. + + + SIR, + + 'I am one of those unhappy Men that are plagued with a Gospel-Gossip, + so common among Dissenters (especially Friends). Lectures in the + Morning, Church-Meetings at Noon, and Preparation Sermons at Night, + take up so much of her Time, 'tis very rare she knows what we have for + Dinner, unless when the Preacher is to be at it. With him come a + Tribe, all Brothers and Sisters it seems; while others, really such, + are deemed no Relations. If at any time I have her Company alone, she + is a meer Sermon Popgun, repeating and discharging Texts, Proofs, and + Applications so perpetually, that however weary I may go to bed, the + Noise in my Head will not let me sleep till towards Morning. The + Misery of my Case, and great Numbers of such Sufferers, plead your + Pity and speedy Relief, otherwise must expect, in a little time, to be + lectured, preached, and prayed into Want, unless the Happiness of + being sooner talked to Death prevent it. + + I am, &c. R. G. + +The second Letter relating to the Ogling Master, runs thus. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am an Irish Gentleman, that have travelled many Years for my + Improvement; during which time I have accomplished myself in the whole + Art of Ogling, as it is at present practised in all the polite Nations + of _Europe_. Being thus qualified, I intend, by the Advice of my + Friends, to set up for an Ogling-Master. I teach the Church Ogle in + the Morning, and the Play-house Ogle by Candle-light. I have also + brought over with me a new flying Ogle fit for the Ring; which I teach + in the Dusk of the Evening, or in any Hour of the Day by darkning one + of my Windows. I have a Manuscript by me called _The Compleat Ogler_, + which I shall be ready to show you upon any Occasion. In the mean + time, I beg you will publish the Substance of this Letter in an + Advertisement, and you will very much oblige, + + Yours, &c. + + + +[Footnote 1: _Lloyd's Coffee House_ was first established in Lombard +Street, at the corner of Abchurch Lane. Pains were taken to get early +Ship news at Lloyd's, and the house was used by underwriters and +insurers of Ships' cargoes. It was found also to be a convenient place +for sales. A poem called 'The Wealthy Shopkeeper', printed in 1700, says +of him, + + Now to Lloyd's Coffee-house he never fails, + To read the Letters, and attend the Sales. + +It was afterwards removed to Pope's Head Alley, as 'the New Lloyd's +Coffee House;' again removed in 1774 to a corner of the Old Royal +Exchange; and in the building of the new Exchange was provided with the +rooms now known as 'Lloyd's Subscription Rooms,' an institution which +forms part of our commercial system.] + + +[Footnote 2: Charles Lillie, the perfumer in the Strand, at the corner +of Beaufort Buildings--where the business of a perfumer is at this day +carried on--appears in the 16th, 18th, and subsequent numbers of the +'Spectator', together with Mrs. Baldwin of Warwick Lane, as a chief +agent for the sale of the Paper. To the line which had run + + 'LONDON: Printed for _Sam. Buckley_, at the _Dolphin_ in _Little + Britain_; and Sold by _A. Baldwin_ in _Warwick-Lane_; where + Advertisements are taken in;' + +there was then appended: + + 'as also by _Charles Lillie_, Perfumer, at the Corner of + _Beaufort-Buildings_ in the _Strand_'. + +Nine other agents, of whom complete sets could be had, were occasionally +set forth together with these two in an advertisement; but only these +are in the colophon.] + + +[Footnote 3: Oxonian] + + +[Footnote 4: Gilbert Burnet, author of the 'History of the Reformation,' +and 'History of his own Time,' was Bishop of Salisbury from 1689 to his +death in 1715. Addison here quotes: + + 'Some Letters containing an Account of what seemed most remarkable in + Travelling through Switzerland, Italy, some parts of Germany, &c., in + the Years 1685 and 1686. Written by G. Burnet, D.D., to the Honourable + R. B.' + +In the first letter, which is from Zurich, Dr. Burnet speaks of many +Inscriptions at Lyons of the late and barbarous ages, as 'Bonum +Memoriam', and 'Epitaphium hunc'. Of 23 Inscriptions in the Garden of +the Fathers of Mercy, he quotes one which must be towards the barbarous +age, as appears by the false Latin in 'Nimia' He quotes it because he +has 'made a little reflection on it,' which is, that its subject, Sutia +Anthis, to whose memory her husband Cecalius Calistis dedicates the +inscription which says + + 'quædum Nimia pia fuit, facta est Impia' + + (who while she was too pious, was made impious), + +must have been publicly accused of Impiety, or her husband would not +have recorded it in such a manner; that to the Pagans Christianity was +Atheism and Impiety; and that here, therefore, is a Pagan husband's +testimony to the better faith, that the Piety of his wife made her a +Christian.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 47. Tuesday, April 24, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Ride si sapis.' + + Mart. + + + +Mr. _Hobbs_, in his Discourse of Human Nature, [1] which, in my humble +Opinion, is much the best of all his Works, after some very curious +Observations upon Laughter, concludes thus: + + 'The Passion of Laughter is nothing else but sudden Glory arising from + some sudden Conception of some Eminency in ourselves by Comparison + with the Infirmity of others, or with our own formerly: For Men laugh + at the Follies of themselves past, when they come suddenly to + Remembrance, except they bring with them any present Dishonour.' + +According to this Author, therefore, when we hear a Man laugh +excessively, instead of saying he is very Merry, we ought to tell him he +is very Proud. And, indeed, if we look into the bottom of this Matter, +we shall meet with many Observations to confirm us in his Opinion. Every +one laughs at some Body that is in an inferior State of Folly to +himself. It was formerly the Custom for every great House in _England_ +to keep a tame Fool dressed in Petticoats, that the Heir of the Family +might have an Opportunity of joking upon him, and diverting himself with +his Absurdities. For the same Reason Idiots are still in Request in most +of the Courts of _Germany_, where there is not a Prince of any great +Magnificence, who has not two or three dressed, distinguished, +undisputed Fools in his Retinue, whom the rest of the Courtiers are +always breaking their Jests upon. + +The _Dutch_, who are more famous for their Industry and Application, +than for Wit and Humour, hang up in several of their Streets what they +call the Sign of the _Gaper_, that is, the Head of an Idiot dressed in a +Cap and Bells, and gaping in a most immoderate manner: This is a +standing Jest at _Amsterdam_. + +Thus every one diverts himself with some Person or other that is below +him in Point of Understanding, and triumphs in the Superiority of his +Genius, whilst he has such Objects of Derision before his Eyes. Mr. +_Dennis_ has very well expressed this in a Couple of humourous Lines, +which are part of a Translation of a Satire in Monsieur Boileau. [2] + + Thus one Fool lolls his Tongue out at another, + And shakes his empty Noddle at his Brother. + +Mr. _Hobbs's_ Reflection gives us the Reason why the insignificant +People above-mentioned are Stirrers up of Laughter among Men of a gross +Taste: But as the more understanding Part of Mankind do not find their +Risibility affected by such ordinary Objects, it may be worth the while +to examine into the several Provocatives of Laughter in Men of superior +Sense and Knowledge. + +In the first Place I must observe, that there is a Set of merry Drolls, +whom the common People of all Countries admire, and seem to love so +well, _that they could eat them_, according to the old Proverb: I mean +those circumforaneous Wits whom every Nation calls by the Name of that +Dish of Meat which it loves best. In _Holland_ they are termed _Pickled +Herrings_; in _France, Jean Pottages_; in _Italy, Maccaronies_; and in +_Great Britain, Jack Puddings_. These merry Wags, from whatsoever Food +they receive their Titles, that they may make their Audiences laugh, +always appear in a Fool's Coat, and commit such Blunders and Mistakes in +every Step they take, and every Word they utter, as those who listen to +them would be ashamed of. + +But this little Triumph of the Understanding, under the Disguise of +Laughter, is no where more visible than in that Custom which prevails +every where among us on the first Day of the present Month, when every +Body takes it in his Head to make as many Fools as he can. In proportion +as there are more Follies discovered, so there is more Laughter raised +on this Day than on any other in the whole Year. A Neighbour of mine, +who is a Haberdasher by Trade, and a very shallow conceited Fellow, +makes his Boasts that for these ten Years successively he has not made +less than an hundred _April_ Fools. My Landlady had a falling out with +him about a Fortnight ago, for sending every one of her Children upon +some _Sleeveless Errand_, as she terms it. Her eldest Son went to buy an +Halfpenny worth of Inkle at a Shoe-maker's; the eldest Daughter was +dispatch'd half a Mile to see a Monster; and, in short, the whole Family +of innocent Children made _April_ Fools. Nay, my Landlady herself did +not escape him. This empty Fellow has laughed upon these Conceits ever +since. + +This Art of Wit is well enough, when confined to one Day in a +Twelvemonth; but there is an ingenious Tribe of Men sprung up of late +Years, who are for making _April_ Fools every Day in the Year. These +Gentlemen are commonly distinguished by the Name of _Biters_; a Race of +Men that are perpetually employed in laughing at those Mistakes which +are of their own Production. + +Thus we see, in proportion as one Man is more refined than another, he +chooses his Fool out of a lower or higher Class of Mankind: or, to speak +in a more Philosophical Language, That secret Elation and Pride of +Heart, which is generally called Laughter, arises in him from his +comparing himself with an Object below him, whether it so happens that +it be a Natural or an Artificial Fool. It is indeed very possible, that +the Persons we laugh at may in the main of their Characters be much +wiser Men than ourselves; but if they would have us laugh at them, they +must fall short of us in those Respects which stir up this Passion. + +I am afraid I shall appear too Abstracted in my Speculations, if I shew +that when a Man of Wit makes us laugh, it is by betraying some Oddness +or Infirmity in his own Character, or in the Representation which he +makes of others; and that when we laugh at a Brute or even [at] an +inanimate thing, it is at some Action or Incident that bears a remote +Analogy to any Blunder or Absurdity in reasonable Creatures. + +But to come into common Life: I shall pass by the Consideration of those +Stage Coxcombs that are able to shake a whole Audience, and take notice +of a particular sort of Men who are such Provokers of Mirth in +Conversation, that it is impossible for a Club or Merry-meeting to +subsist without them; I mean, those honest Gentlemen that are always +exposed to the Wit and Raillery of their Well-wishers and Companions; +that are pelted by Men, Women, and Children, Friends and Foes, and, in a +word, stand as _Butts_ in Conversation, for every one to shoot at that +pleases. I know several of these _Butts_, who are Men of Wit and Sense, +though by some odd Turn of Humour, some unlucky Cast in their Person or +Behaviour, they have always the Misfortune to make the Company merry. +The Truth of it is, a Man is not qualified for a _Butt_, who has not a +good deal of Wit and Vivacity, even in the ridiculous side of his +Character. A stupid _Butt_ is only fit for the Conversation of ordinary +People: Men of Wit require one that will give them Play, and bestir +himself in the absurd Part of his Behaviour. A _Butt_ with these +Accomplishments frequently gets the Laugh of his side, and turns the +Ridicule upon him that attacks him. Sir _John Falstaff_ was an Hero of +this Species, and gives a good Description of himself in his Capacity of +a _Butt_, after the following manner; _Men of all Sorts_ (says that +merry Knight) _take a pride to gird at me. The Brain of Man is not able +to invent any thing that tends to Laughter more than I invent, or is +invented on me. I am not only Witty in my self, but the Cause that Wit +is in other Men_. [3] + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Chap. ix. § 13. Thomas Hobbes's 'Human Nature' was +published in 1650. He died in 1679, aged 91.] + + +[Footnote 2: Boileau's 4th satire. John Dennis was at this time a +leading critic of the French school, to whom Pope afterwards attached +lasting ridicule. He died in 1734, aged 77.] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Henry IV Part II' Act I § 2.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 48. Wednesday, April 25, 1711. Steele. + + + + ... Per multas aditum sibi sæpe figuras + Repperit ... + + Ovid + + +My Correspondents take it ill if I do not, from Time to Time let them +know I have received their Letters. The most effectual Way will be to +publish some of them that are upon important Subjects; which I shall +introduce with a Letter of my own that I writ a Fortnight ago to a +Fraternity who thought fit to make me an honorary Member. + + + To the President and Fellows of the _Ugly Club_. + + _May it please your Deformities_, + + I have received the Notification of the Honour you have done me, in + admitting me into your Society. I acknowledge my Want of Merit, and + for that Reason shall endeavour at all Times to make up my own + Failures, by introducing and recommending to the Club Persons of more + undoubted Qualifications than I can pretend to. I shall next Week come + down in the Stage-Coach, in order to take my Seat at the Board; and + shall bring with me a Candidate of each Sex. The Persons I shall + present to you, are an old Beau and a modern _Pict_. If they are not + so eminently gifted by Nature as our Assembly expects, give me Leave + to say their acquired Ugliness is greater than any that has ever + appeared before you. The Beau has varied his Dress every Day of his + Life for these thirty Years last past, and still added to the + Deformity he was born with. The _Pict_ has still greater Merit towards + us; and has, ever since she came to Years of Discretion, deserted the + handsome Party, and taken all possible Pains to acquire the Face in + which I shall present her to your Consideration and Favour. + + I desire to know whether you admit People of Quality. + + I am, Gentlemen, + Your most obliged + Humble Servant, + The SPECTATOR. + + + April 7. + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + To shew you there are among us of the vain weak Sex, some that have + Honesty and Fortitude enough to dare to be ugly, and willing to be + thought so; I apply my self to you, to beg your Interest and + Recommendation to the Ugly Club. If my own Word will not be taken, + (tho' in this Case a Woman's may) I can bring credible Witness of my + Qualifications for their Company, whether they insist upon Hair, + Forehead, Eyes, Cheeks, or Chin; to which I must add, that I find it + easier to lean to my left Side than my right. I hope I am in all + respects agreeable: And for Humour and Mirth, I'll keep up to the + President himself. All the Favour I'll pretend to is, that as I am the + first Woman has appeared desirous of good Company and agreeable + Conversation, I may take and keep the upper End of the Table. And + indeed I think they want a Carver, which I can be after as ugly a + Manner as they can wish. I desire your Thoughts of my Claim as soon as + you can. Add to my Features the Length of my Face, which is full half + Yard; tho' I never knew the Reason of it till you gave one for the + Shortness of yours. If I knew a Name ugly enough to belong to the + above-described Face, I would feign one; but, to my unspeakable + Misfortune, my Name is the only disagreeable Prettiness about me; so + prithee make one for me that signifies all the Deformity in the World: + You understand Latin, but be sure bring it in with my being in the + Sincerity of my Heart, + _Your most frightful Admirer, + and Servant_, + Hecatissa. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + I Read your Discourse upon Affectation, and from the Remarks made in + it examined my own Heart so strictly, that I thought I had found out + its most secret Avenues, with a Resolution to be aware of you for the + future. But alas! to my Sorrow I now understand, that I have several + Follies which I do not know the Root of. I am an old Fellow, and + extremely troubled with the Gout; but having always a strong Vanity + towards being pleasing in the Eyes of Women, I never have a Moment's + Ease, but I am mounted in high-heel'd Shoes with a glased Wax-leather + Instep. Two Days after a severe Fit I was invited to a Friend's House + in the City, where I believed I should see Ladies; and with my usual + Complaisance crippled my self to wait upon them: A very sumptuous + Table, agreeable Company, and kind Reception, were but so many + importunate Additions to the Torment I was in. A Gentleman of the + Family observed my Condition; and soon after the Queen's Health, he, + in the Presence of the whole Company, with his own Hand degraded me + into an old Pair of his own Shoes. This operation, before fine Ladies, + to me (who am by Nature a Coxcomb) was suffered with the same + Reluctance as they admit the Help of Men in their greatest Extremity. + The Return of Ease made me forgive the rough Obligation laid upon me, + which at that time relieved my Body from a Distemper, and will my Mind + for ever from a Folly. For the Charity received I return my Thanks + this Way. + _Your most humble Servant. + Epping, April 18._ + + + _SIR_, + + We have your Papers here the Morning they come out, and we have been + very well entertained with your last, upon the false Ornaments of + Persons who represent Heroes in a Tragedy. What made your Speculation + come very seasonably amongst us is, that we have now at this Place a + Company of Strolers, who are very far from offending in the + impertinent Splendor of the Drama. They are so far from falling into + these false Gallantries, that the Stage is here in its Original + Situation of a Cart. _Alexander_ the Great was acted by a Fellow in a + Paper Cravat. The next Day, the Earl of Essex [1] seemed to have no + Distress but his Poverty: And my Lord Foppington [2] the same Morning + wanted any better means to shew himself a Fop, than by wearing + Stockings of different Colours. In a Word, tho' they have had a full + Barn for many Days together, our Itinerants are still so wretchedly + poor, that without you can prevail to send us the Furniture you forbid + at the Play-house, the Heroes appear only like sturdy Beggars, and the + Heroines Gipsies. We have had but one Part which was performed and + dressed with Propriety, and that was Justice Clodpate: [3] This was so + well done that it offended Mr. Justice Overdo; [4] who, in the midst + of our whole Audience, was (like Quixote in the Puppet-Show) so + highly provok'd, that he told them, If they would move compassion, it + should be in their own Persons, and not in the Characters of + distressed Princes and Potentates: He told them, If they were so good + at finding the way to People's Hearts, they should do it at the End of + Bridges or Church-Porches, in their proper Vocation of Beggars. This, + the Justice says, they must expect, since they could not be contented + to act Heathen Warriors, and such Fellows as _Alexander_, but must + presume to make a Mockery of one of the _Quorum_. + Your Servant. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: In 'The Unhappy Favourite', or the Earl of Essex, a Tragedy +of John Banks, first acted in 1682.] + + +[Footnote 2: Lord Foppington is in the Colley Cibber's 'Careless +Husband', first acted in 1794.] + + +[Footnote 3: Justice Clodpate is in the Shadwell's 'Epsons Wells', first +acted in 1676.] + + +[Footnote 4: Adam Overdo is the Justice of the Peace, who in Ben +Jonson's 'Bartholomew Fair' goes disguised 'for the good of the Republic +in the Fair and the weeding out of enormity.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 49. Thursday, April 26, 1711. Steele. + + + + ... Hominem pagina nostra sapit. + + Mart. + + +It is very natural for a Man who is not turned for Mirthful Meetings of +Men, or Assemblies of the fair Sex, to delight in that sort of +Conversation which we find in Coffee-houses. Here a Man, of my Temper, +is in his Element; for if he cannot talk, he can still be more agreeable +to his Company, as well as pleased in himself, in being only an Hearer. +It is a Secret known but to few, yet of no small use in the Conduct of +Life, that when you fall into a Man's Conversation, the first thing you +should consider is, whether he has a greater Inclination to hear you, or +that you should hear him. The latter is the more general Desire, and I +know very able Flatterers that never speak a Word in Praise of the +Persons from whom they obtain daily Favours, but still practise a +skilful Attention to whatever is uttered by those with whom they +converse. We are very Curious to observe the Behaviour of Great Men and +their Clients; but the same Passions and Interests move Men in lower +Spheres; and I (that have nothing else to do but make Observations) see +in every Parish, Street, Lane, and Alley of this Populous City, a little +Potentate that has his Court, and his Flatterers who lay Snares for his +Affection and Favour, by the same Arts that are practised upon Men in +higher Stations. + +In the Place I most usually frequent, Men differ rather in the Time of +Day in which they make a Figure, than in any real Greatness above one +another. I, who am at the Coffee-house at Six in a Morning, know that my +Friend _Beaver_ the Haberdasher has a Levy of more undissembled Friends +and Admirers, than most of the Courtiers or Generals of _Great-Britain_. +Every Man about him has, perhaps, a News-Paper in his Hand; but none can +pretend to guess what Step will be taken in any one Court of _Europe_, +'till Mr. _Beaver_ has thrown down his Pipe, and declares what Measures +the Allies must enter into upon this new Posture of Affairs. Our +Coffee-house is near one of the Inns of Court, and _Beaver_ has the +Audience and Admiration of his Neighbours from Six 'till within a +Quarter of Eight, at which time he is interrupted by the Students of the +House; some of whom are ready dress'd for _Westminster_, at Eight in a +Morning, with Faces as busie as if they were retained in every Cause +there; and others come in their Night-Gowns to saunter away their Time, +as if they never designed to go thither. I do not know that I meet, in +any of my Walks, Objects which move both my Spleen and Laughter so +effectually, as these young Fellows at the _Grecian, Squire's, +Searle's_, [1] and all other Coffee-houses adjacent to the Law, who rise +early for no other purpose but to publish their Laziness. One would +think these young _Virtuoso's_ take a gay Cap and Slippers, with a Scarf +and Party-coloured Gown, to be Ensigns of Dignity; for the vain Things +approach each other with an Air, which shews they regard one another for +their Vestments. I have observed, that the Superiority among these +proceeds from an Opinion of Gallantry and Fashion: The Gentleman in the +Strawberry Sash, who presides so much over the rest, has, it seems, +subscribed to every Opera this last Winter, and is supposed to receive +Favours from one of the Actresses. + +When the Day grows too busie for these Gentlemen to enjoy any longer the +Pleasures of their _Deshabilé_, with any manner of Confidence, they give +place to Men who have Business or good Sense in their Faces, and come to +the Coffee-house either to transact Affairs or enjoy Conversation. The +Persons to whose Behaviour and Discourse I have most regard, are such as +are between these two sorts of Men: Such as have not Spirits too Active +to be happy and well pleased in a private Condition, nor Complexions too +warm to make them neglect the Duties and Relations of Life. Of these +sort of Men consist the worthier Part of Mankind; of these are all good +Fathers, generous Brothers, sincere Friends, and faithful Subjects. +Their Entertainments are derived rather from Reason than Imagination: +Which is the Cause that there is no Impatience or Instability in their +Speech or Action. You see in their Countenances they are at home, and in +quiet Possession of the present Instant, as it passes, without desiring +to quicken it by gratifying any Passion, or prosecuting any new Design. +These are the Men formed for Society, and those little Communities which +we express by the Word _Neighbourhoods_. + +The Coffee-house is the Place of Rendezvous to all that live near it, +who are thus turned to relish calm and ordinary Life. _Eubulus_ presides +over the middle Hours of the Day, when this Assembly of Men meet +together. He enjoys a great Fortune handsomely, without launching into +Expence; and exerts many noble and useful Qualities, without appearing +in any publick Employment. His Wisdom and Knowledge are serviceable to +all that think fit to make use of them; and he does the office of a +Council, a Judge, an Executor, and a Friend to all his Acquaintance, not +only without the Profits which attend such Offices, but also without the +Deference and Homage which are usually paid to them. The giving of +Thanks is displeasing to him. The greatest Gratitude you can shew him is +to let him see you are the better Man for his Services; and that you are +as ready to oblige others, as he is to oblige you. + +In the private Exigencies of his Friends he lends, at legal Value, +considerable Sums, which he might highly increase by rolling in the +Publick Stocks. He does not consider in whose Hands his Mony will +improve most, but where it will do most Good. + +_Eubulus_ has so great an Authority in his little Diurnal Audience, that +when he shakes his Head at any Piece of publick News, they all of them +appear dejected; and on the contrary, go home to their Dinners with a +good Stomach and cheerful Aspect, when _Eubulus_ seems to intimate that +Things go well. Nay, their Veneration towards him is so great, that when +they are in other Company they speak and act after him; are Wise in his +Sentences, and are no sooner sat down at their own Tables, but they hope +or fear, rejoice or despond as they saw him do at the Coffee-house. In a +word, every Man is _Eubulus_ as soon as his Back is turned. + +Having here given an Account of the several Reigns that succeed each +other from Day-break till Dinner-time, I shall mention the Monarchs of +the Afternoon on another Occasion, and shut up the whole Series of them +with the History of _Tom_ the Tyrant; who, as first Minister of the +Coffee-house, takes the Government upon him between the Hours of Eleven +and Twelve at Night, and gives his Orders in the most Arbitrary manner +to the Servants below him, as to the Disposition of Liquors, Coal and +Cinders. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: The 'Grecian' (see note [Footnote 10 of No. 1], p. 7, +'ante',) was by the Temple; 'Squire's', by Gray's Inn; 'Serle's', by +Lincoln's Inn. 'Squire's', a roomy, red-brick house, adjoined the gate +of Gray's Inn, in Fulwood's Rents, Holborn, then leading to Gray's Inn +Walks, which lay open to the country. Squire, the establisher of this +coffee-house, died in 1717. 'Serle's' was near Will's, which stood at +the corner of Serle Street and Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 50. Friday, April 27, 1711. [1] Addison. + + + + 'Nunquam aliud Natura, aliud Sapientia dixit.' + + Juv. + + +When the four _Indian_ Kings were in this Country about a Twelvemonth +ago, [2] I often mixed with the Rabble, and followed them a whole Day +together, being wonderfully struck with the Sight of every thing that is +new or uncommon. I have, since their Departure, employed a Friend to +make many Inquiries of their Landlord the Upholsterer, relating to their +Manners and Conversation, as also concerning the Remarks which they made +in this Country: For, next to the forming a right Notion of such +Strangers, I should be desirous of learning what Ideas they have +conceived of us. + +The Upholsterer finding my Friend very inquisitive about these his +Lodgers, brought him some time since a little Bundle of Papers, which he +assured him were written by King _Sa Ga Yean Qua Rash Tow_, and, as he +supposes, left behind by some Mistake. These Papers are now translated, +and contain abundance of very odd Observations, which I find this little +Fraternity of Kings made during their Stay in the Isle of _Great +Britain_. I shall present my Reader with a short Specimen of them in +this Paper, and may perhaps communicate more to him hereafter. In the +Article of _London_ are the following Words, which without doubt are +meant of the Church of St. _Paul_. + + 'On the most rising Part of the Town there stands a huge House, big + enough to contain the whole Nation of which I am King. Our good + Brother _E Tow O Koam_, King of the _Rivers_, is of opinion it was + made by the Hands of that great God to whom it is consecrated. The + Kings of _Granajah_ and of the _Six Nations_ believe that it was + created with the Earth, and produced on the same Day with the Sun and + Moon. But for my own Part, by the best Information that I could get of + this Matter, I am apt to think that this prodigious Pile was fashioned + into the Shape it now bears by several Tools and Instruments of which + they have a wonderful Variety in this Country. It was probably at + first an huge mis-shapen Rock that grew upon the Top of the Hill, + which the Natives of the Country (after having cut it into a kind of + regular Figure) bored and hollowed with incredible Pains and Industry, + till they had wrought in it all those beautiful Vaults and Caverns + into which it is divided at this Day. As soon as this Rock was thus + curiously scooped to their Liking, a prodigious Number of Hands must + have been employed in chipping the Outside of it, which is now as + smooth as [the Surface of a Pebble; [3]] and is in several Places hewn + out into Pillars that stand like the Trunks of so many Trees bound + about the Top with Garlands of Leaves. It is probable that when this + great Work was begun, which must have been many Hundred Years ago, + there was some Religion among this People; for they give it the Name + of a Temple, and have a Tradition that it was designed for Men to pay + their Devotions in. And indeed, there are several Reasons which make + us think that the Natives of this Country had formerly among them some + sort of Worship; for they set apart every seventh Day as sacred: But + upon my going into one of [these [4]] holy Houses on that Day, I could + not observe any Circumstance of Devotion in their Behaviour: There was + indeed a Man in Black who was mounted above the rest, and seemed to + utter something with a great deal of Vehemence; but as for those + underneath him, instead of paying their Worship to the Deity of the + Place, they were most of them bowing and curtisying to one another, + and a considerable Number of them fast asleep. + + The Queen of the Country appointed two Men to attend us, that had + enough of our Language to make themselves understood in some few + Particulars. But we soon perceived these two were great Enemies to one + another, and did not always agree in the same Story. We could make a + Shift to gather out of one of them, that this Island was very much + infested with a monstrous Kind of Animals, in the Shape of Men, called + _Whigs;_ and he often told us, that he hoped we should meet with + none of them in our Way, for that if we did, they would be apt to + knock us down for being Kings. + + Our other Interpreter used to talk very much of a kind of Animal + called a _Tory_, that was as great a Monster as the _Whig_, + and would treat us as ill for being Foreigners. These two Creatures, + it seems, are born with a secret Antipathy to one another, and engage + when they meet as naturally as the Elephant and the Rhinoceros. But as + we saw none of either of these Species, we are apt to think that our + Guides deceived us with Misrepresentations and Fictions, and amused us + with an Account of such Monsters as are not really in their Country. + + These Particulars we made a shift to pick out from the Discourse of + our Interpreters; which we put together as well as we could, being + able to understand but here and there a Word of what they said, and + afterwards making up the Meaning of it among ourselves. The Men of the + Country are very cunning and ingenious in handicraft Works; but withal + so very idle, that we often saw young lusty raw-boned Fellows carried + up and down the Streets in little covered Rooms by a Couple of + Porters, who are hired for that Service. Their Dress is likewise very + barbarous, for they almost strangle themselves about the Neck, and + bind their Bodies with many Ligatures, that we are apt to think are + the Occasion of several Distempers among them which our Country is + entirely free from. Instead of those beautiful Feathers with which we + adorn our Heads, they often buy up a monstrous Bush of Hair, which + covers their Heads, and falls down in a large Fleece below the Middle + of their Backs; with which they walk up and down the Streets, and are + as proud of it as if it was of their own growth. + + We were invited to one of their publick Diversions, where we hoped to + have seen the great Men of their Country running down a Stag or + pitching a Bar, that we might have discovered who were the [Persons of + the greatest Abilities among them; [5]] but instead of that, they + conveyed us into a huge Room lighted up with abundance of Candles, + where this lazy People sat still above three Hours to see several + Feats of Ingenuity performed by others, who it seems were paid for it. + + As for the Women of the Country, not being able to talk with them, we + could only make our Remarks upon them at a Distance. They let the Hair + of their Heads grow to a great Length; but as the Men make a great + Show with Heads of Hair that are not of their own, the Women, who they + say have very fine Heads of Hair, tie it up in a Knot, and cover it + from being seen. The Women look like Angels, and would be more + beautiful than the Sun, were it not for little black Spots that are + apt to break out in their Faces, and sometimes rise in very odd + Figures. I have observed that those little Blemishes wear off very + soon; but when they disappear in one Part of the Face, they are very + apt to break out in another, insomuch that I have seen a Spot upon the + Forehead in the Afternoon, which was upon the Chin in the Morning. [6]' + +The Author then proceeds to shew the Absurdity of Breeches and +Petticoats, with many other curious Observations, which I shall reserve +for another Occasion. I cannot however conclude this Paper without +taking notice, That amidst these wild Remarks there now and then appears +something very reasonable. I cannot likewise forbear observing, That we +are all guilty in some Measure of the same narrow way of Thinking, which +we meet with in this Abstract of the _Indian_ Journal; when we fancy the +Customs, Dress, and Manners of other Countries are ridiculous and +extravagant, if they do not resemble those of our own. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Swift writes to Stella, in his Journal, 28th April, +1711: + + 'The SPECTATOR is written by Steele, with Addison's help; 'tis often + very pretty. Yesterday it was made of a noble hint I gave him long ago + for his Tatlers, about an Indian, supposed to write his travels into + England. I repent he ever had it. I intended to have written a book on + that subject. I believe he has spent it all in one paper, and all the + under hints there are mine too; but I never see him or Addison.' + +The paper, it will be noticed, was not written by Steele.] + + +[Footnote 2: The four kings Te Yee Neen Ho Ga Prow, Sa Ga Yean Qua Rash +Tow, E Tow O Koam, and Oh Nee Yeath Ton Now Prow, were chiefs of the +Iroquois Indians who had been persuaded by adjacent British colonists to +come and pay their respects to Queen Anne, and see for themselves the +untruth of the assertion made among them by the Jesuits, that the +English and all other nations were vassals to the French king. They were +said also to have been told that the Saviour was born in France and +crucified in England.] + + +[Footnote 3: polished Marble] + + +[Footnote 4: those] + + +[Footnote 5: Men of the greatest Perfections in their Country] + + +[Footnote 6: There was, among other fancies, a patch cut to the pattern +of a coach and horses. Suckling, in verses 'upon the Black Spots worn by +my Lady D. E.,' had called them her + + ... Mourning weeds for Hearts forlorn, + Which, though you must not love, you could not scorn,] + + + + + + * * * * * + +No. 51. Saturday, April 28, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Torquet ab Obscenis jam nunc Sermonibus Aurem.' + + Hor. + + + Mr. Spectator, + + 'My Fortune, Quality, and Person are such as render me as Conspicuous + as any Young Woman in Town. It is in my Power to enjoy it in all its + Vanities, but I have, from a very careful Education, contracted a + great Aversion to the forward Air and Fashion which is practised in + all Publick Places and Assemblies. I attribute this very much to the + Stile and Manners of our Plays: I was last Night at the _Funeral_, + where a Confident Lover in the Play, speaking of his Mistress, cries + out: + _Oh that_ Harriot! _to fold these Arms about the Waste of that + Beauteous strugling, and at last yielding Fair!_ [1] + + Such an Image as this ought, by no means, to be presented to a Chaste + and Regular Audience. I expect your Opinion of this Sentence, and + recommend to your Consideration, as a SPECTATOR, the conduct of the + Stage at present with Relation to Chastity and Modesty. + + _I am, SIR, + Your Constant Reader + and Well-wisher._ + + +The Complaint of this Young Lady is so just, that the Offence is [great +[2]] enough to have displeased Persons who cannot pretend to that +Delicacy and Modesty, of which she is Mistress. But there is a great +deal to be said in Behalf of an Author: If the Audience would but +consider the Difficulty of keeping up a sprightly Dialogue for five Acts +together, they would allow a Writer, when he wants Wit, and can't please +any otherwise, to help it out with a little Smuttiness. I will answer +for the Poets, that no one ever writ Bawdy for any other Reason but +Dearth of Invention. When the Author cannot strike out of himself any +more of that which he has superior to those who make up the Bulk of his +Audience, his natural Recourse is to that which he has in common with +them; and a Description which gratifies a sensual Appetite will please, +when the Author has nothing [about him to delight [3]] a refined +Imagination. It is to such a Poverty we must impute this and all other +Sentences in Plays, which are of this Kind, and which are commonly +termed Luscious Expressions. + +This Expedient, to supply the Deficiencies of Wit, has been used more or +less, by most of the Authors who have succeeded on the Stage; tho' I +know but one who has professedly writ a Play upon the Basis of the +Desire of Multiplying our Species, and that is the Polite Sir _George +Etherege;_ if I understand what the Lady would be at, in the Play called +_She would if She could._ Other Poets have, here and there, given an +Intimation that there is this Design, under all the Disguises and +Affectations which a Lady may put on; but no Author, except this, has +made sure Work of it, and put the Imaginations of the Audience upon this +one Purpose, from the Beginning to the End of the Comedy. It has always +fared accordingly; for whether it be, that all who go to this Piece +would if they could, or that the Innocents go to it, to guess only what +_She would if She could_, the Play has always been well received. + +It lifts an heavy empty Sentence, when there is added to it a lascivious +Gesture of Body; and when it is too low to be raised even by that, a +flat Meaning is enlivened by making it a double one. Writers, who want +_Genius_, never fail of keeping this Secret in reserve, to create a +Laugh, or raise a Clap. I, who know nothing of Women but from seeing +Plays, can give great Guesses at the whole Structure of the fair Sex, by +being innocently placed in the Pit, and insulted by the Petticoats of +their Dancers; the Advantages of whose pretty Persons are a great Help +to a dull Play. When a Poet flags in writing Lusciously, a pretty Girl +can move Lasciviously, and have the same good Consequence for the +Author. Dull Poets in this Case use their Audiences, as dull Parasites +do their Patrons; when they cannot longer divert [them [4]] with their +Wit or Humour, they bait [their [5]] Ears with something which is +agreeable to [their [6]] Temper, though below [their [7]] Understanding. +_Apicius_ cannot resist being pleased, if you give him an Account of a +delicious Meal; or _Clodius_, if you describe a Wanton Beauty: Tho' at +the same time, if you do not awake those Inclinations in them, no Men +are better Judges of what is just and delicate in Conversation. But as I +have before observed, it is easier to talk to the Man, than to the Man +of Sense. + +It is remarkable, that the Writers of least Learning are best skilled in +the luscious Way. The Poetesses of the Age have done Wonders in this +kind; and we are obliged to the Lady who writ _Ibrahim_ [8], for +introducing a preparatory Scene to the very Action, when the Emperor +throws his Handkerchief as a Signal for his Mistress to follow him into +the most retired Part of the Seraglio. It must be confessed his +_Turkish_ Majesty went off with a good Air, but, methought, we made but +a sad Figure who waited without. This ingenious Gentlewoman, in this +piece of Bawdry, refined upon an Author of the same Sex, [9] who, in the +_Rover_, makes a Country Squire strip to his Holland Drawers. For +_Blunt_ is disappointed, and the Emperor is understood to go on to the +utmost. The Pleasantry of stripping almost Naked has been since +practised (where indeed it should have begun) very successfully at +_Bartholomew_ Fair. + +It is not here to be omitted, that in one of the above-mentioned Female +Compositions, the _Rover_ is very frequently sent on the same Errand; as +I take it, above once every Act. This is not wholly unnatural; for, they +say, the Men-Authors draw themselves in their chief Characters, and the +Women-Writers may be allowed the same Liberty. Thus, as the Male Wit +gives his Hero a [good] Fortune, the Female gives her Heroin a great +Gallant, at the End of the Play. But, indeed, there is hardly a Play one +can go to, but the Hero or fine Gentleman of it struts off upon the same +account, and leaves us to consider what good Office he has put us to, or +to employ our selves as we please. To be plain, a Man who frequents +Plays would have a very respectful Notion of himself, were he to +recollect how often he has been used as a Pimp to ravishing Tyrants, or +successful Rakes. When the Actors make their _Exit_ on this good +Occasion, the Ladies are sure to have an examining Glance from the Pit, +to see how they relish what passes; and a few lewd Fools are very ready +to employ their Talents upon the Composure or Freedom of their Looks. +Such Incidents as these make some Ladies wholly absent themselves from +the Play-House; and others never miss the first Day of a Play, lest it +should prove too luscious to admit their going with any Countenance to +it on the second. + +If Men of Wit, who think fit to write for the Stage, instead of this +pitiful way of giving Delight, would turn their Thoughts upon raising it +from good natural Impulses as are in the Audience, but are choked up by +Vice and Luxury, they would not only please, but befriend us at the same +time. If a Man had a mind to be new in his way of Writing, might not he +who is now represented as a fine Gentleman, tho' he betrays the Honour +and Bed of his Neighbour and Friend, and lies with half the Women in the +Play, and is at last rewarded with her of the best Character in it; I +say, upon giving the Comedy another Cast, might not such a one divert +the Audience quite as well, if at the Catastrophe he were found out for +a Traitor, and met with Contempt accordingly? There is seldom a Person +devoted to above one Darling Vice at a time, so that there is room +enough to catch at Men's Hearts to their Good and Advantage, if the +Poets will attempt it with the Honesty which becomes their Characters. + +There is no Man who loves his Bottle or his Mistress, in a manner so +very abandoned, as not to be capable of relishing an agreeable +Character, that is no way a Slave to either of those Pursuits. A Man +that is Temperate, Generous, Valiant, Chaste, Faithful and Honest, may, +at the same time, have Wit, Humour, Mirth, Good-breeding, and Gallantry. +While he exerts these latter Qualities, twenty Occasions might be +invented to shew he is Master of the other noble Virtues. Such +Characters would smite and reprove the Heart of a Man of Sense, when he +is given up to his Pleasures. He would see he has been mistaken all this +while, and be convinced that a sound Constitution and an innocent Mind +are the true Ingredients for becoming and enjoying Life. All Men of true +Taste would call a Man of Wit, who should turn his Ambition this way, a +Friend and Benefactor to his Country; but I am at a loss what Name they +would give him, who makes use of his Capacity for contrary Purposes. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: The Play is by Steele himself, the writer of this Essay. +Steele's Plays were as pure as his 'Spectator' Essays, absolutely +discarding the customary way of enforcing feeble dialogues by the +spurious force of oaths, and aiming at a wholesome influence upon his +audience. The passage here recanted was a climax of passion in one of +the lovers of two sisters, Act II., sc. I, and was thus retrenched in +subsequent editions: + + 'Campley.' Oh that Harriot! to embrace that beauteous-- + + 'Lord Hardy.' Ay, Tom; but methinks your Head runs too much on the + Wedding Night only, to make your Happiness lasting; + mine is fixt on the married State; I expect my Felicity + from Lady Sharlot, in her Friendship, her Constancy, + her Piety, her household Cares, her maternal Tenderness + --You think not of any excellence of your Mistress that + is more than skin deep.'] + + +[Footnote 2: gross] + + +[Footnote 3: else to gratifie] + + +[Footnote 4: him] + + +[Footnote 5: his] + + +[Footnote 6: his] + + +[Footnote 7: his] + + +[Footnote 8: Mary Fix, whose Tragedy of 'Ibrahim XII, Emperor of the +Turks', was first acted in 1696.] + + +[Footnote 9: Mrs. Aphra Behn, whose 'Rover, or the Banished Cavaliers', +is a Comedy in two Parts; first acted, Part I in 1677, Part II in 1681.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 52. Monday, April 30, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Omnes ut Tecum meritis pro Talibus annos + Exigat, et pulchra faciat Te prole parentem.' + + Virg. + + + * * * * * + + +An ingenious Correspondent, like a sprightly Wife, will always have the +last Word. I did not think my last Letter to the deformed Fraternity +would have occasioned any Answer, especially since I had promised them +so sudden a Visit: But as they think they cannot shew too great a +Veneration for my Person, they have already sent me up an Answer. As to +the Proposal of a Marriage between my self and the matchless +_Hecatissa_, I have but one Objection to it; which is, That all the +Society will expect to be acquainted with her; and who can be sure of +keeping a Woman's Heart long, where she may have so much Choice? I am +the more alarmed at this, because the Lady seems particularly smitten +with Men of their Make. + +I believe I shall set my Heart upon her; and think never the worse of my +Mistress for an Epigram a smart Fellow writ, as he thought, against her; +it does but the more recommend her to me. At the same time I cannot but +discover that his Malice is stolen from _Martial_. + + Tacta places, Audit a places, si non videare + Tota places, neutro, si videare, places. + + Whilst in the Dark on thy soft Hand I hung, + And heard the tempting Siren in thy Tongue, + What Flames, what Darts, what Anguish I endured! + But when the Candle entered I was cur'd. + + + 'Your Letter to us we have received, as a signal Mark of your Favour + and brotherly Affection. We shall be heartily glad to see your short + Face in _Oxford_: And since the Wisdom of our Legislature has been + immortalized in your Speculations, and our personal Deformities in + some sort by you recorded to all Posterity; we hold ourselves in + Gratitude bound to receive with the highest Respect, all such Persons + as for their extraordinary Merit you shall think fit, from Time to + Time, to recommend unto the Board. As for the Pictish Damsel, we have + an easy Chair prepared at the upper End of the Table; which we doubt + not but she will grace with a very hideous Aspect, and much better + become the Seat in the native and unaffected Uncomeliness of her + Person, than with all the superficial Airs of the Pencil, which (as + you have very ingeniously observed) vanish with a Breath, and the most + innocent Adorer may deface the Shrine with a Salutation, and in the + literal Sense of our Poets, snatch and imprint his balmy Kisses, and + devour her melting Lips: In short, the only Faces of the Pictish Kind + that will endure the Weather, must be of Dr. _Carbuncle's_ Die; tho' + his, in truth, has cost him a World the Painting; but then he boasts + with _Zeuxes, In eternitatem pingo_; and oft jocosely tells the Fair + Ones, would they acquire Colours that would stand kissing, they must + no longer Paint but Drink for a Complexion: A Maxim that in this our + Age has been pursued with no ill Success; and has been as admirable in + its Effects, as the famous Cosmetick mentioned in the _Post-man_, and + invented by the renowned _British Hippocrates_ of the Pestle and + Mortar; making the Party, after a due Course, rosy, hale and airy; and + the best and most approved Receipt now extant for the Fever of the + Spirits. But to return to our Female Candidate, who, I understand, is + returned to herself, and will no longer hang out false Colours; as she + is the first of her Sex that has done us so great an Honour, she will + certainly, in a very short Time, both in Prose and Verse, be a Lady of + the most celebrated Deformity now living; and meet with Admirers here + as frightful as herself. But being a long-headed Gentlewoman, I am apt + to imagine she has some further Design than you have yet penetrated; + and perhaps has more mind to the SPECTATOR than any of his Fraternity, + as the Person of all the World she could like for a Paramour: And if + so, really I cannot but applaud her Choice; and should be glad, if it + might lie in my Power, to effect an amicable Accommodation betwixt two + Faces of such different Extremes, as the only possible Expedient to + mend the Breed, and rectify the Physiognomy of the Family on both + Sides. And again, as she is a Lady of very fluent Elocution, you need + not fear that your first Child will be born dumb, which otherwise you + might have some Reason to be apprehensive of. To be plain with you, I + can see nothing shocking in it; for tho she has not a Face like a + _John-Apple_, yet as a late Friend of mine, who at Sixty-five ventured + on a Lass of Fifteen, very frequently, in the remaining five Years of + his Life, gave me to understand, That, as old as he then seemed, when + they were first married he and his Spouse [could [1]] make but + Fourscore; so may Madam _Hecatissa_ very justly allege hereafter, + That, as long-visaged as she may then be thought, upon their + Wedding-day Mr. SPECTATOR and she had but Half an Ell of Face betwixt + them: And this my very worthy Predecessor, Mr. Sergeant _Chin_, always + maintained to be no more than the true oval Proportion between Man and + Wife. But as this may be a new thing to you, who have hitherto had no + Expectations from Women, I shall allow you what Time you think fit to + consider on't; not without some Hope of seeing at last your Thoughts + hereupon subjoin'd to mine, and which is an Honour much desired by, + + Sir, + + Your assured Friend, + and most humble Servant, + + Hugh [Gobling, [2]] Præses.' + + + +The following Letter has not much in it, but as it is written in my own +Praise I cannot for my Heart suppress it. + + + SIR, + + 'You proposed, in your SPECTATOR of last _Tuesday_, Mr. _Hobbs's_ + Hypothesis for solving that very odd Phænomenon of Laughter. You have + made the Hypothesis valuable by espousing it your self; for had it + continued Mr. _Hobbs's_, no Body would have minded it. Now here this + perplexed Case arises. A certain Company laughed very heartily upon + the Reading of that very Paper of yours: And the Truth on it is, he + must be a Man of more than ordinary Constancy that could stand it out + against so much Comedy, and not do as we did. Now there are few Men in + the World so far lost to all good Sense, as to look upon you to be a + Man in a State of Folly _inferior to himself_. Pray then how do you + justify your Hypothesis of Laughter? + + Thursday, the 26th of + the Month of Fools. + + Your most humble, + + Q. R.' + + + + SIR, + + 'In answer to your Letter, I must desire you to recollect yourself; + and you will find, that when you did me the Honour to be so merry over + my Paper, you laughed at the Idiot, the _German_ Courtier, the Gaper, + the Merry-Andrew, the Haberdasher, the Biter, the Butt, and not at + + Your humble Servant, + + The SPECTATOR.' + + + +[Footnote 1: could both] + + +[Footnote 2: Goblin] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 53. Tuesday, May 1, 1711. Steele. + + + + ... Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus. + + Hor. + + +My Correspondents grow so numerous, that I cannot avoid frequently +inserting their Applications to me. + + + Mr SPECTATOR, + + 'I am glad I can inform you, that your Endeavours to adorn that Sex, + which is the fairest Part of the visible Creation, are well received, + and like to prove not unsuccessful. The Triumph of _Daphne_ over her + Sister _Letitia_ has been the Subject of Conversation at Several + Tea-Tables where I have been present; and I have observed the fair + Circle not a little pleased to find you considering them as reasonable + Creatures, and endeavouring to banish that _Mahometan_ Custom which + had too much prevailed even in this Island, of treating Women as if + they had no Souls. I must do them the Justice to say, that there seems + to be nothing wanting to the finishing of these lovely Pieces of Human + Nature, besides the turning and applying their Ambition properly, and + the keeping them up to a Sense of what is their true Merit. + _Epictetus_, that plain honest Philosopher, as little as he had of + Gallantry, appears to have understood them, as well as the polite St. + _Evremont_, and has hit this Point very luckily.[1] _When young + Women_, says he, _arrive at a certain Age, they hear themselves called + _Mistresses_, and are made to believe that their only Business is to + please the Men; they immediately begin to dress, and place all their + Hopes in the adorning of their Persons; it is therefore_, continues + he, _worth the while to endeavour by all means to make them sensible + that the Honour paid to them is only, upon account of their + cotiducting themselves with Virtue, Modesty, and Discretion_. + + 'Now to pursue the Matter yet further, and to render your Cares for + the Improvement of the Fair Ones more effectual, I would propose a new + method, like those Applications which are said to convey their virtues + by Sympathy; and that is, in order to embellish the Mistress, you + should give a new Education to the Lover, and teach the Men not to be + any longer dazzled by false Charms and unreal Beauty. I cannot but + think that if our Sex knew always how to place their Esteem justly, + the other would not be so often wanting to themselves in deserving it. + For as the being enamoured with a Woman of Sense and Virtue is an + Improvement to a Man's Understanding and Morals, and the Passion is + ennobled by the Object which inspires it; so on the other side, the + appearing amiable to a Man of a wise and elegant Mind, carries in it + self no small Degree of Merit and Accomplishment. I conclude + therefore, that one way to make the Women yet more agreeable is, to + make the Men more virtuous. + + I am, SIR, + + Your most humble Servant, + + R. B.' + + + + April 26. + + SIR, + + 'Yours of _Saturday_ last I read, not without some Resentment; but I + will suppose when you say you expect an Inundation of Ribbons and + Brocades, and to see many new Vanities which the Women will fall into + upon a Peace with _France_, that you intend only the unthinking Part + of our Sex: And what Methods can reduce them to Reason is hard to + imagine. + + But, Sir, there are others yet, that your Instructions might be of + great Use to, who, after their best Endeavours, are sometimes at a + loss to acquit themselves to a Censorious World: I am far from + thinking you can altogether disapprove of Conversation between Ladies + and Gentlemen, regulated by the Rules of Honour and Prudence; and have + thought it an Observation not ill made, that where that was wholly + denied, the Women lost their Wit, and the Men their Good-manners. 'Tis + sure, from those improper Liberties you mentioned, that a sort of + undistinguishing People shall banish from their Drawing-Rooms the + best-bred Men in the World, and condemn those that do not. Your + stating this Point might, I think, be of good use, as well as much + oblige, + + SIR, + + Your Admirer, and + most humble Servant, + + ANNA BELLA.' + + +_No Answer to this, till_ Anna Bella _sends a Description of those she +calls the Best-bred Men in the World_. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am a Gentleman who for many Years last past have been well known to + be truly Splenatick, and that my Spleen arises from having contracted + so great a Delicacy, by reading the best Authors, and keeping the most + refined Company, that I cannot bear the least Impropriety of Language, + or Rusticity of Behaviour. Now, Sir, I have ever looked upon this as a + wise Distemper; but by late Observations find that every heavy Wretch, + who has nothing to say, excuses his Dulness by complaining of the + Spleen. Nay, I saw, the other Day, two Fellows in a Tavern Kitchen set + up for it, call for a Pint and Pipes, and only by Guzling Liquor to + each other's Health, and wafting Smoke in each other's Face, pretend + to throw off the Spleen. I appeal to you, whether these Dishonours are + to be done to the Distemper of the Great and the Polite. I beseech + you, Sir, to inform these Fellows that they have not the Spleen, + because they cannot talk without the help of a Glass at their Mouths, + or convey their Meaning to each other without the Interposition of + Clouds. If you will not do this with all Speed, I assure you, for my + part, I will wholly quit the Disease, and for the future be merry with + the Vulgar. + + I am, SIR, + + Your humble Servant.' + + + + SIR, + + 'This is to let you understand, that I am a reformed Starer, and + conceived a Detestation for that Practice from what you have writ upon + the Subject. But as you have been very severe upon the Behaviour of us + Men at Divine Service, I hope you will not be so apparently partial to + the Women, as to let them go wholly unobserved. If they do everything + that is possible to attract our Eyes, are we more culpable than they + for looking at them? I happened last _Sunday_ to be shut into a Pew, + which was full of young Ladies in the Bloom of Youth and Beauty. When + the Service began, I had not Room to kneel at the Confession, but as I + stood kept my eyes from wandring as well as I was able, till one of + the young Ladies, who is a Peeper, resolved to bring down my Looks, + and fix my Devotion on her self. You are to know, Sir, that a Peeper + works with her Hands, Eyes, and Fan; one of which is continually in + Motion, while she thinks she is not actually the Admiration of some + Ogler or Starer in the Congregation. As I stood utterly at a loss how + to behave my self, surrounded as I was, this Peeper so placed her self + as to be kneeling just before me. She displayed the most beautiful + Bosom imaginable, which heaved and fell with some Fervour, while a + delicate well-shaped Arm held a Fan over her Face. It was not in + Nature to command ones Eyes from this Object; I could not avoid taking + notice also of her Fan, which had on it various Figures, very improper + to behold on that Occasion. There lay in the Body of the Piece a + _Venus_, under a Purple Canopy furled with curious Wreaths of Drapery, + half naked, attended with a Train of _Cupids_, who were busied in + Fanning her as she slept. Behind her was drawn a Satyr peeping over + the silken Fence, and threatening to break through it. I frequently + offered to turn my Sight another way, but was still detained by the + Fascination of the Peeper's Eyes, who had long practised a Skill in + them, to recal the parting Glances of her Beholders. You see my + Complaint, and hope you will take these mischievous People, the + Peepers, into your Consideration: I doubt not but you will think a + Peeper as much more pernicious than a Starer, as an Ambuscade is more + to be feared than an open Assault. + + I am, SIR, + + Your most Obedient Servant.' + + +_This Peeper using both Fan and Eyes to be considered as a _Pict_, and +proceed accordingly._ + + + King _Latinus_ to the _Spectator_, Greeting. + + 'Tho' some may think we descend from our Imperial Dignity, in holding + Correspondence with a private [_Litterato_; [2]] yet as we have great + Respect to all good Intentions for our Service, we do not esteem it + beneath us to return you our Royal Thanks for what you published in + our Behalf, while under Confinement in the Inchanted Castle of the + _Savoy_, and for your Mention of a Subsidy for a Prince in Misfortune. + This your timely Zeal has inclined the Hearts of divers to be aiding + unto us, if we could propose the Means. We have taken their Good will + into Consideration, and have contrived a Method which will be easy to + those who shall give the Aid, and not unacceptable to us who receive + it. A Consort of Musick shall be prepared at _Haberdashers-Hall_ for + _Wednesday_ the Second of _May_, and we will honour the said + Entertainment with our own Presence, where each Person shall be + assessed but at two Shillings and six Pence. What we expect from you + is, that you publish these our Royal Intentions, with Injunction that + they be read at all Tea-Tables within the Cities of _London_ and + _Westminster_; and so we bid you heartily Farewell. + + _Latinus_, King of the _Volscians_.' + + _Given at our Court in_ Vinegar-Yard, _Story the Third from the Earth_. + + April 28, 1711. + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his Comment,' was +translated by George Stanhope in 1694. The citation above is a free +rendering of the sense of cap. 62 of the Morals.] + + +[Footnote 2: _Litterati_] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 54. Wednesday, May 2, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Sirenua nos exercet inertia.' + + Hor. + + +The following Letter being the first that I have received from the +learned University of _Cambridge_, I could not but do my self the Honour +of publishing it. It gives an Account of a new Sect of Philosophers +which has arose in that famous Residence of Learning; and is, perhaps, +the only Sect this Age is likely to produce. + + + Cambridge, April 26. + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'Believing you to be an universal Encourager of liberal Arts and + Sciences, and glad of any Information from the learned World, I + thought an Account of a Sect of Philosophers very frequent among us, + but not taken Notice of, as far as I can remember, by any Writers + either ancient or modern, would not be unacceptable to you. The + Philosophers of this Sect are in the Language of our University called + _Lowngers_. I am of Opinion, that, as in many other things, so + likewise in this, the Ancients have been defective; _viz_. in + mentioning no Philosophers of this Sort. Some indeed will affirm that + they are a kind of Peripateticks, because we see them continually + walking about. But I would have these Gentlemen consider, that tho' + the ancient Peripateticks walked much, yet they wrote much also; + (witness, to the Sorrow of this Sect, _Aristotle_ and others): Whereas + it is notorious that most of our Professors never lay out a Farthing + either in Pen, Ink, or Paper. Others are for deriving them from + _Diogenes_, because several of the leading Men of the Sect have a + great deal of the cynical Humour in them, and delight much in + Sun-shine. But then again, _Diogenes_ was content to have his constant + Habitation in a narrow Tub; whilst our Philosophers are so far from + being of his Opinion, that it's Death to them to be confined within + the Limits of a good handsome convenient Chamber but for half an Hour. + Others there are, who from the Clearness of their Heads deduce the + Pedigree of _Lowngers_ from that great Man (I think it was either + _Plato_ or _Socrates_ [1]) who after all his Study and Learning + professed, That all he then knew was, that he knew nothing. You easily + see this is but a shallow Argument, and may be soon confuted. + + I have with great Pains and Industry made my Observations from time to + time upon these Sages; and having now all Materials ready, am + compiling a Treatise, wherein I shall set forth the Rise and Progress + of this famous Sect, together with their Maxims, Austerities, Manner + of living, &c. Having prevailed with a Friend who designs shortly to + publish a new Edition of _Diogenes Laertius_, to add this Treatise of + mine by way of Supplement; I shall now, to let the World see what may + be expected from me (first begging Mr. SPECTATOR'S Leave that the + World may see it) briefly touch upon some of my chief Observations, + and then subscribe my self your humble Servant. In the first Place I + shall give you two or three of their Maxims: The fundamental one, upon + which their whole System is built, is this, viz. That Time being an + implacable Enemy to and Destroyer of all things, ought to be paid in + his own Coin, and be destroyed and murdered without Mercy by all the + Ways that can be invented. Another favourite Saying of theirs is, That + Business was designed only for Knaves, and Study for Blockheads. A + third seems to be a ludicrous one, but has a great Effect upon their + Lives; and is this, That the Devil is at Home. Now for their Manner of + Living: And here I have a large Field to expatiate in; but I shall + reserve Particulars for my intended Discourse, and now only mention + one or two of their principal Exercises. The elder Proficients employ + themselves in inspecting _mores hominum multorum_, in getting + acquainted with all the Signs and Windows in the Town. Some are + arrived at so great Knowledge, that they can tell every time any + Butcher kills a Calf, every time any old Woman's Cat is in the Straw; + and a thousand other Matters as important. One ancient Philosopher + contemplates two or three Hours every Day over a Sun-Dial; and is true + to the Dial, + + ... As the Dial to the Sun, + Although it be not shone upon. [2] + + Our younger Students are content to carry their Speculations as yet no + farther than Bowling-greens, Billiard-Tables, and such like Places. + This may serve for a Sketch of my Design; in which I hope I shall have + your Encouragement. I am, + + SIR, + + Yours. [3] + + + +I must be so just as to observe I have formerly seen of this Sect at our +other University; tho' not distinguished by the Appellation which the +learned Historian, my Correspondent, reports they bear at _Cambridge_. +They were ever looked upon as a People that impaired themselves more by +their strict Application to the Rules of their Order, than any other +Students whatever. Others seldom hurt themselves any further than to +gain weak Eyes and sometimes Head-Aches; but these Philosophers are +seized all over with a general Inability, Indolence, and Weariness, and +a certain Impatience of the Place they are in, with an Heaviness in +removing to another. + +The _Lowngers_ are satisfied with being merely Part of the Number of +Mankind, without distinguishing themselves from amongst them. They may +be said rather to suffer their Time to pass, than to spend it, without +Regard to the past, or Prospect of the future. All they know of Life is +only the present Instant, and do not taste even that. When one of this +Order happens to be a Man of Fortune, the Expence of his Time is +transferr'd to his Coach and Horses, and his Life is to be measured by +their Motion, not his own Enjoyments or Sufferings. The chief +Entertainment one of these Philosophers can possibly propose to himself, +is to get a Relish of Dress: This, methinks, might diversifie the Person +he is weary of (his own dear self) to himself. I have known these two +Amusements make one of these Philosophers make a tolerable Figure in the +World; with a variety of Dresses in publick Assemblies in Town, and +quick Motion of his Horses out of it, now to _Bath_, now to _Tunbridge_, +then to _Newmarket_, and then to _London_, he has in Process of Time +brought it to pass, that his Coach and his Horses have been mentioned in +all those Places. When the _Lowngers_ leave an Academick Life, and +instead of this more elegant way of appearing in the polite World, +retire to the Seats of their Ancestors, they usually join a Pack of +Dogs, and employ their Days in defending their Poultry from Foxes: I do +not know any other Method that any of this Order has ever taken to make +a Noise in the World; but I shall enquire into such about this Town as +have arrived at the Dignity of being _Lowngers_ by the Force of natural +Parts, without having ever seen an University; and send my +Correspondent, for the Embellishment of his Book, the Names and History +of those who pass their Lives without any Incidents at all; and how they +shift Coffee-houses and Chocolate-houses from Hour to Hour, to get over +the insupportable Labour of doing nothing. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Socrates in his Apology, or Defence before his Judges, as +reported by Plato. The oracle having said that there was none wiser than +he, he had sought to confute the oracle, and found the wise man of the +world foolish through belief in his own wisdom. + + 'When I left him I reasoned thus with myself, I am wiser than this + man, for neither of us appears to know anything great and good; but he + fancies he knows something, although he knows nothing, whereas I, as I + do not know anything, do not fancy that I do.'] + + +[Footnote 2: + + _True as Dial to the Sun, + Although it be not shired upon._ + +Hudibras. Part III. c. 2.] + + +[Footnote 3: This Letter may be by Laurence Eusden. See Note to No. 78.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 55. Thursday May 3, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Intus, et in jecore ægro + Nascuntur Domini ...' + + Pers. + + +Most of the Trades, Professions, and Ways of Living among Mankind, take +their Original either from the Love of Pleasure or the Fear of Want. The +former, when it becomes too violent, degenerates into _Luxury_, and the +latter into _Avarice_. As these two Principles of Action draw different +Ways, _Persius_ has given us a very humourous Account of a young Fellow +who was rouzed out of his Bed, in order to be sent upon a long Voyage, +by _Avarice_, and afterwards over-persuaded and kept at Home by +_Luxury_. I shall set down at length the Pleadings of these two +imaginary Persons, as they are in the Original with Mr. _Dryden's_ +Translation of them. + + _Mane, piger, stertis: surge, inquit Avaritia; eja + Surge. Negas, Instat, surge inquit. Non queo. Surge. + Et quid agam? Rogitas? Saperdas advehe Ponto, + Castoreum, stuppas, hebenum, thus, lubrica Coa. + Tolle recens primus piper è siliente camelo. + Verte aliquid; jura. Sed Jupiter Audiet. Eheu! + Baro, regustatum digito terebrare salinum + Contentus perages, si vivere cum Jove tendis. + Jam pueris pellem succinctus et ænophorum aptas; + Ocyus ad Navem. Nil obstat quin trabe vasta + Ægæum rapias, nisi solers Luxuria ante + Seductum moneat; quo deinde, insane ruis? Quo? + Quid tibi vis? Calido sub pectore mascula bilis + Intumuit, quam non extinxerit urna cicutæ? + Tun' mare transilias? Tibi torta cannabe fulto + Coena sit in transtro? Veientanúmque rubellum + Exhalet vapida læsum pice sessilis obba? + Quid petis? Ut nummi, quos hic quincunce modesto + Nutrieras, pergant avidos sudare deunces? + Indulge genio: carpamus dulcia; nostrum est + Quod vivis; cinis, et manes, et fabula fies. + Vive memor lethi: fugit hora. Hoc quod loquor, inde est. + En quid agis? Duplici in diversum scinderis hamo. + Hunccine, an hunc sequeris!----_ + + Whether alone, or in thy Harlot's Lap, + When thou wouldst take a lazy Morning's Nap; + Up, up, says AVARICE; thou snor'st again, + Stretchest thy Limbs, and yawn'st, but all in vain. + The rugged Tyrant no Denial takes; + At his Command th' unwilling Sluggard wakes. + What must I do? he cries; What? says his Lord: + Why rise, make ready, and go streight Aboard: + With Fish, from _Euxine_ Seas, thy Vessel freight; + Flax, Castor, _Coan_ Wines, the precious Weight + Of Pepper and _Sabean_ Incense, take + With thy own Hands, from the tir'd Camel's Back, + And with Post-haste thy running Markets make. + Be sure to turn the Penny; Lye and Swear, + 'Tis wholsome Sin: But _Jove_, thou say'st, will hear. + Swear, Fool, or Starve; for the _Dilemma's_ even: + A Tradesman thou! and hope to go to Heav'n? + + Resolv'd for Sea, the Slaves thy Baggage pack, + Each saddled with his Burden on his Back. + Nothing retards thy Voyage, now; but He, + That soft voluptuous Prince, call'd LUXURY; + And he may ask this civil Question; Friend, + What dost thou make a Shipboard? To what End? + Art thou of _Bethlem's_ noble College free? + Stark, staring mad, that thou wouldst tempt the Sea? + Cubb'd in a Cabbin, on a Mattress laid, + On a brown _George_, with lousy Swobbers fed; + Dead Wine, that stinks of the _Borachio_, sup + From a foul Jack, or greasy Maple Cup! + Say, wouldst thou bear all this, to raise the Store, + From Six i'th' Hundred to Six Hundred more? + Indulge, and to thy Genius freely give: + For, not to live at Ease, is not, to live: + Death stalks behind thee, and each flying Hour + Does some loose Remnant of thy Life devour. + Live, while thou liv'st; for Death will make us all, + A Name, a Nothing but an Old Wife's Tale. + Speak, wilt thou _Avarice_ or _Pleasure_ choose + To be thy Lord? Take one, and one refuse. + + +When a Government flourishes in Conquests, and is secure from foreign +Attacks, it naturally falls into all the Pleasures of Luxury; and as +these Pleasures are very expensive, they put those who are addicted to +them upon raising fresh Supplies of Mony, by all the Methods of +Rapaciousness and Corruption; so that Avarice and Luxury very often +become one complicated Principle of Action, in those whose Hearts are +wholly set upon Ease, Magnificence, and Pleasure. The most Elegant and +Correct of all the _Latin_ Historians observes, that in his time, when +the most formidable States of the World were subdued by the _Romans_, +the Republick sunk into those two Vices of a quite different Nature, +Luxury and Avarice: [1] And accordingly describes _Catiline_ as one who +coveted the Wealth of other Men, at the same time that he squander'd +away his own. This Observation on the Commonwealth, when it was in its +height of Power and Riches, holds good of all Governments that are +settled in a State of Ease and Prosperity. At such times Men naturally +endeavour to outshine one another in Pomp and Splendor, and having no +Fears to alarm them from abroad, indulge themselves in the Enjoyment of +all the Pleasures they can get into their Possession; which naturally +produces Avarice, and an immoderate Pursuit after Wealth and Riches. + +As I was humouring my self in the Speculation of these two great +Principles of Action, I could not forbear throwing my Thoughts into a +little kind of Allegory or Fable, with which I shall here present my +Reader. + +There were two very powerful Tyrants engaged in a perpetual War against +each other: The Name of the first was _Luxury_, and of the second +_Avarice_. The Aim of each of them was no less than Universal Monarchy +over the Hearts of Mankind. _Luxury_ had many Generals under him, who +did him great Service, as _Pleasure_, _Mirth_, _Pomp_ and _Fashion_. +_Avarice_ was likewise very strong in his Officers, being faithfully +served by _Hunger_, _Industry_, _Care_ and _Watchfulness_: He had +likewise a Privy-Counsellor who was always at his Elbow, and whispering +something or other in his Ear: The Name of this Privy-Counsellor was +_Poverty_. As _Avarice_ conducted himself by the Counsels of _Poverty_, +his Antagonist was entirely guided by the Dictates and Advice of +_Plenty_, who was his first Counsellor and Minister of State, that +concerted all his Measures for him, and never departed out of his Sight. +While these two great Rivals were thus contending for Empire, their +Conquests were very various. _Luxury_ got Possession of one Heart, and +_Avarice_ of another. The Father of a Family would often range himself +under the Banners of _Avarice_, and the Son under those of _Luxury_. The +Wife and Husband would often declare themselves on the two different +Parties; nay, the same Person would very often side with one in his +Youth, and revolt to the other in his old Age. Indeed the Wise Men of +the World stood _Neuter_; but alas! their Numbers were not considerable. +At length, when these two Potentates had wearied themselves with waging +War upon one another, they agreed upon an Interview, at which neither of +their Counsellors were to be present. It is said that _Luxury_ began the +Parley, and after having represented the endless State of War in which +they were engaged, told his Enemy, with a Frankness of Heart which is +natural to him, that he believed they two should be very good Friends, +were it not for the Instigations of _Poverty_, that pernicious +Counsellor, who made an ill use of his Ear, and filled him with +groundless Apprehensions and Prejudices. To this _Avarice_ replied, that +he looked upon _Plenty_ (the first Minister of his Antagonist) to be a +much more destructive Counsellor than _Poverty_, for that he was +perpetually suggesting Pleasures, banishing all the necessary Cautions +against Want, and consequently undermining those Principles on which the +Government of _Avarice_ was founded. At last, in order to an +Accommodation, they agreed upon this Preliminary; That each of them +should immediately dismiss his Privy-Counsellor. When things were thus +far adjusted towards a Peace, all other differences were soon +accommodated, insomuch that for the future they resolved to live as good +Friends and Confederates, and to share between them whatever Conquests +were made on either side. For this Reason, we now find _Luxury_ and +_Avarice_ taking Possession of the same Heart, and dividing the same +Person between them. To which I shall only add, that since the +discarding of the Counsellors above-mentioned, _Avarice_ supplies +_Luxury_ in the room of _Plenty_, as _Luxury_ prompts _Avarice_ in the +place of _Poverty_. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: + + Alieni appetens, sui profusus. + +_Sallust._] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 56. Friday, May 4, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Felices errore suo ...' + + Lucan. + + +The _Americans_ believe that all Creatures have Souls, not only Men and +Women, but Brutes, Vegetables, nay even the most inanimate things, as +Stocks and Stones. They believe the same of all the Works of Art, as of +Knives, Boats, Looking-glasses: And that as any of these things perish, +their Souls go into another World, which is inhabited by the Ghosts of +Men and Women. For this Reason they always place by the Corpse of their +dead Friend a Bow and Arrows, that he may make use of the Souls of them +in the other World, as he did of their wooden Bodies in this. How absurd +soever such an Opinion as this may appear, our _European_ Philosophers +have maintained several Notions altogether as improbable. Some of +_Plato's_ followers in particular, when they talk of the World of Ideas, +entertain us with Substances and Beings no less extravagant and +chimerical. Many _Aristotelians_ have likewise spoken as unintelligibly +of their substantial Forms. I shall only instance _Albertus Magnus_, who +in his Dissertation upon the Loadstone observing that Fire will destroy +its magnetick Vertues, tells us that he took particular Notice of one as +it lay glowing amidst an Heap of burning Coals, and that he perceived a +certain blue Vapour to arise from it, which he believed might be the +_substantial Form_, that is, in our _West-Indian_ Phrase, the _Soul_ of +the Loadstone. [1] + +There is a Tradition among the _Americans_, that one of their Countrymen +descended in a Vision to the great Repository of Souls, or, as we call +it here, to the other World; and that upon his Return he gave his +Friends a distinct Account of every thing he saw among those Regions of +the Dead. A Friend of mine, whom I have formerly mentioned, prevailed +upon one of the Interpreters of the _Indian_ Kings, [2] to inquire of +them, if possible, what Tradition they have among them of this Matter: +Which, as well as he could learn by those many Questions which he asked +them at several times, was in Substance as follows. + +The Visionary, whose Name was _Marraton_, after having travelled for a +long Space under an hollow Mountain, arrived at length on the Confines +of this World of Spirits; but could not enter it by reason of a thick +Forest made up of Bushes, Brambles and pointed Thorns, so perplexed and +interwoven with one another, that it was impossible to find a Passage +through it. Whilst he was looking about for some Track or Path-way that +might be worn in any Part of it, he saw an huge Lion crouched under the +Side of it, who kept his Eye upon him in the same Posture as when he +watches for his Prey. The _Indian_ immediately started back, whilst the +Lion rose with a Spring, and leaped towards him. Being wholly destitute +of all other Weapons, he stooped down to take up an huge Stone in his +Hand; but to his infinite Surprize grasped nothing, and found the +supposed Stone to be only the Apparition of one. If he was disappointed +on this Side, he was as much pleased on the other, when he found the +Lion, which had seized on his left Shoulder, had no Power to hurt him, +and was only the Ghost of that ravenous Creature which it appeared to +be. He no sooner got rid of his impotent Enemy, but he marched up to the +Wood, and after having surveyed it for some Time, endeavoured to press +into one Part of it that was a little thinner than the rest; when again, +to his great Surprize, he found the Bushes made no Resistance, but that +he walked through Briars and Brambles with the same Ease as through the +open Air; and, in short, that the whole Wood was nothing else but a Wood +of Shades. He immediately concluded, that this huge Thicket of Thorns +and Brakes was designed as a kind of Fence or quick-set Hedge to the +Ghosts it inclosed; and that probably their soft Substances might be +torn by these subtle Points and Prickles, which were too weak to make +any Impressions in Flesh and Blood. With this Thought he resolved to +travel through this intricate Wood; when by Degrees he felt a Gale of +Perfumes breathing upon him, that grew stronger and sweeter in +Proportion as he advanced. He had not proceeded much further when he +observed the Thorns and Briars to end, and give place to a thousand +beautiful green Trees covered with Blossoms of the finest Scents and +Colours, that formed a Wilderness of Sweets, and were a kind of Lining +to those ragged Scenes which he had before passed through. As he was +coming out of this delightful Part of the Wood, and entering upon the +Plains it inclosed, he saw several Horsemen rushing by him, and a little +while after heard the Cry of a Pack of Dogs. He had not listned long +before he saw the Apparition of a milk-white Steed, with a young Man on +the Back of it, advancing upon full Stretch after the Souls of about an +hundred Beagles that were hunting down the Ghost of an Hare, which ran +away before them with an unspeakable Swiftness. As the Man on the +milk-white Steed came by him, he looked upon him very attentively, and +found him to be the young Prince _Nicharagua_, who died about Half a +Year before, and, by reason of his great Vertues, was at that time +lamented over all the Western Parts of _America_. + +He had no sooner got out of the Wood, but he was entertained with such a +Landskip of flowry Plains, green Meadows, running Streams, sunny Hills, +and shady Vales, as were not to be [represented [3]] by his own +Expressions, nor, as he said, by the Conceptions of others. This happy +Region was peopled with innumerable Swarms of Spirits, who applied +themselves to Exercises and Diversions according as their Fancies led +them. Some of them were tossing the Figure of a Colt; others were +pitching the Shadow of a Bar; others were breaking the Apparition of [a +[4]] Horse; and Multitudes employing themselves upon ingenious +Handicrafts with the Souls of _departed Utensils_; for that is the Name +which in the _Indian_ Language they give their Tools when they are burnt +or broken. As he travelled through this delightful Scene, he was very +often tempted to pluck the Flowers that rose every where about him in +the greatest Variety and Profusion, having never seen several of them in +his own Country: But he quickly found that though they were Objects of +his Sight, they were not liable to his Touch. He at length came to the +Side of a great River, and being a good Fisherman himself stood upon the +Banks of it some time to look upon an Angler that had taken a great many +Shapes of Fishes, which lay flouncing up and down by him. + +I should have told my Reader, that this _Indian_ had been formerly +married to one of the greatest Beauties of his Country, by whom he had +several Children. This Couple were so famous for their Love and +Constancy to one another, that the _Indians_ to this Day, when they give +a married Man Joy of his Wife, wish that they may live together like +_Marraton_ and _Yaratilda_. _Marraton_ had not stood long by the +Fisherman when he saw the Shadow of his beloved _Yaratilda_, who had for +some time fixed her Eye upon him, before he discovered her. Her Arms +were stretched out towards him, Floods of Tears ran down her Eyes; her +Looks, her Hands, her Voice called him over to her; and at the same time +seemed to tell him that the River was impassable. Who can describe the +Passion made up of Joy, Sorrow, Love, Desire, Astonishment, that rose in +the Indian upon the Sight of his dear _Yaratilda_? He could express it +by nothing but his Tears, which ran like a River down his Cheeks as he +looked upon her. He had not stood in this Posture long, before he +plunged into the Stream that lay before him; and finding it to be +nothing but the Phantom of a River, walked on the Bottom of it till he +arose on the other Side. At his Approach _Yaratilda_ flew into his Arms, +whilst _Marraton_ wished himself disencumbered of that Body which kept +her from his Embraces. After many Questions and Endearments on both +Sides, she conducted him to a Bower which she had dressed with her own +Hands with all the Ornaments that could be met with in those blooming +Regions. She had made it gay beyond Imagination, and was every day +adding something new to it. As _Marraton_ stood astonished at the +unspeakable Beauty of her Habitation, and ravished with the Fragrancy +that came from every Part of it, _Yaratilda_ told him that she was +preparing this Bower for his Reception, as well knowing that his Piety +to his God, and his faithful Dealing towards Men, would certainly bring +him to that happy Place whenever his Life should be at an End. She then +brought two of her Children to him, who died some Years before, and +resided with her in the same delightful Bower, advising him to breed up +those others which were still with him in such a Manner, that they might +hereafter all of them meet together in this happy Place. + +The Tradition tells us further, that he had afterwards a Sight of those +dismal Habitations which are the Portion of ill Men after Death; and +mentions several Molten Seas of Gold, in which were plunged the Souls of +barbarous _Europeans_, [who [5]] put to the Sword so many Thousands of +poor _Indians_ for the sake of that precious Metal: But having already +touched upon the chief Points of this Tradition, and exceeded the +Measure of my Paper, I shall not give any further Account of it. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Albertus Magnus, a learned Dominican who resigned, for love +of study, his bishopric of Ratisbon, died at Cologne in 1280. In alchemy +a distinction was made between stone and spirit, as between body and +soul, substance and accident. The evaporable parts were called, in +alchemy, spirit and soul and accident.] + + +[Footnote 2: See No. 50.] + + +[Footnote 3: described] + + +[Footnote 4: an] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 57. Saturday, May 5, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Quem præstare potest mulier galeata pudorem, + Quæ fugit à Sexu!' + + Juv. + + +When the Wife of _Hector_, in _Homer's Iliads_, discourses with her +Husband about the Battel in which he was going to engage, the Hero, +desiring her to leave that Matter to his Care, bids her go to her Maids +and mind her Spinning: [1] by which the Poet intimates, that Men and +Women ought to busy themselves in their proper Spheres, and on such +Matters only as are suitable to their respective Sex. + +I am at this time acquainted with a young Gentleman, who has passed a +great Part of his Life in the Nursery, and, upon Occasion, can make a +Caudle or a Sack-Posset better than any Man in _England_. He is likewise +a wonderful Critick in Cambrick and Muslins, and will talk an Hour +together upon a Sweet-meat. He entertains his Mother every Night with +Observations that he makes both in Town and Court: As what Lady shews +the nicest Fancy in her Dress; what Man of Quality wears the fairest +Whig; who has the finest Linnen, who the prettiest Snuff-box, with many +other the like curious Remarks that may be made in good Company. + +On the other hand I have very frequently the Opportunity of seeing a +Rural _Andromache_, who came up to Town last Winter, and is one of the +greatest Fox-hunters in the Country. She talks of Hounds and Horses, and +makes nothing of leaping over a Six-bar Gate. If a Man tells her a +waggish Story, she gives him a Push with her Hand in jest, and calls him +an impudent Dog; and if her Servant neglects his Business, threatens to +kick him out of the House. I have heard her, in her Wrath, call a +Substantial Trades-man a Lousy Cur; and remember one Day, when she could +not think of the Name of a Person, she described him in a large Company +of Men and Ladies, by the Fellow with the Broad Shoulders. + +If those Speeches and Actions, which in their own Nature are +indifferent, appear ridiculous when they proceed from a wrong Sex, the +Faults and Imperfections of one Sex transplanted into another, appear +black and monstrous. As for the Men, I shall not in this Paper any +further concern my self about them: but as I would fain contribute to +make Womankind, which is the most beautiful Part of the Creation, +entirely amiable, and wear out all those little Spots and Blemishes that +are apt to rise among the Charms which Nature has poured out upon them, +I shall dedicate this Paper to their Service. The Spot which I would +here endeavour to clear them of, is that Party-Rage which of late Years +is very much crept into their Conversation. This is, in its Nature, a +Male Vice, and made up of many angry and cruel Passions that are +altogether repugnant to the Softness, the Modesty, and those other +endearing Qualities which are natural to the Fair Sex. Women were formed +to temper Mankind, and sooth them into Tenderness and Compassion, not to +set an Edge upon their Minds, and blow up in them those Passions which +are too apt to rise of their own Accord. When I have seen a pretty Mouth +uttering Calumnies and Invectives, what would not I have given to have +stopt it? How have I been troubled to see some of the finest Features in +the World grow pale, and tremble with Party-Rage? _Camilla_ is one of +the greatest Beauties in the _British_ Nation, and yet values her self +more upon being the _Virago_ of one Party, than upon being the Toast of +both. The Dear Creature, about a Week ago, encountered the fierce and +beautiful _Penthesilea_ across a Tea-Table; but in the Height of her +Anger, as her Hand chanced to shake with the Earnestness of the Dispute, +she scalded her Fingers, and spilt a Dish of Tea upon her Petticoat. Had +not this Accident broke off the Debate, no Body knows where it would +have ended. + +There is one Consideration which I would earnestly recommend to all my +Female Readers, and which, I hope, will have some weight with them. In +short, it is this, that there is nothing so bad for the Face as +Party-Zeal. It gives an ill-natured Cast to the Eye, and a disagreeable +Sourness to the Look; besides, that it makes the Lines too strong, and +flushes them worse than Brandy. I have seen a Woman's Face break out in +Heats, as she has been talking against a great Lord, whom she had never +seen in her Life; and indeed never knew a Party-Woman that kept her +Beauty for a Twelvemonth. I would therefore advise all my Female +Readers, as they value their Complexions, to let alone all Disputes of +this Nature; though, at the same time, I would give free Liberty to all +superannuated motherly Partizans to be as violent as they please, since +there will be no Danger either of their spoiling their Faces, or of +their gaining Converts. + +[2] For my own part, I think a Man makes an odious and despicable +Figure, that is violent in a Party: but a Woman is too sincere to +mitigate the Fury of her Principles with Temper and Discretion, and to +act with that Caution and Reservedness which are requisite in our Sex. +When this unnatural Zeal gets into them, it throws them into ten +thousand Heats and Extravagancies; their generous [Souls [3]] set no +Bounds to their Love or to their Hatred; and whether a Whig or Tory, a +Lap-Dog or a Gallant, an Opera or a Puppet-Show, be the Object of it, +the Passion, while it reigns, engrosses the whole Woman. + +I remember when Dr. _Titus Oates_ [4] was in all his Glory, I +accompanied my Friend WILL. [HONEYCOMB] [5] in a Visit to a Lady of his +Acquaintance: We were no sooner sat down, but upon casting my Eyes about +the Room, I found in almost every Corner of it a Print that represented +the Doctor in all Magnitudes and Dimensions. A little after, as the Lady +was discoursing my Friend, and held her Snuff-box in her Hand, who +should I see in the Lid of it but the Doctor. It was not long after +this, when she had Occasion for her Handkerchief, which upon the first +opening discovered among the Plaits of it the Figure of the Doctor. Upon +this my Friend WILL., who loves Raillery, told her, That if he was in +Mr. _Truelove's_ Place (for that was the Name for her Husband) she +should be made as uneasy by a Handkerchief as ever _Othello_ was. _I am +afraid,_ said she, _Mr._ [HONEYCOMB,[6]] _you are a Tory; tell me truly, +are you a Friend to the Doctor or not?_ WILL., instead of making her a +Reply, smiled in her Face (for indeed she was very pretty) and told her +that one of her Patches was dropping off. She immediately adjusted it, +and looking a little seriously, _Well_, says she, _I'll be hang'd if you +and your silent Friend there are not against the Doctor in your Hearts, +I suspected as much by his saying nothing_. Upon this she took her Fan +into her Hand, and upon the opening of it again displayed to us the +Figure of the Doctor, who was placed with great Gravity among the Sticks +of it. In a word, I found that the Doctor had taken Possession of her +Thoughts, her Discourse, and most of her Furniture; but finding my self +pressed too close by her Question, I winked upon my Friend to take his +Leave, which he did accordingly. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Hector's parting from Andromache, at the close of Book VI. + + No more--but hasten to thy tasks at home, + There guide the spindle, and direct the loom; + Me glory summons to the martial scene, + The field of combat is the sphere for men.] + + +[Footnote 2: Not a new paragraph in the first issue.] + + +[Footnote 3: "Souls (I mean those of ordinary Women)." This, however, +was cancelled by an Erratum in the next number.] + + +[Footnote 4: Addison was six years old when Titus Oates began his +'Popish Plot' disclosures. Under a name which called up recollections of +the vilest trading upon theological intolerance, he here glances at Dr. +Henry Sacheverell, whose trial (Feb. 27-March 20, 1710) for his sermons +in praise of the divine right of kings and contempt of the Whigs, and +his sentence of suspension for three years, had caused him to be admired +enthusiastically by all party politicians who were of his own way of +thinking. The change of person pleasantly puts 'Tory' for 'Whig,' and +avoids party heat by implying a suggestion that excesses are not all on +one side. Sacheverell had been a College friend of Addison's. He is the +'dearest Harry' for whom, at the age of 22, Addison wrote his metrical +'Account of the greatest English Poets' which omitted Shakespeare from +the list.] + + +[Footnotes 5: Honycombe] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 58. Monday, May 7, 1711. Addison. + + + + Ut pictura poesis erit ... + + Hor. + + +Nothing is so much admired, and so little understood, as Wit. No Author +that I know of has written professedly upon it; and as for those who +make any Mention of it, they only treat on the Subject as it has +accidentally fallen in their Way, and that too in little short +Reflections, or in general declamatory Flourishes, without entering into +the Bottom of the Matter. I hope therefore I shall perform an acceptable +Work to my Countrymen, if I treat at large upon this Subject; which I +shall endeavour to do in a Manner suitable to it, that I may not incur +the Censure which a famous Critick bestows upon one who had written a +Treatise upon _the Sublime_ in a low groveling Stile. I intend to lay +aside a whole Week for this Undertaking, that the Scheme of my Thoughts +may not be broken and interrupted; and I dare promise my self, if my +Readers will give me a Week's Attention, that this great City will be +very much changed for the better by next _Saturday_ Night. I shall +endeavour to make what I say intelligible to ordinary Capacities; but if +my Readers meet with any Paper that in some Parts of it may be a little +out of their Reach, I would not have them discouraged, for they may +assure themselves the next shall be much clearer. + +As the great and only End of these my Speculations is to banish Vice and +Ignorance out of the Territories of _Great-Britain_, I shall endeavour +as much as possible to establish among us a Taste of polite Writing. It +is with this View that I have endeavoured to set my Readers right in +several Points relating to Operas and Tragedies; and shall from time to +time impart my Notions of Comedy, as I think they may tend to its +Refinement and Perfection. I find by my Bookseller that these Papers of +Criticism, with that upon Humour, have met with a more kind Reception +than indeed I could have hoped for from such Subjects; for which Reason +I shall enter upon my present Undertaking with greater Chearfulness. + +In this, and one or two following Papers, I shall trace out the History +of false Wit, and distinguish the several Kinds of it as they have +prevailed in different Ages of the World. This I think the more +necessary at present, because I observed there were Attempts on foot +last Winter to revive some of those antiquated Modes of Wit that have +been long exploded out of the Commonwealth of Letters. There were +several Satyrs and Panegyricks handed about in Acrostick, by which Means +some of the most arrant undisputed Blockheads about the Town began to +entertain ambitious Thoughts, and to set up for polite Authors. I shall +therefore describe at length those many Arts of false Wit, in which a +Writer does not show himself a Man of a beautiful Genius, but of great +Industry. + +The first Species of false Wit which I have met with is very venerable +for its Antiquity, and has produced several Pieces which have lived very +near as long as the _Iliad_ it self: I mean those short Poems printed +among the minor _Greek_ Poets, which resemble the Figure of an Egg, a +Pair of Wings, an Ax, a Shepherd's Pipe, and an Altar. + +[1] As for the first, it is a little oval Poem, and may not improperly +be called a Scholar's Egg. I would endeavour to hatch it, or, in more +intelligible Language, to translate it into _English_, did not I find +the Interpretation of it very difficult; for the Author seems to have +been more intent upon the Figure of his Poem, than upon the Sense of it. + +The Pair of Wings consist of twelve Verses, or rather Feathers, every +Verse decreasing gradually in its Measure according to its Situation in +the Wing. The subject of it (as in the rest of the Poems which follow) +bears some remote Affinity with the Figure, for it describes a God of +Love, who is always painted with Wings. + +The Ax methinks would have been a good Figure for a Lampoon, had the +Edge of it consisted of the most satyrical Parts of the Work; but as it +is in the Original, I take it to have been nothing else but the Posy of +an Ax which was consecrated to _Minerva_, and was thought to have been +the same that _Epeus_ made use of in the building of the _Trojan_ Horse; +which is a Hint I shall leave to the Consideration of the Criticks. I am +apt to think that the Posy was written originally upon the Ax, like +those which our modern Cutlers inscribe upon their Knives; and that +therefore the Posy still remains in its ancient Shape, tho' the Ax it +self is lost. + +The Shepherd's Pipe may be said to be full of Musick, for it is composed +of nine different Kinds of Verses, which by their several Lengths +resemble the nine Stops of the old musical Instrument, [that [2]] is +likewise the Subject of the Poem. [3] + +The Altar is inscribed with the Epitaph of _Troilus_ the Son of +_Hecuba_; which, by the way, makes me believe, that these false Pieces +of Wit are much more ancient than the Authors to whom they are generally +ascribed; at least I will never be perswaded, that so fine a Writer as +_Theocritus_ could have been the Author of any such simple Works. + +It was impossible for a Man to succeed in these Performances who was not +a kind of Painter, or at least a Designer: He was first of all to draw +the Out-line of the Subject which he intended to write upon, and +afterwards conform the Description to the Figure of his Subject. The +Poetry was to contract or dilate itself according to the Mould in which +it was cast. In a word, the Verses were to be cramped or extended to the +Dimensions of the Frame that was prepared for them; and to undergo the +Fate of those Persons whom the Tyrant _Procrustes_ used to lodge in his +Iron Bed; if they were too short, he stretched them on a Rack, and if +they were too long, chopped off a Part of their Legs, till they fitted +the Couch which he had prepared for them. + +Mr. _Dryden_ hints at this obsolete kind of Wit in one of the following +Verses, [in his _Mac Flecno_;] which an _English_ Reader cannot +understand, who does not know that there are those little Poems +abovementioned in the Shape of Wings and Altars. + + ... _Chuse for thy Command + Some peaceful Province in Acrostick Land; + There may'st thou Wings display, and_ Altars _raise, + And torture one poor Word a thousand Ways._ + +This Fashion of false Wit was revived by several Poets of the last Age, +and in particular may be met with among _Mr. Herbert's_ Poems; and, if I +am not mistaken, in the Translation of _Du Bartas_. [4]--I do not +remember any other kind of Work among the Moderns which more resembles +the Performances I have mentioned, than that famous Picture of King +_Charles_ the First, which has the whole Book of _Psalms_ written in the +Lines of the Face and the Hair of the Head. When I was last at _Oxford_ +I perused one of the Whiskers; and was reading the other, but could not +go so far in it as I would have done, by reason of the Impatience of my +Friends and Fellow-Travellers, who all of them pressed to see such a +Piece of Curiosity. I have since heard, that there is now an eminent +Writing-Master in Town, who has transcribed all the _Old Testament_ in a +full-bottomed Periwig; and if the Fashion should introduce the thick +kind of Wigs which were in Vogue some few Years ago, he promises to add +two or three supernumerary Locks that shall contain all the _Apocrypha_. +He designed this Wig originally for King _William_, having disposed of +the two Books of _Kings_ in the two Forks of the Foretop; but that +glorious Monarch dying before the Wig was finished, there is a Space +left in it for the Face of any one that has a mind to purchase it. + +But to return to our ancient Poems in Picture, I would humbly propose, +for the Benefit of our modern Smatterers in Poetry, that they would +imitate their Brethren among the Ancients in those ingenious Devices. I +have communicated this Thought to a young Poetical Lover of my +Acquaintance, who intends to present his Mistress with a Copy of Verses +made in the Shape of her Fan; and, if he tells me true, has already +finished the three first Sticks of it. He has likewise promised me to +get the Measure of his Mistress's Marriage-Finger, with a Design to make +a Posy in the Fashion of a Ring, which shall exactly fit it. It is so +very easy to enlarge upon a good Hint, that I do not question but my +ingenious Readers will apply what I have said to many other Particulars; +and that we shall see the Town filled in a very little time with +Poetical Tippets, Handkerchiefs, Snuff-Boxes, and the like Female +Ornaments. I shall therefore conclude with a Word of Advice to those +admirable _English_ Authors who call themselves Pindarick Writers, [5] +that they would apply themselves to this kind of Wit without Loss of +Time, as being provided better than any other Poets with Verses of all +Sizes and Dimensions. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Not a new paragraph in the first issue.] + + +[Footnote 2: which] + + +[Footnote 3: The 'Syrinx' of Theocritus consists of twenty verses, so +arranged that the length of each pair is less than that of the pair +before, and the whole resembles the ten reeds of the mouth organ or Pan +pipes ([Greek: syrigx]). The Egg is, by tradition, called Anacreon's. +Simmias of Rhodes, who lived about B.C. 324, is said to have been the +inventor of shaped verses. Butler in his 'Character of a Small Poet' +said of Edward Benlowes: + + 'As for Altars and Pyramids in poetry, he has outdone all men that + way; for he has made a gridiron and a frying-pan in verse, that + besides the likeness in shape, the very tone and sound of the words + did perfectly represent the noise that is made by those utensils.'] + + +[Footnote 4: But a devout earnestness gave elevation to George Herbert's +ingenious conceits. Joshua Sylvester's dedication to King James the +First of his translation of the Divine Weeks and Works of Du Bartas has +not this divine soul in its oddly-fashioned frame. It begins with a +sonnet on the Royal Anagram 'James Stuart: A just Master;' celebrates +his Majesty in French and Italian, and then fills six pages with verse +built in his Majesty's honour, in the form of bases and capitals of +columns, inscribed each with the name of one of the Muses. Puttenham's +Art of Poetry, published in 1589, book II., ch. ii. contains the fullest +account of the mysteries and varieties of this sort of versification.] + + +[Footnote 5: When the tyranny of French criticism had imprisoned nearly +all our poetry in the heroic couplet, outside exercise was allowed only +to those who undertook to serve under Pindar.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 59. Tuesday, May 8, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Operose Nihil agunt.' + + Seneca. + + +There is nothing more certain than that every Man would be a Wit if he +could, and notwithstanding Pedants of a pretended Depth and Solidity are +apt to decry the Writings of a polite Author, as _Flash_ and _Froth_, +they all of them shew upon Occasion that they would spare no pains to +arrive at the Character of those whom they seem to despise. For this +Reason we often find them endeavouring at Works of Fancy, which cost +them infinite Pangs in the Production. The Truth of it is, a Man had +better be a Gally-Slave than a Wit, were one to gain that Title by those +Elaborate Trifles which have been the Inventions of such Authors as were +often Masters of great Learning but no Genius. + +In my last Paper I mentioned some of these false Wits among the +Ancients, and in this shall give the Reader two or three other Species +of them, that flourished in the same early Ages of the World. The first +I shall produce are the _Lipogrammiatists_ [1] or _Letter-droppers_ of +Antiquity, that would take an Exception, without any Reason, against +some particular Letter in the Alphabet, so as not to admit it once into +a whole Poem. One _Tryphiodorus_ was a great Master in this kind of +Writing. He composed an _Odyssey_ or Epick Poem on the Adventures of +_Ulysses_, consisting of four and twenty Books, having entirely banished +the Letter _A_ from his first Book, which was called _Alpha_ (as _Lucus +a non Lucendo_) because there was not an _Alpha_ in it. His second Book +was inscribed _Beta_ for the same Reason. In short, the Poet excluded +the whole four and twenty Letters in their Turns, and shewed them, one +after another, that he could do his Business without them. + +It must have been very pleasant to have seen this Poet avoiding the +reprobate Letter, as much as another would a false Quantity, and making +his Escape from it through the several _Greek_ Dialects, when he was +pressed with it in any particular Syllable. For the most apt and elegant +Word in the whole Language was rejected, like a Diamond with a Flaw in +it, if it appeared blemished with a wrong Letter. I shall only observe +upon this Head, that if the Work I have here mentioned had been now +extant, the _Odyssey_ of _Tryphiodorus_, in all probability, would have +been oftner quoted by our learned Pedants, than the _Odyssey_ of +_Homer_. What a perpetual Fund would it have been of obsolete Words and +Phrases, unusual Barbarisms and Rusticities, absurd Spellings and +complicated Dialects? I make no question but it would have been looked +upon as one of the most valuable Treasuries of the _Greek_ Tongue. + +I find likewise among the Ancients that ingenious kind of Conceit, which +the Moderns distinguish by the Name of a _Rebus_, [2] that does not sink +a Letter but a whole Word, by substituting a Picture in its Place. When +_Cæsar_ was one of the Masters of the _Roman_ Mint, he placed the +Figure of an Elephant upon the Reverse of the Publick Mony; the Word +_Cæsar_ signifying an Elephant in the _Punick_ Language. This was +artificially contrived by _Cæsar_, because it was not lawful for a +private Man to stamp his own Figure upon the Coin of the Commonwealth. +_Cicero_, who was so called from the Founder of his Family, that was +marked on the Nose with a little Wen like a Vetch (which is _Cicer_ in +_Latin_) instead of _Marcus Tullius Cicero_, order'd the Words _Marcus +Tullius_ with the Figure of a Vetch at the End of them to be inscribed +on a publick Monument. [3] This was done probably to shew that he was +neither ashamed of his Name or Family, notwithstanding the Envy of his +Competitors had often reproached him with both. In the same manner we +read of a famous Building that was marked in several Parts of it with +the Figures of a Frog and a Lizard: Those Words in _Greek_ having been +the Names of the Architects, who by the Laws of their Country were never +permitted to inscribe their own Names upon their Works. For the same +Reason it is thought, that the Forelock of the Horse in the Antique +Equestrian Statue of _Marcus Aurelius_, represents at a Distance the +Shape of an Owl, to intimate the Country of the Statuary, who, in all +probability, was an _Athenian_. This kind of Wit was very much in Vogue +among our own Countrymen about an Age or two ago, who did not practise +it for any oblique Reason, as the Ancients abovementioned, but purely +for the sake of being Witty. Among innumerable Instances that may be +given of this Nature, I shall produce the Device of one Mr _Newberry_, +as I find it mentioned by our learned _Cambden_ in his Remains. Mr +_Newberry_, to represent his Name by a Picture, hung up at his Door the +Sign of a Yew-Tree, that had several Berries upon it, and in the midst +of them a great golden _N_ hung upon a Bough of the Tree, which by the +Help of a little false Spelling made up the Word _N-ew-berry_. + +I shall conclude this Topick with a _Rebus_, which has been lately hewn +out in Free-stone, and erected over two of the Portals of _Blenheim_ +House, being the Figure of a monstrous Lion tearing to Pieces a little +Cock. For the better understanding of which Device, I must acquaint my +_English_ Reader that a Cock has the Misfortune to be called in _Latin_ +by the same Word that signifies a _Frenchman_, as a Lion is the Emblem +of the _English_ Nation. Such a Device in so noble a Pile of Building +looks like a Punn in an Heroick Poem; and I am very sorry the truly +ingenious Architect would suffer the Statuary to blemish his excellent +Plan with so poor a Conceit: But I hope what I have said will gain +Quarter for the Cock, and deliver him out of the Lion's Paw. + +I find likewise in ancient Times the Conceit of making an Eccho talk +sensibly, and give rational Answers. If this could be excusable in any +Writer, it would be in _Ovid_, where he introduces the Eccho as a Nymph, +before she was worn away into nothing but a Voice. The learned +_Erasmus_, tho' a Man of Wit and Genius, has composed a Dialogue [4] +upon this silly kind of Device, and made use of an Eccho who seems to +have been a very extraordinary Linguist, for she answers the Person she +talks with in _Latin, Greek_, and _Hebrew_, according as she found the +Syllables which she was to repeat in any one of those learned Languages. +_Hudibras_, in Ridicule of this false kind of Wit, has described _Bruin_ +bewailing the Loss of his Bear to a solitary Eccho, who is of great used +to the Poet in several Disticks, as she does not only repeat after him, +but helps out his Verse, and furnishes him with _Rhymes_. + + _He rag'd, and kept as heavy a Coil as + Stout Hercules for loss of_ Hylas; + _Forcing the Valleys to repeat + The Accents of his sad Regret; + He beat his Breast, and tore his Hair, + For Loss of his dear Crony Bear, + That Eccho from the hollow Ground + His Doleful Wailings did resound + More wistfully, bu many times, + Then in small Poets Splay-foot Rhymes, + That make her, in her rueful Stories + To answer to Introgatories, + And most unconscionably depose + Things of which She nothing knows: + And when she has said all she can say, + 'Tis wrested to the Lover's Fancy. + Quoth he, O whither, wicked_ Bruin, + _Art thou fled to my-----Eccho_, Ruin? + _I thought th' hadst scorn'd to budge a Step + for Fear. (Quoth Eccho)_ Marry guep. + _Am not I here to take thy Part! + Then what has quell'd thy stubborn Heart? + Have these Bones rattled, and this Head + So often in thy Quarrel bled? + Nor did I ever winch or grudge it, + For thy dear Sake. (Quoth she)_ Mum budget. + _Think'st thou 'twill not be laid i' th' Dish. + Thou turn'dst thy Back? Quoth Eccho_, Pish. + To run from those th' hadst overcome + Thus cowardly? Quoth Eccho_, Mum. + _But what a-vengeance makes thee fly + From me too, as thine Enemy? + Or if thou hadst not Thought of me, + Nor what I have endur'd for Thee, + Yet Shame and Honour might prevail + To keep thee thus for turning tail; + For who will grudge to spend his Blood in + His Honour's Cause? Quoth she_, A Pudding. + + + +[Footnote 1: From [Greek: leíp_o], I omit, [Greek: grámma], a letter. In +modern literature there is a Pugna Porcorum (pig-fight) of which every +word begins with a p, and there are Spanish odes from which all vowels +but one are omitted. The earliest writer of Lipogrammatic verse is said +to have been the Greek poet Lasus, born in Achaia 538 B.C. Lope de Vega +wrote five novels, each with one of the five vowels excluded from it.] + + +[Footnote 2: This French name for an enigmatical device is said to be +derived from the custom of the priests of Picardy at carnival time to +set up ingenious jests upon current affairs, 'de _rebus_ quæ geruntur.'] + + +[Footnote 3: Addison takes these illustrations from the chapter on +'Rebus or Name devises,' in that pleasant old book, Camden's Remains, +which he presently cites. The next chapter in the 'Remains' is upon +Anagrams.] + + +[Footnote 4: _Colloquia Familiaria_, under the title Echo. The dialogue +is ingeniously contrived between a youth and Echo.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 60. Wednesday, May 9, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Hoc est quod palles? Cur quis non prandeat, Hoc est?' + + Per. 'Sat. 3.' + + +Several kinds of false Wit that vanished in the refined Ages of the +World, discovered themselves again in the Times of Monkish Ignorance. + +As the Monks were the Masters of all that little Learning which was then +extant, and had their whole Lives entirely disengaged from Business, it +is no wonder that several of them, who wanted Genius for higher +Performances, employed many Hours in the Composition of such Tricks in +Writing as required much Time and little Capacity. I have seen half the +_Æneid_ turned into _Latin_ Rhymes by one of the _Beaux Esprits_ of that +dark Age; who says in his Preface to it, that the _Æneid_ wanted nothing +but the Sweets of Rhyme to make it the most perfect Work in its Kind. I +have likewise seen an Hymn in Hexameters to the Virgin _Mary,_ which +filled a whole Book, tho' it consisted but of the eight following Words. + + _Tot, tibi, sunt, Virgo, dotes, quot, sidera, Caelo._ + + Thou hast as many Virtues, O Virgin, as there are Stars in Heaven. + +The Poet rung the [changes [1]] upon these eight several Words, and by +that Means made his Verses almost as numerous as the Virtues and the +Stars which they celebrated. It is no wonder that Men who had so much +Time upon their Hands did not only restore all the antiquated Pieces of +false Wit, but enriched the World with Inventions of their own. It was +to this Age that we owe the Production of Anagrams,[2] which is nothing +else but a Transmutation of one Word into another, or the turning of the +same Set of Letters into different Words; which may change Night into +Day, or Black into White, if Chance, who is the Goddess that presides +over these Sorts of Composition, shall so direct. I remember a witty +Author, in Allusion to this kind of Writing, calls his Rival, who (it +seems) was distorted, and had his Limbs set in Places that did not +properly belong to them, _The Anagram of a Man_. + +When the Anagrammatist takes a Name to work upon, he considers it at +first as a Mine not broken up, which will not shew the treasure it +contains till he shall have spent many Hours in the Search of it: For it +is his Business to find out one Word that conceals it self in another, +and to examine the Letters in all the Variety of Stations in which they +can possibly be ranged. I have heard of a Gentleman who, when this Kind +of Wit was in fashion, endeavoured to gain his Mistress's Heart by it. +She was one of the finest Women of her Age, and [known [3]] by the Name +of the Lady _Mary Boon_. The Lover not being able to make any thing of +_Mary_, by certain Liberties indulged to this kind of Writing, converted +it into _Moll_; and after having shut himself up for half a Year, with +indefatigable Industry produced an Anagram. Upon the presenting it to +his Mistress, who was a little vexed in her Heart to see herself +degraded into _Moll Boon_, she told him, to his infinite Surprise, that +he had mistaken her Sirname, for that it was not _Boon_ but _Bohun_. + + _... Ibi omnis + Effusus labor ..._ + +The lover was thunder-struck with his Misfortune, insomuch that in a +little time after he lost his Senses, which indeed had been very much +impaired by that continual Application he had given to his Anagram. + +The Acrostick [4] was probably invented about the same time with the +Anagram, tho' it is impossible to decide whether the Inventor of the one +of the other [were [5]] the greater Blockhead. The _Simple_ Acrostick is +nothing but the Name or Title of a Person or Thing made out of the +initial Letters of several Verses, and by that Means written, after the +Manner of the _Chinese_, in a perpendicular Line. But besides these +there are _Compound_ Acrosticks, where the principal Letters stand two +or three deep. I have seen some of them where the Verses have not only +been edged by a Name at each Extremity, but have had the same Name +running down like a Seam through the Middle of the Poem. + +There is another near Relation of the Anagrams and Acrosticks, which is +commonly [called [6]] a Chronogram. This kind of Wit appears very often +on many modern Medals, especially those of _Germany_, [7] when they +represent in the Inscription the Year in which they were coined. Thus we +see on a Medal of _Gustavus Adolphus_ the following Words, CHRISTVS DUX +ERGO TRIVMPHVS. If you take the pains to pick the Figures out of the +several Words, and range them in their proper Order, you will find they +amount to MDCXVVVII, or 1627, the Year in which the Medal was stamped: +For as some of the Letters distinguish themselves from the rest, and +overtop their Fellows, they are to be considered in a double Capacity, +both as Letters and as Figures. Your laborious _German_ Wits will turn +over a whole Dictionary for one of these ingenious Devices. A Man would +think they were searching after an apt classical Term, but instead of +that they are looking out a Word that has an L, and M, or a D in it. +When therefore we meet with any of these Inscriptions, we are not so +much to look in 'em for the Thought, as for the Year of the Lord. + +The _Boutz Rimez_ [8] were the Favourites of the _French_ Nation for a +whole Age together, and that at a Time when it abounded in Wit and +Learning. They were a List of Words that rhyme to one another, drawn up +by another Hand, and given to a Poet, who was to make a Poem to the +Rhymes in the same Order that they were placed upon the List: The more +uncommon the Rhymes were, the more extraordinary was the Genius of the +Poet that could accommodate his Verses to them. I do not know any +greater Instance of the Decay of Wit and Learning among the _French_ +(which generally follows the Declension of Empire) than the endeavouring +to restore this foolish Kind of Wit. If the Reader will be at the +trouble to see Examples of it, let him look into the new _Mercure +Galant_; where the Author every Month gives a List of Rhymes to be +filled up by the Ingenious, in order to be communicated to the Publick +in the _Mercure_ for the succeeding Month. That for the Month of +_November_ [last], which now lies before me, is as follows. + + - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lauriers + - - - - - - - - - - - - Guerriers + - - - - - - - - - - - - - Musette + - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lisette + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cesars + - - - - - - - - - - - - - Etendars + - - - - - - - - - - - - - Houlette + - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Folette + +One would be amazed to see so learned a Man as _Menage_ talking +seriously on this Kind of Trifle in the following Passage. + + _Monsieur_ de la Chambre _has told me that he never knew what he was + going to write when he took his Pen into his Hand; but that one + Sentence always produced another. For my own part, I never knew what I + should write next when I was making Verses. In the first place I got + all my Rhymes together, and was afterwards perhaps three or four + Months in filling them up. I one Day shewed Monsieur_ Gombaud _a + Composition of this Nature, in which among others I had made use of + the four following Rhymes,_ Amaryllis, Phillis, Marne, Arne,_ desiring + him to give me his Opinion of it. He told me immediately, that my + Verses were good for nothing. And upon my asking his Reason, he said, + Because the Rhymes are too common; and for that Reason easy to be put + into Verse. Marry, says I, if it be so, I am very well rewarded for + all the Pains I have been at. But by Monsieur_ Gombaud's _Leave, + notwithstanding the Severity of the Criticism, the Verses were good._ + +Vid. MENAGIANA. Thus far the learned _Menage,_ whom I have translated +Word for Word. [9] + +The first Occasion of these _Bouts Rimez_ made them in some manner +excusable, as they were Tasks which the _French_ Ladies used to impose +on their Lovers. But when a grave Author, like him above-mentioned, +tasked himself, could there be anything more ridiculous? Or would not +one be apt to believe that the Author played [booty [10]], and did not +make his List of Rhymes till he had finished his Poem? + +I shall only add, that this Piece of false Wit has been finely ridiculed +by Monsieur _Sarasin,_ in a Poem intituled, _La Defaite des Bouts-Rimez, +The Rout of the Bouts-Rimez._ [11] + +I must subjoin to this last kind of Wit the double Rhymes, which are +used in Doggerel Poetry, and generally applauded by ignorant Readers. If +the Thought of the Couplet in such Compositions is good, the Rhyme adds +[little [12]] to it; and if bad, it will not be in the Power of the +Rhyme to recommend it. I am afraid that great Numbers of those who +admire the incomparable _Hudibras_, do it more on account of these +Doggerel Rhymes than of the Parts that really deserve admiration. I am +sure I have heard the + + Pulpit, Drum Ecclesiastick, + Was beat with fist instead of a Stick, + +and + + There was an ancient sage Philosopher + Who had read Alexander Ross over, + +more frequently quoted, than the finest Pieces of Wit in the whole Poem. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: chymes] + + +[Footnote 2: This is an error. [Greek: Anágramma] meant in old Greek +what it now means. Lycophron, who lived B.C. 280, and wrote a Greek poem +on Cassandra, was famous for his Anagrams, of which two survive. The +Cabalists had a branch of their study called Themuru, changing, which +made mystical anagrams of sacred names.] + + +[Footnote 3: was called] + + +[Footnote 4: The invention of Acrostics is attributed to Porphyrius +Optatianus, a writer of the 4th century. But the arguments of the +Comedies of Plautus are in form of acrostics, and acrostics occur in the +original Hebrew of the 'Book of Psalms'.] + + +[Footnote 5: was] + + +[Footnote 6: known by the name of] + + +[Footnote 7: The Chronogram was popular also, especially among the +Germans, for inscriptions upon marble or in books. More than once, also, +in Germany and Belgium a poem was written in a hundred hexameters, each +yielding a chronogram of the date it was to celebrate.] + + +[Footnote 8: Bouts rimés are said to have been suggested to the wits of +Paris by the complaint of a verse turner named Dulot, who grieved one +day over the loss of three hundred sonnets; and when surprise was +expressed at the large number, said they were the 'rhymed ends,' that +only wanted filling up.] + + +[Footnote 9: Menagiana, vol. I. p. 174, ed. Amst. 1713. The Menagiana +were published in 4 volumes, in 1695 and 1696. Gilles Menage died at +Paris in 1692, aged 79. He was a scholar and man of the world, who had a +retentive memory, and, says Bayle, + + 'could say a thousand good things in a thousand pleasing ways.' + +The repertory here quoted from is the best of the numerous collections +of 'ana.'] + + +[Footnote 10: double] + + +[Footnote 11: Jean François Sarasin, whose works were first collected by +Menage, and published in 1656, two years after his death. His defeat of +the Bouts-Rimés, has for first title 'Dulot Vaincu' is in four cantos, +and was written in four or five days.] + + +[Footnote 12: nothing] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 61. Thursday, May 10, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Non equidem studeo, bullalis ut mihi nugis + Pagina turgescal, dare pondus idonea fumo.' + + Pers. + + + +There is no kind of false Wit which has been so recommended by the +Practice of all Ages, as that which consists in a Jingle of Words, and +is comprehended under the general Name of _Punning_. It is indeed +impossible to kill a Weed, which the Soil has a natural Disposition to +produce. The Seeds of Punning are in the Minds of all Men, and tho' they +may be subdued by Reason, Reflection and good Sense, they will be very +apt to shoot up in the greatest Genius, that is not broken and +cultivated by the Rules of Art. Imitation is natural to us, and when it +does not raise the Mind to Poetry, Painting, Musick, or other more noble +Arts, it often breaks out in Punns and Quibbles. + +_Aristotle_, in the Eleventh Chapter of his Book of Rhetorick, describes +two or three kinds of Punns, which he calls Paragrams, among the +Beauties of good Writing, and produces Instances of them out of some of +the greatest Authors in the _Greek_ Tongue. _Cicero_ has sprinkled +several of his Works with Punns, and in his Book where he lays down the +Rules of Oratory, quotes abundance of Sayings as Pieces of Wit, which +also upon Examination prove arrant Punns. But the Age in which _the +Punn_ chiefly flourished, was the Reign of King _James_ the First. That +learned Monarch was himself a tolerable Punnster, and made very few +Bishops or Privy-Counsellors that had not some time or other signalized +themselves by a Clinch, or a _Conundrum_. It was therefore in this Age +that the Punn appeared with Pomp and Dignity. It had before been +admitted into merry Speeches and ludicrous Compositions, but was now +delivered with great Gravity from the Pulpit, or pronounced in the most +solemn manner at the Council-Table. The greatest Authors, in their most +serious Works, made frequent use of Punns. The Sermons of Bishop +_Andrews_, and the Tragedies of _Shakespear_, are full of them. The +Sinner was punned into Repentance by the former, as in the latter +nothing is more usual than to see a Hero weeping and quibbling for a +dozen Lines together. + +I must add to these great Authorities, which seem to have given a kind +of Sanction to this Piece of false Wit, that all the Writers of +Rhetorick have treated of Punning with very great Respect, and divided +the several kinds of it into hard Names, that are reckoned among the +Figures of Speech, and recommended as Ornaments in Discourse. I remember +a Country School-master of my Acquaintance told me once, that he had +been in Company with a Gentleman whom he looked upon to be the greatest +_Paragrammatist_ among the Moderns. Upon Inquiry, I found my learned +Friend had dined that Day with Mr. _Swan_, the famous Punnster; and +desiring him to give me some Account of Mr. _Swan's_ Conversation, he +told me that he generally talked in the _Paranomasia_, that he sometimes +gave into the _Plocè_, but that in his humble Opinion he shined most in +the _Antanaclasis_. + +I must not here omit, that a famous University of this Land was formerly +very much infested with Punns; but whether or no this might not arise +from the Fens and Marshes in which it was situated, and which are now +drained, I must leave to the Determination of more skilful Naturalists. + +After this short History of Punning, one would wonder how it should be +so entirely banished out of the Learned World, as it is at present, +especially since it had found a Place in the Writings of the most +ancient Polite Authors. To account for this, we must consider, that the +first Race of Authors, who were the great Heroes in Writing, were +destitute of all Rules and Arts of Criticism; and for that Reason, +though they excel later Writers in Greatness of Genius, they fall short +of them in Accuracy and Correctness. The Moderns cannot reach their +Beauties, but can avoid their Imperfections. When the World was +furnished with these Authors of the first Eminence, there grew up +another Set of Writers, who gained themselves a Reputation by the +Remarks which they made on the Works of those who preceded them. It was +one of the Employments of these Secondary Authors, to distinguish the +several kinds of Wit by Terms of Art, and to consider them as more or +less perfect, according as they were founded in Truth. It is no wonder +therefore, that even such Authors as _Isocrates, Plato_, and _Cicero_, +should have such little Blemishes as are not to be met with in Authors +of a much inferior Character, who have written since those several +Blemishes were discovered. I do not find that there was a proper +Separation made between Punns and [true [1]] Wit by any of the Ancient +Authors, except _Quintilian_ and _Longinus_. But when this Distinction +was once settled, it was very natural for all Men of Sense to agree in +it. As for the Revival of this false Wit, it happened about the time of +the Revival of Letters; but as soon as it was once detected, it +immediately vanished and disappeared. At the same time there is no +question, but as it has sunk in one Age and rose in another, it will +again recover it self in some distant Period of Time, as Pedantry and +Ignorance shall prevail upon Wit and Sense. And, to speak the Truth, I +do very much apprehend, by some of the last Winter's Productions, which +had their Sets of Admirers, that our Posterity will in a few Years +degenerate into a Race of Punnsters: At least, a Man may be very +excusable for any Apprehensions of this kind, that has seen _Acrosticks_ +handed about the Town with great Secrecy and Applause; to which I must +also add a little Epigram called the _Witches Prayer_, that fell into +Verse when it was read either backward or forward, excepting only that +it Cursed one way and Blessed the other. When one sees there are +actually such Pains-takers among our _British _Wits, who can tell what +it may end in? If we must Lash one another, let it be with the manly +Strokes of Wit and Satyr; for I am of the old Philosopher's Opinion, +That if I must suffer from one or the other, I would rather it should be +from the Paw of a Lion, than the Hoof of an Ass. I do not speak this out +of any Spirit of Party. There is a most crying Dulness on both Sides. I +have seen Tory _Acrosticks_ and Whig _Anagrams_, and do not quarrel with +either of them, because they are _Whigs_ or _Tories_, but because they +are _Anagrams_ and _Acrosticks_. + +But to return to Punning. Having pursued the History of a Punn, from its +Original to its Downfal, I shall here define it to be a Conceit arising +from the use of two Words that agree in the Sound, but differ in the +Sense. The only way therefore to try a Piece of Wit, is to translate it +into a different Language: If it bears the Test, you may pronounce it +true; but if it vanishes in the Experiment, you may conclude it to have +been a Punn. In short, one may say of a Punn, as the Countryman +described his Nightingale, that it is _vox et præterea nihil,_ a Sound, +and nothing but a Sound. On the contrary, one may represent true Wit by +the Description which _Aristinetus_ makes of a fine Woman; when she is +_dressed_ she is Beautiful, when she is _undressed_ she is Beautiful; or +as _Mercerus_ has translated it [more Emphatically] + + _Induitur, formosa est: Exuitur, ipsa forma est._ + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: fine] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 62. Friday, May 11, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Scribendi rectè sapere est et principium et fons.' + + Hor. + + +Mr. _Lock_ has an admirable Reflexion upon the Difference of Wit and +Judgment, whereby he endeavours to shew the Reason why they are not +always the Talents of the same Person. His Words are as follows: + + _And hence, perhaps, may be given some Reason of that common + Observation, That Men who have a great deal of Wit and prompt + Memories, have not always the clearest Judgment, or deepest Reason. + For Wit lying most in the Assemblage of Ideas, and putting those + together with Quickness and Variety, wherein can be found any + Resemblance or Congruity, thereby to make up pleasant Pictures and + agreeable Visions in the Fancy; Judgment, on the contrary, lies quite + on the other Side, In separating carefully one from another, Ideas + wherein can be found the least Difference, thereby to avoid being + misled by Similitude, and by Affinity to take one thing for another. + This is a way of proceeding quite contrary to Metaphor and Allusion; + wherein, for the most part, lies that Entertainment and Pleasantry of + Wit which strikes so lively on the Fancy, and is therefore so + acceptable to all People._ [1] + +This is, I think, the best and most Philosophical Account that I have +ever met with of Wit, which generally, though not always, consists in +such a Resemblance and Congruity of Ideas as this Author mentions. I +shall only add to it, by way of Explanation, That every Resemblance of +Ideas is not that which we call Wit, unless it be such an one that gives +_Delight_ and _Surprise_ to the Reader: These two Properties seem +essential to Wit, more particularly the last of them. In order therefore +that the Resemblance in the Ideas be Wit, it is necessary that the Ideas +should not lie too near one another in the Nature of things; for where +the Likeness is obvious, it gives no Surprize. To compare one Man's +Singing to that of another, or to represent the Whiteness of any Object +by that of Milk and Snow, or the Variety of its Colours by those of the +Rainbow, cannot be called Wit, unless besides this obvious Resemblance, +there be some further Congruity discovered in the two Ideas that is +capable of giving the Reader some Surprize. Thus when a Poet tells us, +the Bosom of his Mistress is as white as Snow, there is no Wit in the +Comparison; but when he adds, with a Sigh, that it is as cold too, it +then grows into Wit. Every Reader's Memory may supply him with +innumerable Instances of the same Nature. For this Reason, the +Similitudes in Heroick Poets, who endeavour rather to fill the Mind with +great Conceptions, than to divert it with such as are new and +surprizing, have seldom any thing in them that can be called Wit. Mr. +_Lock's_ Account of Wit, with this short Explanation, comprehends most +of the Species of Wit, as Metaphors, Similitudes, Allegories, Ænigmas, +Mottos, Parables, Fables, Dreams, Visions, dramatick Writings, +Burlesque, and all the Methods of Allusion: As there are many other +Pieces of Wit, (how remote soever they may appear at first sight, from +the foregoing Description) which upon Examination will be found to agree +with it. + +As _true Wit_ generally consists in this Resemblance and Congruity of +Ideas, _false Wit_ chiefly consists in the Resemblance and Congruity +sometimes of single Letters, as in Anagrams, Chronograms, Lipograms, and +Acrosticks: Sometimes of Syllables, as in Ecchos and Doggerel Rhymes: +Sometimes of Words, as in Punns and Quibbles; and sometimes of whole +Sentences or Poems, cast into the Figures of _Eggs, Axes_, or _Altars_: +Nay, some carry the Notion of Wit so far, as to ascribe it even to +external Mimickry; and to look upon a Man as an ingenious Person, that +can resemble the Tone, Posture, or Face of another. + +As _true Wit_ consists in the Resemblance of Ideas, and _false Wit_ in +the Resemblance of Words, according to the foregoing Instances; there is +another kind of Wit which consists partly in the Resemblance of Ideas, +and partly in the Resemblance of Words; which for Distinction Sake I +shall call _mixt Wit_. This kind of Wit is that which abounds in +_Cowley_, more than in any Author that ever wrote. Mr. _Waller_ has +likewise a great deal of it. Mr. _Dryden_ is very sparing in it. +_Milton_ had a Genius much above it. _Spencer_ is in the same Class with +_Milton_. The _Italians_, even in their Epic Poetry, are full of it. +Monsieur _Boileau_, who formed himself upon the Ancient Poets, has +every where rejected it with Scorn. If we look after mixt Wit among the +_Greek_ Writers, we shall find it no where but in the Epigrammatists. +There are indeed some Strokes of it in the little Poem ascribed to +Musoeus, which by that, as well as many other Marks, betrays it self to +be a modern Composition. If we look into the _Latin_ Writers, we find +none of this mixt Wit in _Virgil, Lucretius_, or _Catullus_; very little +in _Horace_, but a great deal of it in _Ovid_, and scarce any thing else +in _Martial_. + +Out of the innumerable Branches of _mixt Wit_, I shall choose one +Instance which may be met with in all the Writers of this Class. The +Passion of Love in its Nature has been thought to resemble Fire; for +which Reason the Words Fire and Flame are made use of to signify Love. +The witty Poets therefore have taken an Advantage from the doubtful +Meaning of the Word Fire, to make an infinite Number of Witticisms. +_Cowley_ observing the cold Regard of his Mistress's Eyes, and at the +same Time their Power of producing Love in him, considers them as +Burning-Glasses made of Ice; and finding himself able to live in the +greatest Extremities of Love, concludes the Torrid Zone to be habitable. +When his Mistress has read his Letter written in Juice of Lemmon by +holding it to the Fire, he desires her to read it over a second time by +Love's Flames. When she weeps, he wishes it were inward Heat that +distilled those Drops from the Limbeck. When she is absent he is beyond +eighty, that is, thirty Degrees nearer the Pole than when she is with +him. His ambitious Love is a Fire that naturally mounts upwards; his +happy Love is the Beams of Heaven, and his unhappy Love Flames of Hell. +When it does not let him sleep, it is a Flame that sends up no Smoak; +when it is opposed by Counsel and Advice, it is a Fire that rages the +more by the Wind's blowing upon it. Upon the dying of a Tree in which he +had cut his Loves, he observes that his written Flames had burnt up and +withered the Tree. When he resolves to give over his Passion, he tells +us that one burnt like him for ever dreads the Fire. His Heart is an +_Ætna_, that instead of _Vulcan's_ Shop incloses _Cupid's_ Forge in it. +His endeavouring to drown his Love in Wine, is throwing Oil upon the +Fire. He would insinuate to his Mistress, that the Fire of Love, like +that of the Sun (which produces so many living Creatures) should not +only warm but beget. Love in another Place cooks Pleasure at his Fire. +Sometimes the Poet's Heart is frozen in every Breast, and sometimes +scorched in every Eye. Sometimes he is drowned in Tears, and burnt in +Love, like a Ship set on Fire in the Middle of the Sea. + +The Reader may observe in every one of these Instances, that the Poet +mixes the Qualities of Fire with those of Love; and in the same Sentence +speaking of it both as a Passion and as real Fire, surprizes the Reader +with those seeming Resemblances or Contradictions that make up all the +Wit in this kind of Writing. Mixt Wit therefore is a Composition of Punn +and true Wit, and is more or less perfect as the Resemblance lies in the +Ideas or in the Words: Its Foundations are laid partly in Falsehood and +partly in Truth: Reason puts in her Claim for one Half of it, and +Extravagance for the other. The only Province therefore for this kind of +Wit, is Epigram, or those little occasional Poems that in their own +Nature are nothing else but a Tissue of Epigrams. I cannot conclude this +Head of _mixt Wit_, without owning that the admirable Poet out of whom I +have taken the Examples of it, had as much true Wit as any Author that +ever writ; and indeed all other Talents of an extraordinary Genius. + +It may be expected, since I am upon this Subject, that I should take +notice of Mr. _Dryden's_ Definition of Wit; which, with all the +Deference that is due to the Judgment of so great a Man, is not so +properly a Definition of Wit, as of good writing in general. Wit, as he +defines it, is 'a Propriety of Words and Thoughts adapted to the +Subject.' [2] If this be a true Definition of Wit, I am apt to think +that _Euclid_ [was [3]] the greatest Wit that ever set Pen to Paper: It +is certain that never was a greater Propriety of Words and Thoughts +adapted to the Subject, than what that Author has made use of in his +Elements. I shall only appeal to my Reader, if this Definition agrees +with any Notion he has of Wit: If it be a true one I am sure Mr. +_Dryden_ was not only a better Poet, but a greater Wit than Mr. +_Cowley_; and _Virgil_ a much more facetious Man than either _Ovid_ or +_Martial_. + +_Bouhours_, whom I look upon to be the most penetrating of all the +_French_ Criticks, has taken pains to shew, that it is impossible for +any Thought to be beautiful which is not just, and has not its +Foundation in the Nature of things: That the Basis of all Wit is Truth; +and that no Thought can be valuable, of which good Sense is not the +Ground-work. [4] _Boileau_ has endeavoured to inculcate the same Notions +in several Parts of his Writings, both in Prose and Verse. [5] This is +that natural Way of Writing, that beautiful Simplicity, which we so much +admire in the Compositions of the Ancients; and which no Body deviates +from, but those who want Strength of Genius to make a Thought shine in +its own natural Beauties. Poets who want this Strength of Genius to give +that Majestick Simplicity to Nature, which we so much admire in the +Works of the Ancients, are forced to hunt after foreign Ornaments, and +not to let any Piece of Wit of what kind soever escape them. I look upon +these writers as _Goths_ in Poetry, who, like those in Architecture, not +being able to come up to the beautiful Simplicity of the old _Greeks and +Romans_, have endeavoured to supply its place with all the +Extravagancies of an irregular Fancy. Mr. _Dryden_ makes a very handsome +Observation, on _Ovid_'s writing a Letter from _Dido_ to _Æneas_, in the +following Words. [6] + + '_Ovid_' says he, (speaking of _Virgil's_ Fiction of _Dido_ and + _Æneas_) 'takes it up after him, even in the same Age, and makes an + Ancient Heroine of _Virgil's_ new-created _Dido_; dictates a Letter + for her just before her Death to the ungrateful Fugitive; and, very + unluckily for himself, is for measuring a Sword with a Man so much + superior in Force to him on the same Subject. I think I may be Judge + of this, because I have translated both. The famous Author of the Art + of Love has nothing of his own; he borrows all from a greater Master + in his own Profession, and, which is worse, improves nothing which he + finds: Nature fails him, and being forced to his old Shift, he has + Recourse to Witticism. This passes indeed with his soft Admirers, and + gives him the Preference to _Virgil_ in their Esteem.' + +Were not I supported by so great an Authority as that of Mr. _Dryden_, I +should not venture to observe, That the Taste of most of our _English_ +Poets, as well as Readers, is extremely _Gothick_. He quotes Monsieur +_Segrais_ [7] for a threefold Distinction of the Readers of Poetry: In +the first of which he comprehends the Rabble of Readers, whom he does +not treat as such with regard to their Quality, but to their Numbers and +Coarseness of their Taste. His Words are as follow: + + '_Segrais_ has distinguished the Readers of Poetry, according to their + Capacity of judging, into three Classes. [He might have said the same + of Writers too, if he had pleased.] In the lowest Form he places those + whom he calls _Les Petits Esprits_, such thingsas are our + Upper-Gallery Audience in a Play-house; who like nothing but the Husk + and Rind of Wit, prefer a Quibble, a Conceit, an Epigram, before solid + Sense and elegant Expression: These are Mob Readers. If _Virgil_ and + _Martial_ stood for Parliament-Men, we know already who would carry + it. But though they make the greatest Appearance in the Field, and cry + the loudest, the best on't is they are but a sort of _French_ + Huguenots, or _Dutch_ Boors, brought over in Herds, but not + Naturalized; who have not Lands of two Pounds _per Annum_ in + _Parnassus_, and therefore are not privileged to poll. Their Authors + are of the same Level, fit to represent them on a Mountebank's Stage, + or to be Masters of the Ceremonies in a Bear-garden: Yet these are + they who have the most Admirers. But it often happens, to their + Mortification, that as their Readers improve their Stock of Sense, (as + they may by reading better Books, and by Conversation with Men of + Judgment) they soon forsake them.' + +I [must not dismiss this Subject without [8]] observing that as Mr. +_Lock_ in the Passage above-mentioned has discovered the most fruitful +Source of Wit, so there is another of a quite contrary Nature to it, +which does likewise branch it self out into several kinds. For not only +the _Resemblance_, but the _Opposition_ of Ideas, does very often +produce Wit; as I could shew in several little Points, Turns and +Antitheses, that I may possibly enlarge upon in some future Speculation. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Essay concerning Human Understanding', Bk II. ch. II (p. +68 of ed. 1690; the first).] + + +[Footonote 2: + + 'If Wit has truly been defined as a Propriety of Thoughts and Words, + then that definition will extend to all sorts of Poetry... Propriety + of Thought is that Fancy which arises naturally from the Subject, or + which the Poet adapts to it. Propriety of Words is the cloathing of + these Thoughts with such Expressions as are naturally proper to them.' + +Dryden's Preface to 'Albion and Albanius'.] + + +[Footnote 3: is] + + +[Footnote 4: Dominique Bouhours, a learned and accomplished Jesuit, who +died in 1702, aged 75, was a Professor of the Humanities, in Paris, till +the headaches by which he was tormented until death compelled him to +resign his chair. He was afterwards tutor to the two young Princes of +Longueville, and to the son of the minister Colbert. His best book was +translated into English in 1705, as + + 'The Art of Criticism: or the Method of making a Right Judgment upon + Subjects of Wit and Learning. Translated from the best Edition of the + _French_, of the Famous Father Bouhours, by a Person of Quality. In + Four Dialogues.' + +Here he says: + + 'Truth is the first Quality, and, as it were, the foundation of + Thought; the fairest is the faultiest, or, rather, those which pass + for the fairest, are not really so, if they want this Foundation ... I + do not understand your Doctrine, replies Philanthus, and I can scarce + persuade myself that a witty Thought should be always founded on + Truth: On the contrary, I am of the opinion of a famous Critic (i.e. + Vavassor in his book on Epigrams) that Falsehood gives it often all + its Grace, and is, as it were, the Soul of it,' + +&c., pp, 6, 7, and the following.] + + +[Footnote 5: As in the lines + + _Tout doit tendre au Bon Sens: mais pour y parvenir + Le chemin est glissant et penible a tenir._ + +'Art. Poétique', chant 1. + +And again, + + _Aux dépens du Bon Sens gardez de plaisanter._ + +'Art. Poétique', chant 3.] + + +[Footnote 6: Dedication of his translation of the 'Æneid' to Lord +Normanby, near the middle; when speaking of the anachronism that made +Dido and Æneas contemporaries.] + + +[Footnote 7: Jean Regnauld de Segrais, b. 1624, d. 1701, was of Caen, +where he was trained by Jesuits for the Church, but took to Literature, +and sought thereby to support four brothers and two sisters, reduced to +want by the dissipations of his father. He wrote, as a youth, odes, +songs, a tragedy, and part of a romance. Attracting, at the age of 20, +the attention of a noble patron, he became, in 1647, and remained for +the next 24 years, attached to the household of Mlle. de Montpensier. He +was a favoured guest among the _Précieuses_ of the _Hotel Rambouillet_, +and was styled, for his acquired air of _bon ton_, the Voiture of Caen. +In 1671 he was received by Mlle. de La Fayette. In 1676 he married a +rich wife, at Caen, his native town, where he settled and revived the +local 'Academy.' Among his works were translations into French verse of +the 'Æneid' and 'Georgics'. In the dedication of his own translation of +the 'Æneid' by an elaborate essay to Lord Normanby, Dryden refers much, +and with high respect, to the dissertation prefixed by Segrais to his +French version, and towards the end (on p. 80 where the essay occupies +100 pages), writes as above quoted. The first parenthesis is part of the +quotation.] + + +[Footnote 8: "would not break the thread of this discourse without;" and +an ERRATUM appended to the next Number says, 'for _without_ read +_with_.'] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 63. Saturday, May 12, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam + Jungere si velit et varías inducere plumas + Undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum + Desinat in piscem mulier formosa supernè; + Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici? + Credite, Pisones, isti tabulæ fore librum + Persimilem, cujus, velut ægri somnia, vanæ + Finguntur species ...' + + Hor. + + +It is very hard for the Mind to disengage it self from a Subject in +which it has been long employed. The Thoughts will be rising of +themselves from time to time, tho' we give them no Encouragement; as the +Tossings and Fluctuations of the Sea continue several Hours after the +Winds are laid. + +It is to this that I impute my last Night's Dream or Vision, which +formed into one continued Allegory the several Schemes of Wit, whether +False, Mixed, or True, that have been the Subject of my late Papers. + +Methoughts I was transported into a Country that was filled with +Prodigies and Enchantments, governed by the Goddess of FALSEHOOD, +entitled _the Region of False Wit_. There is nothing in the Fields, the +Woods, and the Rivers, that appeared natural. Several of the Trees +blossomed in Leaf-Gold, some of them produced Bone-Lace, and some of +them precious Stones. The Fountains bubbled in an Opera Tune, and were +filled with Stags, Wild-Boars, and Mermaids, that lived among the +Waters; at the same time that Dolphins and several kinds of Fish played +upon the Banks or took their Pastime in the Meadows. The Birds had many +of them golden Beaks, and human Voices. The Flowers perfumed the Air +with Smells of Incense, Amber-greese, and Pulvillios; [1] and were so +interwoven with one another, that they grew up in Pieces of Embroidery. +The Winds were filled with Sighs and Messages of distant Lovers. As I +was walking to and fro in this enchanted Wilderness, I could not forbear +breaking out into Soliloquies upon the several Wonders which lay before +me, when, to my great Surprize, I found there were artificial Ecchoes in +every Walk, that by Repetitions of certain Words which I spoke, agreed +with me, or contradicted me, in every thing I said. In the midst of my +Conversation with these invisible Companions, I discovered in the Centre +of a very dark Grove a monstrous Fabrick built after the _Gothick_ +manner, and covered with innumerable Devices in that barbarous kind of +Sculpture. I immediately went up to it, and found it to be a kind of +Heathen Temple consecrated to the God of _Dullness_. Upon my Entrance I +saw the Deity of the Place dressed in the Habit of a Monk, with a Book +in one Hand and a Rattle in the other. Upon his right Hand was +_Industry_, with a Lamp burning before her; and on his left _Caprice_, +with a Monkey sitting on her Shoulder. Before his Feet there stood an +_Altar_ of a very odd Make, which, as I afterwards found, was shaped in +that manner to comply with the Inscription that surrounded it. Upon the +Altar there lay several Offerings of _Axes, Wings_, and _Eggs_, cut in +Paper, and inscribed with Verses. The Temple was filled with Votaries, +who applied themselves to different Diversions, as their Fancies +directed them. In one part of it I saw a Regiment of _Anagrams_, who +were continually in motion, turning to the Right or to the Left, facing +about, doubling their Ranks, shifting their Stations, and throwing +themselves into all the Figures and Countermarches of the most +changeable and perplexed Exercise. + +Not far from these was a Body of _Acrosticks_, made up of very +disproportioned Persons. It was disposed into three Columns, the +Officers planting themselves in a Line on the left Hand of each Column. +The Officers were all of them at least Six Foot high, and made three +Rows of very proper Men; but the Common Soldiers, who filled up the +Spaces between the Officers, were such Dwarfs, Cripples, and Scarecrows, +that one could hardly look upon them without laughing. There were behind +the _Acrosticks_ two or three Files of _Chronograms_, which differed +only from the former, as their Officers were equipped (like the Figure +of Time) with an Hour-glass in one Hand, and a Scythe in the other, and +took their Posts promiscuously among the private Men whom they +commanded. + +In the Body of the Temple, and before the very Face of the Deity, +methought I saw the Phantom of _Tryphiodorus_ the _Lipogrammatist_, +engaged in a Ball with four and twenty Persons, who pursued him by Turns +thro' all the Intricacies and Labyrinths of a Country Dance, without +being able to overtake him. + +Observing several to be very busie at the Western End of the _Temple_, I +inquired into what they were doing, and found there was in that Quarter +the great Magazine of _Rebus's_. These were several Things of the most +different Natures tied up in Bundles, and thrown upon one another in +heaps like Faggots. You might behold an Anchor, a Night-rail, and a +Hobby-horse bound up together. One of the Workmen seeing me very much +surprized, told me, there was an infinite deal of Wit in several of +those Bundles, and that he would explain them to me if I pleased; I +thanked him for his Civility, but told him I was in very great haste at +that time. As I was going out of the Temple, I observed in one Corner of +it a Cluster of Men and Women laughing very heartily, and diverting +themselves at a Game of _Crambo_. I heard several _Double Rhymes_ as I +passed by them, which raised a great deal of Mirth. + +Not far from these was another Set of merry People engaged at a +Diversion, in which the whole Jest was to mistake one Person for +another. To give Occasion for these ludicrous Mistakes, they were +divided into Pairs, every Pair being covered from Head to Foot with the +same kind of Dress, though perhaps there was not the least Resemblance +in their Faces. By this means an old Man was sometimes mistaken for a +Boy, a Woman for a Man, and a Black-a-moor for an _European_, which very +often produced great Peals of Laughter. These I guessed to be a Party of +_Punns_. But being very desirous to get out of this World of Magick, +which had almost turned my Brain, I left the Temple, and crossed over +the Fields that lay about it with all the Speed I could make. I was not +gone far before I heard the Sound of Trumpets and Alarms, which seemed +to proclaim the March of an Enemy; and, as I afterwards found, was in +reality what I apprehended it. There appeared at a great Distance a very +shining Light, and, in the midst of it, a Person of a most beautiful +Aspect; her Name was TRUTH. On her right Hand there marched a Male +Deity, who bore several Quivers on his Shoulders,--and grasped several +Arrows in his Hand. His Name was _Wit_. The Approach of these two +Enemies filled all the Territories of _False Wit_ with an unspeakable +Consternation, insomuch that the Goddess of those Regions appeared in +Person upon her Frontiers, with the several inferior Deities, and the +different Bodies of Forces which I had before seen in the Temple, who +were now drawn up in Array, and prepared to give their Foes a warm +Reception. As the March of the Enemy was very slow, it gave time to the +several Inhabitants who bordered upon the _Regions_ of FALSEHOOD to draw +their Forces into a Body, with a Design to stand upon their Guard as +Neuters, and attend the Issue of the Combat. + +I must here inform my Reader, that the Frontiers of the Enchanted +Region, which I have before described, were inhabited by the Species of +MIXED WIT, who made a very odd Appearance when they were mustered +together in an Army. There were Men whose Bodies were stuck full of +Darts, and Women whose Eyes were Burning-glasses: Men that had Hearts of +Fire, and Women that had Breasts of Snow. It would be endless to +describe several Monsters of the like Nature, that composed this great +Army; which immediately fell asunder and divided itself into two Parts, +the one half throwing themselves behind the Banners of TRUTH, and the +others behind those of FALSEHOOD. + +The Goddess of FALSEHOOD was of a Gigantick Stature, and advanced some +Paces before the Front of her Army: but as the dazling Light, which +flowed from TRUTH, began to shine upon her, she faded insensibly; +insomuch that in a little Space she looked rather like an huge Phantom, +than a real Substance. At length, as the Goddess of TRUTH approached +still nearer to her, she fell away entirely, and vanished amidst the +Brightness of her Presence; so that there did not remain the least Trace +or Impression of her Figure in the Place where she had been seen. + +As at the rising of the Sun the Constellations grow thin, and the Stars +go out one after another, till the whole Hemisphere is extinguished; +such was the vanishing of the Goddess: And not only of the Goddess her +self, but of the whole Army that attended her, which sympathized with +their Leader, and shrunk into Nothing, in proportion as the Goddess +disappeared. At the same time the whole Temple sunk, the Fish betook +themselves to the Streams, and the wild Beasts to the Woods: The +Fountains recovered their Murmurs, the Birds their Voices, the Trees +their Leaves, the Flowers their Scents, and the whole Face of Nature its +true and genuine Appearance. Tho' I still continued asleep, I fancied my +self as it were awakened out of a Dream, when I saw this Region of +Prodigies restored to Woods and Rivers, Fields and Meadows. + +Upon the removal of that wild Scene of Wonders, which had very much +disturbed my Imagination, I took a full Survey of the Persons of WIT and +TRUTH; for indeed it was impossible to look upon the first, without +seeing the other at the same time. There was behind them a strong and +compact Body of Figures. The Genius of _Heroic Poetry_ appeared with a +Sword in her Hand, and a Lawrel on her Head. _Tragedy_ was crowned with +Cypress, and covered with Robes dipped in Blood. _Satyr_ had Smiles in +her Look, and a Dagger under her Garment. _Rhetorick_ was known by her +Thunderbolt; and _Comedy_ by her Mask. After several other Figures, +_Epigram_ marched up in the Rear, who had been posted there at the +Beginning of the Expedition, that he might not revolt to the Enemy, whom +he was suspected to favour in his Heart. I was very much awed and +delighted with the Appearance of the God of _Wit_; there was something +so amiable and yet so piercing in his Looks, as inspired me at once with +Love and Terror. As I was gazing on him, to my unspeakable Joy, he took +a Quiver of Arrows from his Shoulder, in order to make me a Present of +it; but as I was reaching out my Hand to receive it of him, I knocked it +against a Chair, and by that means awaked. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Scent bags. Ital. Polviglio; from Pulvillus, a little +cushion.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 64. Monday, May 14, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Hic vivimus Ambitiosa + Paupertate omnes ...' + + Juv. + + +The most improper things we commit in the Conduct of our Lives, we are +led into by the Force of Fashion. Instances might be given, in which a +prevailing Custom makes us act against the Rules of Nature, Law and +common Sense: but at present I shall confine my Consideration of the +Effect it has upon Men's Minds, by looking into our Behaviour when it is +the Fashion to go into Mourning. The Custom of representing the Grief we +have for the Loss of the Dead by our Habits, certainly had its Rise from +the real Sorrow of such as were too much distressed to take the proper +Care they ought of their Dress. By Degrees it prevailed, that such as +had this inward Oppression upon their Minds, made an Apology for not +joining with the rest of the World in their ordinary Diversions, by a +Dress suited to their Condition. This therefore was at first assumed by +such only as were under real Distress; to whom it was a Relief that they +had nothing about them so light and gay as to be irksome to the Gloom +and Melancholy of their inward Reflections, or that might misrepresent +them to others. In process of Time this laudable Distinction of the +Sorrowful was lost, and Mourning is now worn by Heirs and Widows. You +see nothing but Magnificence and Solemnity in the Equipage of the +Relict, and an Air [of [1]] Release from Servitude in the Pomp of a Son +who has lost a wealthy Father. This Fashion of Sorrow is now become a +generous Part of the Ceremonial between Princes and Sovereigns, who in +the Language of all Nations are stiled Brothers to each other, and put +on the Purple upon the Death of any Potentate with whom they live in +Amity. Courtiers, and all who wish themselves such, are immediately +seized with Grief from Head to Foot upon this Disaster to their Prince; +so that one may know by the very Buckles of a Gentleman-Usher, what +Degree of Friendship any deceased Monarch maintained with the Court to +which he belongs. A good Courtier's Habit and Behaviour is +hieroglyphical on these Occasions: He deals much in Whispers, and you +may see he dresses according to the best Intelligence. + +The general Affectation among Men, of appearing greater than they are, +makes the whole World run into the Habit of the Court. You see the Lady, +who the Day before was as various as a Rainbow, upon the Time appointed +for beginning to mourn, as dark as a Cloud. This Humour does not prevail +only on those whose Fortunes can support any Change in their Equipage, +not on those only whose Incomes demand the Wantonness of new +Appearances; but on such also who have just enough to cloath them. An +old Acquaintance of mine, of Ninety Pounds a Year, who has naturally the +Vanity of being a Man of Fashion deep at his Heart, is very much put to +it to bear the Mortality of Princes. He made a new black Suit upon the +Death of the King of _Spain_, he turned it for the King of _Portugal_, +and he now keeps his Chamber while it is scouring for the Emperor. [2] +He is a good Oeconomist in his Extravagance, and makes only a fresh +black Button upon his Iron-gray Suit for any Potentate of small +Territories; he indeed adds his Crape Hatband for a Prince whose +Exploits he has admired in the _Gazette_. But whatever Compliments may +be made on these Occasions, the true Mourners are the Mercers, Silkmen, +Lacemen and Milliners. A Prince of merciful and royal Disposition would +reflect with great Anxiety upon the Prospect of his Death, if he +considered what Numbers would be reduced to Misery by that Accident +only: He would think it of Moment enough to direct, that in the +Notification of his Departure, the Honour done to him might be +restrained to those of the Houshold of the Prince to whom it should be +signified. He would think a general Mourning to be in a less Degree the +same Ceremony which is practised in barbarous Nations, of killing their +Slaves to attend the Obsequies of their Kings. + +I had been wonderfully at a Loss for many Months together, to guess at +the Character of a Man who came now and then to our Coffee-house: He +ever ended a News-paper with this Reflection, _Well, I see all the +Foreign Princes are in good Health_. If you asked, Pray, Sir, what says +the _Postman_ from _Vienna_? he answered, _Make us thankful, the_ German +_Princes are all well_: What does he say from _Barcelona_? _He does not +speak but that the Country agrees very well with the new Queen_. After +very much Enquiry, I found this Man of universal Loyalty was a wholesale +Dealer in Silks and Ribbons: His Way is, it seems, if he hires a Weaver, +or Workman, to have it inserted in his Articles, + + 'That all this shall be well and truly performed, provided no foreign + Potentate shall depart this Life within the Time above-mentioned.' + +It happens in all publick Mournings, that the many Trades which depend +upon our Habits, are during that Folly either pinched with present Want, +or terrified with the apparent Approach of it. All the Atonement which +Men can make for wanton Expences (which is a sort of insulting the +Scarcity under which others labour) is, that the Superfluities of the +Wealthy give Supplies to the Necessities of the Poor: but instead of any +other Good arising from the Affectation of being in courtly Habits of +Mourning, all Order seems to be destroyed by it; and the true Honour +which one Court does to another on that Occasion, loses its Force and +Efficacy. When a foreign Minister beholds the Court of a Nation (which +flourishes in Riches and Plenty) lay aside, upon the Loss of his Master, +all Marks of Splendor and Magnificence, though the Head of such a joyful +People, he will conceive greater Idea of the Honour done his Master, +than when he sees the Generality of the People in the same Habit. When +one is afraid to ask the Wife of a Tradesman whom she has lost of her +Family; and after some Preparation endeavours to know whom she mourns +for; how ridiculous is it to hear her explain her self, That we have +lost one of the House of _Austria_! Princes are elevated so highly above +the rest of Mankind, that it is a presumptuous Distinction to take a +Part in Honours done to their Memories, except we have Authority for it, +by being related in a particular Manner to the Court which pays that +Veneration to their Friendship, and seems to express on such an Occasion +the Sense of the Uncertainty of human Life in general, by assuming the +Habit of Sorrow though in the full possession of Triumph and Royalty. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: of a] + + +[Footnote 2: The death of Charles II of Spain, which gave occasion for +the general war of the Spanish succession, took place in 1700. John V, +King of Portugal, died in 1706, and the Emperor Joseph I died on the +17th of April, 1711, less than a month before this paper was written. +The black suit that was now 'scouring for the Emperor' was, therefore, +more than ten years old, and had been turned five years ago.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 65. Tuesday, May 15, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Demetri teque Tigelli + Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras.' + + Hor. + + +After having at large explained what Wit is, and described the false +Appearances of it, all that Labour seems but an useless Enquiry, without +some Time be spent in considering the Application of it. The Seat of +Wit, when one speaks as a Man of the Town and the World, is the +Play-house; I shall therefore fill this Paper with Reflections upon the +Use of it in that Place. The Application of Wit in the Theatre has as +strong an Effect upon the Manners of our Gentlemen, as the Taste of it +has upon the Writings of our Authors. It may, perhaps, look like a very +presumptuous Work, though not Foreign from the Duty of a SPECTATOR, to +tax the Writings of such as have long had the general Applause of a +Nation; But I shall always make Reason, Truth, and Nature the Measures +of Praise and Dispraise; if those are for me, the Generality of Opinion +is of no Consequence against me; if they are against me, the general +Opinion cannot long support me. + +Without further Preface, I am going to look into some of our most +applauded Plays, and see whether they deserve the Figure they at present +bear in the Imagination of Men, or not. + +In reflecting upon these Works, I shall chiefly dwell upon that for +which each respective Play is most celebrated. The present Paper shall +be employed upon Sir _Fopling Flutter_. [1] The received Character of +this Play is, That it is the Pattern of Genteel Comedy. _Dorimant_ and +_Harriot_ are the Characters of greatest Consequence, and if these are +Low and Mean, the Reputation of the Play is very Unjust. + +I will take for granted, that a fine Gentleman should be honest in his +Actions, and refined in his Language. Instead of this, our Hero in this +Piece is a direct Knave in his Designs, and a Clown in his Language. +_Bellair_ is his Admirer and Friend; in return for which, because he is +forsooth a greater Wit than his said Friend, he thinks it reasonable to +persuade him to marry a young Lady, whose Virtue, he thinks, will last +no longer than till she is a Wife, and then she cannot but fall to his +Share, as he is an irresistible fine Gentleman. The Falshood to Mrs. +_Loveit_, and the Barbarity of Triumphing over her Anguish for losing +him, is another Instance of his Honesty, as well as his Good-nature. As +to his fine Language; he calls the Orange-Woman, who, it seems, is +inclined to grow Fat, _An Over-grown Jade, with a Flasket of Guts before +her_; and salutes her with a pretty Phrase of _How now, Double Tripe_? +Upon the mention of a Country Gentlewoman, whom he knows nothing of, (no +one can imagine why) he _will lay his Life she is some awkward +ill-fashioned Country Toad, who not having above four Dozen of Hairs on +her Head, has adorned her Baldness with a large white Fruz, that she may +look Sparkishly in the Forefront of the King's Box at an old Play_. +Unnatural Mixture of senseless Common-Place! + +As to the Generosity of his Temper, he tells his poor Footman, _If he +did not wait better_--he would turn him away, in the insolent Phrase of, +_I'll uncase you_. + +Now for Mrs. _Harriot_: She laughs at Obedience to an absent Mother, +whose Tenderness _Busie_ describes to be very exquisite, for _that she +is so pleased with finding_ Harriot _again, that she cannot chide her +for being out of the way_. This Witty Daughter, and fine Lady, has so +little Respect for this good Woman, that she Ridicules her Air in taking +Leave, and cries, _In what Struggle is my poor Mother yonder? See, see, +her Head tottering, her Eyes staring, and her under Lip trembling_. But +all this is atoned for, because _she has more Wit than is usual in her +Sex, and as much Malice, tho' she is as Wild as you would wish her and +has a Demureness in her Looks that makes it so surprising!_ Then to +recommend her as a fit Spouse for his Hero, the Poet makes her speak her +Sense of Marriage very ingeniously: _I think_, says she, _I might be +brought to endure him, and that is all a reasonable Woman should expect +in an Husband_. It is, methinks, unnatural that we are not made to +understand how she that was bred under a silly pious old Mother, that +would never trust her out of her sight, came to be so Polite. + +It cannot be denied, but that the Negligence of every thing, which +engages the Attention of the sober and valuable Part of Mankind, appears +very well drawn in this Piece: But it is denied, that it is necessary to +the Character of a Fine Gentleman, that he should in that manner trample +upon all Order and Decency. As for the Character of _Dorimant_, it is +more of a Coxcomb than that of _Fopling_. He says of one of his +Companions, that a good Correspondence between them is their mutual +Interest. Speaking of that Friend, he declares, their being much +together _makes the Women think the better of his Understanding, and +judge more favourably of my Reputation. It makes him pass upon some for +a Man of very good Sense, and me upon others for a very civil Person_. + +This whole celebrated Piece is a perfect Contradiction to good Manners, +good Sense, and common Honesty; and as there is nothing in it but what +is built upon the Ruin of Virtue and Innocence, according to the Notion +of Merit in this Comedy, I take the Shoemaker to be, in reality, the +Fine Gentleman of the Play: For it seems he is an Atheist, if we may +depend upon his Character as given by the Orange-Woman, who is her self +far from being the lowest in the Play. She says of a Fine Man who is +_Dorimant's_ Companion, There _is not such another Heathen in the Town, +except the Shoemaker_. His Pretension to be the Hero of the _Drama_ +appears still more in his own Description of his way of Living with his +Lady. _There is_, says he, _never a Man in Town lives more like a +Gentleman with his Wife than I do; I never mind her Motions; she never +enquires into mine. We speak to one another civilly, hate one another +heartily; and because it is Vulgar to Lye and Soak together, we have +each of us our several Settle-Bed_. That of _Soaking together_ is as +good as if _Dorimant_ had spoken it himself; and, I think, since he puts +Human Nature in as ugly a Form as the Circumstances will bear, and is a +staunch Unbeliever, he is very much Wronged in having no part of the +good Fortune bestowed in the last Act. + +To speak plainly of this whole Work, I think nothing but being lost to a +sense of Innocence and Virtue can make any one see this Comedy, without +observing more frequent Occasion to move Sorrow and Indignation, than +Mirth and Laughter. At the same time I allow it to be Nature, but it is +Nature in its utmost Corruption and Degeneracy. [2] + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'The Man of Mode', or 'Sir Fopling Flutter', by Sir George +Etherege, produced in 1676. Etherege painted accurately the life and +morals of the Restoration, and is said to have represented himself in +Bellair; Beau Hewit, the son of a Herefordshire Baronet, in Sir Fopling; +and to have formed Dorimant upon the model of the Earl of Rochester.] + + +[Footnote 2: To this number of the Spectator is appended the first +advertisement of Pope's 'Essay on Criticism'. + + This Day is publish'd An ESSAY on CRITICISM. + + Printed for W. Lewis in Russell street Covent-Garden; + and Sold by W. Taylor, at the Ship in Pater Noster Row; + T. Osborn, in Gray's Inn near the Walks; + T. Graves, in St. James's Street; + and T. Morphew, near Stationers-Hall. + + Price 1s.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 66. Wednesday, May 16, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Motus doceri gaudet Ionicos + Matura Virgo, et fingitur artubus + Jam nunc, et incestos amores + De Tenero meditatur Ungui.' + + Hor. + + + +The two following Letters are upon a Subject of very great Importance, +tho' expressed without an Air of Gravity. + + + To the SPECTATOR. + + SIR, I Take the Freedom of asking your Advice in behalf of a Young + Country Kinswoman of mine who is lately come to Town, and under my + Care for her Education. She is very pretty, but you can't imagine how + unformed a Creature it is. She comes to my Hands just as Nature left + her, half-finished, and without any acquired Improvements. When I look + on her I often think of the _Belle Sauvage_ mentioned in one of your + Papers. Dear _Mr_. SPECTATOR, help me to make her comprehend the + visible Graces of Speech, and the dumb Eloquence of Motion; for she is + at present a perfect Stranger to both. She knows no Way to express her + self but by her Tongue, and that always to signify her Meaning. Her + Eyes serve her yet only to see with, and she is utterly a Foreigner to + the Language of Looks and Glances. In this I fancy you could help her + better than any Body. I have bestowed two Months in teaching her to + Sigh when she is not concerned, and to Smile when she is not pleased; + and am ashamed to own she makes little or no Improvement. Then she is + no more able now to walk, than she was to go at a Year old. By Walking + you will easily know I mean that regular but easy Motion, which gives + our Persons so irresistible a Grace as if we moved to Musick, and is a + kind of disengaged Figure, or, if I may so speak, recitative Dancing. + But the want of this I cannot blame in her, for I find she has no Ear, + and means nothing by Walking but to change her Place. I could pardon + too her Blushing, if she knew how to carry her self in it, and if it + did not manifestly injure her Complexion. + + They tell me you are a Person who have seen the World, and are a Judge + of fine Breeding; which makes me ambitious of some Instructions from + you for her Improvement: Which when you have favoured me with, I shall + further advise with you about the Disposal of this fair Forrester in + Marriage; for I will make it no Secret to you, that her Person and + Education are to be her Fortune. + I am, SIR, + Your very humble Servant + CELIMENE. + + + SIR, Being employed by _Celimene_ to make up and send to you her + Letter, I make bold to recommend the Case therein mentioned to your + Consideration, because she and I happen to differ a little in our + Notions. I, who am a rough Man, am afraid the young Girl is in a fair + Way to be spoiled: Therefore pray, Mr. SPECTATOR, let us have your + Opinion of this fine thing called _Fine Breeding_; for I am afraid it + differs too much from that plain thing called _Good Breeding_. + _Your most humble Servant_. [1] + + +The general Mistake among us in the Educating our Children, is, That in +our Daughters we take care of their Persons and neglect their Minds: in +our Sons we are so intent upon adorning their Minds, that we wholly +neglect their Bodies. It is from this that you shall see a young Lady +celebrated and admired in all the Assemblies about Town, when her elder +Brother is afraid to come into a Room. From this ill Management it +arises, That we frequently observe a Man's Life is half spent before he +is taken notice of; and a Woman in the Prime of her Years is out of +Fashion and neglected. The Boy I shall consider upon some other +Occasion, and at present stick to the Girl: And I am the more inclined +to this, because I have several Letters which complain to me that my +Female Readers have not understood me for some Days last past, and take +themselves to be unconcerned in the present Turn of my Writings. When a +Girl is safely brought from her Nurse, before she is capable of forming +one simple Notion of any thing in Life, she is delivered to the Hands of +her Dancing-Master; and with a Collar round her Neck, the pretty wild +Thing is taught a fantastical Gravity of Behaviour, and forced to a +particular Way of holding her Head, heaving her Breast, and moving with +her whole Body; and all this under Pain of never having an Husband, if +she steps, looks, or moves awry. This gives the young Lady wonderful +Workings of Imagination, what is to pass between her and this Husband +that she is every Moment told of, and for whom she seems to be educated. +Thus her Fancy is engaged to turn all her Endeavours to the Ornament of +her Person, as what must determine her Good and Ill in this Life; and +she naturally thinks, if she is tall enough, she is wise enough for any +thing for which her Education makes her think she is designed. To make +her an agreeable Person is the main Purpose of her Parents; to that is +all their Cost, to that all their Care directed; and from this general +Folly of Parents we owe our present numerous Race of Coquets. These +Reflections puzzle me, when I think of giving my advice on the Subject +of managing the wild Thing mentioned in the Letter of my Correspondent. +But sure there is a middle Way to be followed; the Management of a young +Lady's Person is not to be overlooked, but the Erudition of her Mind is +much more to be regarded. According as this is managed, you will see the +Mind follow the Appetites of the Body, or the Body express the Virtues +of the Mind. + +_Cleomira_ dances with all the Elegance of Motion imaginable; but her +Eyes are so chastised with the Simplicity and Innocence of her Thoughts, +that she raises in her Beholders Admiration and good Will, but no loose +Hope or wild Imagination. The true Art in this Case is, To make the Mind +and Body improve together; and if possible, to make Gesture follow +Thought, and not let Thought be employed upon Gesture. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: John Hughes is the author of these two letters, and, +Chalmers thinks, also of the letters signed R. B. in Nos. 33 and 53. He +was in 1711 thirty-two years old. John Hughes, the son of a citizen of +London, was born at Marlborough, educated at the private school of a +Dissenting minister, where he had Isaac Watts for schoolfellow, delicate +of health, zealous for poetry and music, and provided for by having +obtained, early in life, a situation in the Ordnance Office. He died of +consumption at the age of 40, February 17, 1719-20, on the night of the +first production of his Tragedy of 'The Siege of Damascus'. Verse of his +was in his lifetime set to music by Purcell and Handel. In 1712 an opera +of 'Calypso and Telemachus', to which Hughes wrote the words, was +produced with success at the Haymarket. In translations, in original +verse, and especially in prose, he merited the pleasant little +reputation that he earned; but his means were small until, not two years +before his death, Lord Cowper gave him the well-paid office of Secretary +to the Commissioners of the Peace. Steele has drawn the character of his +friend Hughes as that of a religious man exempt from every sensual vice, +an invalid who could take pleasure in seeing the innocent happiness of +the healthy, who was never peevish or sour, and who employed his +intervals of ease in drawing and designing, or in music and poetry.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 67. Thursday, May 17, 1711. Budgell. [1] + + + + 'Saltare elegantius quam necesse est probæ.' + + Sal. + + +Lucian, in one of his Dialogues, introduces a Philosopher chiding his +Friend for his being a Lover of Dancing, and a Frequenter of Balls. [2] +The other undertakes the Defence of his Favourite Diversion, which, he +says, was at first invented by the Goddess _Rhea_, and preserved the +Life of _Jupiter_ himself, from the Cruelty of his Father _Saturn._ He +proceeds to shew, that it had been Approved by the greatest Men in all +Ages; that _Homer_ calls _Merion_ a _Fine Dancer;_ and says, That the +graceful Mien and great Agility which he had acquired by that Exercise, +distinguished him above the rest in the Armies, both of _Greeks_ and +_Trojans_. + +He adds, that _Pyrrhus_ gained more Reputation by Inventing the Dance +which is called after his Name, than by all his other Actions: That the +_Lacedaemonians_, who were the bravest People in _Greece_, gave great +Encouragement to this Diversion, and made their _Hormus_ (a Dance much +resembling the _French Brawl_) famous over all _Asia_: That there were +still extant some _Thessalian_ Statues erected to the Honour of their +best Dancers: And that he wondered how his Brother Philosopher could +declare himself against the Opinions of those two Persons, whom he +professed so much to admire, _Homer_ and _Hesiod_; the latter of which +compares Valour and Dancing together; and says, That _the Gods have +bestowed Fortitude on some Men, and on others a Disposition for +Dancing_. + +Lastly, he puts him in mind that _Socrates_, (who, in the Judgment of +_Apollo_, was the wisest of Men) was not only a professed Admirer of +this Exercise in others, but learned it himself when he was an old Man. + +The Morose Philosopher is so much affected by these, and some other +Authorities, that he becomes a Convert to his Friend, and desires he +would take him with him when he went to his next Ball. + +I love to shelter my self under the Examples of Great Men; and, I think, +I have sufficiently shewed that it is not below the Dignity of these my +Speculations to take notice of the following Letter, which, I suppose, +is sent me by some substantial Tradesman about _Change_. + + + SIR, + + 'I am a Man in Years, and by an honest Industry in the World have + acquired enough to give my Children a liberal Education, tho' I was an + utter Stranger to it my self. My eldest Daughter, a Girl of Sixteen, + has for some time been under the Tuition of Monsieur _Rigadoon_, a + Dancing-Master in the City; and I was prevailed upon by her and her + Mother to go last Night to one of his Balls. I must own to you, Sir, + that having never been at any such Place before, I was very much + pleased and surprized with that Part of his Entertainment which he + called _French Dancing_. There were several young Men and Women, whose + Limbs seemed to have no other Motion, but purely what the Musick gave + them. After this Part was over, they began a Diversion which they call + _Country Dancing_, and wherein there were also some things not + disagreeable, and divers _Emblematical Figures_, Compos'd, as I guess, + by Wise Men, for the Instruction of Youth. + + Among the rest, I observed one, which, I think, they call _Hunt the + Squirrel_, in which while the Woman flies the Man pursues her; but as + soon as she turns, he runs away, and she is obliged to follow. + + The Moral of this Dance does, I think, very aptly recommend Modesty + and Discretion to the Female Sex. + + But as the best Institutions are liable to Corruptions, so, Sir, I + must acquaint you, that very great Abuses are crept into this + Entertainment. I was amazed to see my Girl handed by, and handing + young Fellows with so much Familiarity; and I could not have thought + it had been in the Child. They very often made use of a most impudent + and lascivious Step called _Setting_, which I know not how to describe + to you, but by telling you that it is the very reverse of _Back to + Back_. At last an impudent young Dog bid the Fidlers play a Dance + called _Mol Patley_,[1] and after having made two or three Capers, ran + to his Partner, locked his Arms in hers, and whisked her round + cleverly above Ground in such manner, that I, who sat upon one of the + lowest Benches, saw further above her Shoe than I can think fit to + acquaint you with. I could no longer endure these Enormities; + wherefore just as my Girl was going to be made a Whirligig, I ran in, + seized on the Child, and carried her home. + + Sir, I am not yet old enough to be a Fool. I suppose this Diversion + might be at first invented to keep up a good Understanding between + young Men and Women, and so far I am not against it; but I shall never + allow of these things. I know not what you will say to this Case at + present, but am sure that had you been with me you would have seen + matter of great Speculation. + + I am + + _Yours, &c._ + + +I must confess I am afraid that my Correspondent had too much Reason to +be a little out of Humour at the Treatment of his Daughter, but I +conclude that he would have been much more so, had he seen one of those +_kissing Dances_ in which WILL. HONEYCOMB assures me they are obliged to +dwell almost a Minute on the Fair One's Lips, or they will be too quick +for the Musick, and dance quite out of Time. + +I am not able however to give my final Sentence against this Diversion; +and am of Mr. _Cowley's_ Opinion, [4] that so much of Dancing at least +as belongs to the Behaviour and an handsome Carriage of the Body, is +extreamly useful, if not absolutely necessary. + +We generally form such Ideas of People at first Sight, as we are hardly +ever persuaded to lay aside afterwards: For this Reason, a Man would +wish to have nothing disagreeable or uncomely in his Approaches, and to +be able to enter a Room with a good Grace. + +I might add, that a moderate Knowledge in the little Rules of +Good-breeding gives a Man some Assurance, and makes him easie in all +Companies. For want of this, I have seen a Professor of a Liberal +Science at a Loss to salute a Lady; and a most excellent Mathematician +not able to determine whether he should stand or sit while my Lord drank +to him. + +It is the proper Business of a Dancing-Master to regulate these Matters; +tho' I take it to be a just Observation, that unless you add something +of your own to what these fine Gentlemen teach you, and which they are +wholly ignorant of themselves, you will much sooner get the Character of +an Affected Fop, than of a Well-bred Man. + +As for _Country Dancing_, it must indeed be confessed, that the great +Familiarities between the two Sexes on this Occasion may sometimes +produce very dangerous Consequences; and I have often thought that few +Ladies Hearts are so obdurate as not to be melted by the Charms of +Musick, the Force of Motion, and an handsome young Fellow who is +continually playing before their Eyes, and convincing them that he has +the perfect Use of all his Limbs. + +But as this kind of Dance is the particular Invention of our own +Country, and as every one is more or less a Proficient in it, I would +not Discountenance it; but rather suppose it may be practised innocently +by others, as well as myself, who am often Partner to my Landlady's +Eldest Daughter. + + +POSTSCRIPT. + +Having heard a good Character of the Collection of Pictures which is to +be Exposed to Sale on _Friday_ next; and concluding from the following +Letter, that the Person who Collected them is a Man of no unelegant +Taste, I will be so much his Friend as to Publish it, provided the +Reader will only look upon it as filling up the Place of an +Advertisement. + + + From _the three Chairs in the Piazza_, Covent-Garden. + + _SIR_, _May_ 16, 1711. + + 'As you are SPECTATOR, I think we, who make it our Business to exhibit + any thing to publick View, ought to apply our selves to you for your + Approbation. I have travelled Europe to furnish out a Show for you, + and have brought with me what has been admired in every Country + through which I passed. You have declared in many Papers, that your + greatest Delights are those of the Eye, which I do not doubt but I + shall gratifie with as Beautiful Objects as yours ever beheld. If + Castles, Forests, Ruins, Fine Women, and Graceful Men, can please you, + I dare promise you much Satisfaction, if you will Appear at my Auction + on _Friday_ next. A Sight is, I suppose, as grateful to a SPECTATOR, + as a Treat to another Person, and therefore I hope you will pardon + this Invitation from, + + SIR, + + Your most Obedient + Humble Servant, + + J. GRAHAM. + + + +[Footnote 1: Eustace Budgell, the contributor of this and of about three +dozen other papers to the _Spectator_, was, in 1711, twenty-six years +old, and by the death of his father, Gilbert Budgell, D.D., obtained, in +this year, encumbered by some debt, an income of £950. He was first +cousin to Addison, their mothers being two daughters of Dr. Nathaniel +Gulstone, and sisters to Dr. Gulstone, bishop of Bristol. He had been +sent in 1700 to Christ Church, Oxford, where he spent several years. +When, in 1709, Addison went to Dublin as secretary to Lord Wharton, in +his Irish administration, he took with him his cousin Budgell as a +private secretary. During Addison's first stay in Ireland Budgell lived +with him, and paid careful attention to his duties. To this relationship +and friendship Budgell was indebted for the insertion of papers of his +in the _Spectator_. Addison not only gratified his literary ambition, +but helped him to advancement in his service of the government. On the +accession of George I, Budgell was appointed Secretary to the Lords +Justices of Ireland and Deputy Clerk of the Council; was chosen also +Honorary Bencher of the Dublin Inns of Court and obtained a seat in the +Irish Parliament. In 1717, when Addison became Secretary of State for +Ireland, he appointed Eustace Budgell to the post of Accountant and +Comptroller-General of the Irish Revenue, which was worth nearly £400 +a-year. In 1718, anger at being passed over in an appointment caused +Budgell to charge the Duke of Bolton, the newly-arrived Lord-Lieutenant, +with folly and imbecility. For this he was removed from his Irish +appointments. He then ruined his hope of patronage in England, lost +three-fourths of his fortune in the South Sea Bubble, and spent the +other fourth in a fruitless attempt to get into Parliament. While +struggling to earn bread as a writer, he took part in the publication of +Dr. Matthew Tindal's _Christianity as Old as the Creation_, and when, in +1733, Tindal died, a Will was found which, to the exclusion of a +favourite nephew, left £2100 (nearly all the property) to Budgell. The +authenticity of the Will was successfully contested, and thereby Budgell +disgraced. He retorted on Pope for some criticism upon this which he +attributed to him, and Pope wrote in the prologue to his Satires, + + _Let Budgell charge low Grub-street on my quill, + And write whate'er he please,--except my Will._ + +At last, in May, 1737, Eustace Budgell filled his pockets with stones, +hired a boat, and drowned himself by jumping from it as it passed under +London Bridge. There was left on his writing-table at home a slip of +paper upon which he had written, + + 'What Cato did, and Addison approved, cannot be wrong.'] + + +[Footnote 2: The Dialogue 'Of Dancing' between Lucian and Crato is here +quoted from a translation then just published in four volumes, + + 'of the Works of Lucian, translated from the Greek by several Eminent + Hands, 1711.' + +The dialogue is in Vol. III, pp. 402--432, translated 'by Mr. Savage of +the Middle Temple.'] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Moll Peatley' was a popular and vigorous dance, dating, at +least, from 1622.] + + +[Footnote 4: In his scheme of a College and School, published in 1661, +as 'a Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy,' among +the ideas for training boys in the school is this, that + + 'in foul weather it would not be amiss for them to learn to Dance, + that is, to learn just so much (for all beyond is superfluous, if not + worse) as may give them a graceful comportment of their bodies.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 68. Friday, May 18, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Nos duo turba sumus ...' + + Ovid. + + +One would think that the larger the Company is, in which we are engaged, +the greater Variety of Thoughts and Subjects would be started in +Discourse; but instead of this, we find that Conversation is never so +much straightened and confined as in numerous Assemblies. When a +Multitude meet together upon any Subject of Discourse, their Debates are +taken up chiefly with Forms and general Positions; nay, if we come into +a more contracted Assembly of Men and Women, the Talk generally runs +upon the Weather, Fashions, News, and the like publick Topicks. In +Proportion as Conversation gets into Clubs and Knots of Friends, it +descends into Particulars, and grows more free and communicative: But +the most open, instructive, and unreserved Discourse, is that which +passes between two Persons who are familiar and intimate Friends. On +these Occasions, a Man gives a Loose to every Passion and every Thought +that is uppermost, discovers his most retired Opinions of Persons and +Things, tries the Beauty and Strength of his Sentiments, and exposes his +whole Soul to the Examination of his Friend. + +_Tully_ was the first who observed, that Friendship improves Happiness +and abates Misery, by the doubling of our Joy and dividing of our Grief; +a Thought in which he hath been followed by all the Essayers upon +Friendship, that have written since his Time. Sir _Francis Bacon_ has +finely described other Advantages, or, as he calls them, Fruits of +Friendship; and indeed there is no Subject of Morality which has been +better handled and more exhausted than this. Among the several fine +things which have been spoken of it, I shall beg leave to quote some out +of a very ancient Author, whose Book would be regarded by our Modern +Wits as one of the most shining Tracts of Morality that is extant, if it +appeared under the Name of a _Confucius_, or of any celebrated _Grecian_ +Philosopher: I mean the little Apocryphal Treatise entitled, _The Wisdom +of the Son of_ Sirach. How finely has he described the Art of making +Friends, by an obliging and affable Behaviour? And laid down that +Precept which a late excellent Author has delivered as his own, + + 'That we should have many Well-wishers, but few 'Friends.' + + _Sweet Language will multiply Friends; and a fair-speaking Tongue will + increase kind Greetings. Be in Peace with many, nevertheless have but + one Counsellor of a thousand_. [1] + +With what Prudence does he caution us in the Choice of our Friends? And +with what Strokes of Nature (I could almost say of Humour) has he +described the Behaviour of a treacherous and self-interested Friend? + + _If thou wouldst get a Friend, prove him first, and be not hasty to + credit him: For some Man is a Friend for his own Occasion, and will + not abide in the Day of thy Trouble. And there is a Friend, who being + turned to Enmity and Strife will discover thy Reproach_. + +Again, + + _Some Friend is a Companion at the Table, and will not continue in the + Day of thy Affliction: But in thy Prosperity he will be as thy self, + and will be bold over thy Servants. If thou be brought low he will be + against thee, and hide himself from thy Face._ [2] + +What can be more strong and pointed than the following Verse? + + _Separate thy self from thine Enemies, and take heed of thy Friends._ + +In the next Words he particularizes one of those Fruits of Friendship +which is described at length by the two famous Authors above-mentioned, +and falls into a general Elogium of Friendship, which is very just as +well as very sublime. + + _A faithful Friend is a strong Defence; and he that hath found such an + one, hath found a Treasure. Nothing doth countervail a faithful + Friend, and his Excellency is unvaluable. A faithful Friend is the + Medicine of Life; and they that fear the Lord shall find him. Whoso + feareth the Lord shall direct his Friendship aright; for as he is, so + shall his Neighbour_ (that is, his Friend) _be also._ [3] + +I do not remember to have met with any Saying that has pleased me more +than that of a Friend's being the Medicine of Life, to express the +Efficacy of Friendship in healing the Pains and Anguish which naturally +cleave to our Existence in this World; and am Wonderfully pleased with +the Turn in the last Sentence, That a virtuous Man shall as a Blessing +meet with a Friend who is as virtuous as himself. There is another +Saying in the same Author, which would have been very much admired in an +Heathen Writer; + + _Forsake not an old Friend, for the new is not comparable to him: A + new Friend is as new Wine; When it is old thou shalt drink it with + Pleasure._ [4] + +With what Strength of Allusion and Force of Thought, has he described +the Breaches and Violations of Friendship? + + _Whoso casteth a Stone at the Birds frayeth them away; and he that + upbraideth his Friend, breaketh Friendship. Tho' thou drawest a Sword + at a Friend yet despair not, for there may be a returning to Favour: + If thou hast opened thy Mouth against thy Friend fear not, for there + may be a Reconciliation; except for Upbraiding, or Pride, or + disclosing of Secrets, or a treacherous Wound; for, for these things + every Friend will depart._ [5] + +We may observe in this and several other Precepts in this Author, those +little familiar Instances and Illustrations, which are so much admired +in the moral Writings of _Horace_ and _Epictetus_. There are very +beautiful Instances of this Nature in the following Passages, which are +likewise written upon the same Subject: + + _Whoso discovereth Secrets, loseth his Credit, and shall never find a + Friend to his Mind. Love thy Friend, and be faithful unto him; but if + thou bewrayest his Secrets, follow no more after him: For as a Man + hath destroyed his Enemy, so hast thou lost the Love of thy Friend; as + one that letteth a Bird go out of his Hand, so hast thou let thy + Friend go, and shalt not get him again: Follow after him no mere, for + he is too far off; he is as a Roe escaped out of the Snare. As for a + Wound it may be bound up, and after reviling there may be + Reconciliation; but he that bewrayeth Secrets, is without Hope._ [6] + +Among the several Qualifications of a good Friend, this wise Man has +very justly singled out Constancy and Faithfulness as the principal: To +these, others have added Virtue, Knowledge, Discretion, Equality in Age +and Fortune, and as _Cicero_ calls it, _Morum Comitas_, a Pleasantness +of Temper. [7] If I were to give my Opinion upon such an exhausted +Subject, I should join to these other Qualifications a certain +Æquability or Evenness of Behaviour. A Man often contracts a Friendship +with one whom perhaps he does not find out till after a Year's +Conversation; when on a sudden some latent ill Humour breaks out upon +him, which he never discovered or suspected at his first entering into +an Intimacy with him. There are several Persons who in some certain +Periods of their Lives are inexpressibly agreeable, and in others as +odious and detestable. _Martial_ has given us a very pretty Picture of +one of this Species in the following Epigram: + + Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es idem, + Nec tecum possum vivere, nec sine te. + + In all thy Humours, whether grave or mellow, + Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant Fellow; + Hast so much Wit, and Mirth, and Spleen about thee, + There is no living with thee, nor without thee. + +It is very unlucky for a Man to be entangled in a Friendship with one, +who by these Changes and Vicissitudes of Humour is sometimes amiable and +sometimes odious: And as most Men are at some Times in an admirable +Frame and Disposition of Mind, it should be one of the greatest Tasks of +Wisdom to keep our selves well when we are so, and never to go out of +that which is the agreeable Part of our Character. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Ecclesiasticus vii. 5, 6.] + + +[Footnote 2: Eccles. vi. 7, and following verses.] + + +[Footnote 3: Eccles. vi. 15-18.] + + +[Footnote 4: Eccles. ix. 10.] + + +[Footnote 5: Eccles. ix, 20-22.] + + +[Footnote 6: Eccles. xxvii. 16, &c.] + + +[Footnote 7: Cicero 'de Amicitiâ', and in the 'De Officiis' he says +(Bk. II.), + + 'difficile dicta est, quantopere conciliet animos hominum comitas, + affabilitasque sermonia.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 69. Saturday, May 19, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvæ: + Arborei foetus alibi, atque injussa virescunt + Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, + India mittit ebur, molles sua thura Sabæi? + At Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus + Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epirus equarum? + Continuo has leges æternaque foedera certis + Imposuit Natura locis ...' + + Virg. + + +There is no Place in the Town which I so much love to frequent as the +_Royal-Exchange_. It gives me a secret Satisfaction, and in some +measure, gratifies my Vanity, as I am an _Englishman_, to see so rich an +Assembly of Countrymen and Foreigners consulting together upon the +private Business of Mankind, and making this Metropolis a kind of +_Emporium_ for the whole Earth. I must confess I look upon High-Change +to be a great Council, in which all considerable Nations have their +Representatives. Factors in the Trading World are what Ambassadors are +in the Politick World; they negotiate Affairs, conclude Treaties, and +maintain a good Correspondence between those wealthy Societies of Men +that are divided from one another by Seas and Oceans, or live on the +different Extremities of a Continent. I have often been pleased to hear +Disputes adjusted between an Inhabitant of _Japan_ and an Alderman of +_London_, or to see a Subject of the _Great Mogul_ entering into a +League with one of the _Czar of Muscovy_. I am infinitely delighted in +mixing with these several Ministers of Commerce, as they are +distinguished by their different Walks and different Languages: +Sometimes I am justled among a Body of _Armenians_; Sometimes I am lost +in a Crowd of _Jews_; and sometimes make one in a Groupe of _Dutchmen_. +I am a _Dane_, _Swede_, or _Frenchman_ at different times; or rather +fancy my self like the old Philosopher, who upon being asked what +Countryman he was, replied, That he was a Citizen of the World. + +Though I very frequently visit this busie Multitude of People, I am +known to no Body there but my Friend, Sir ANDREW, who often smiles upon +me as he sees me bustling in the Crowd, but at the same time connives at +my Presence without taking any further Notice of me. There is indeed a +Merchant of _Egypt_, who just knows me by sight, having formerly +remitted me some Mony to _Grand Cairo_; [1] but as I am not versed in +the Modern _Coptick_, our Conferences go no further than a Bow and a +Grimace. + +This grand Scene of Business gives me an infinite Variety of solid and +substantial Entertainments. As I am a great Lover of Mankind, my Heart +naturally overflows with Pleasure at the sight of a prosperous and happy +Multitude, insomuch that at many publick Solemnities I cannot forbear +expressing my Joy with Tears that have stolen down my Cheeks. For this +Reason I am wonderfully delighted to see such a Body of Men thriving in +their own private Fortunes, and at the same time promoting the Publick +Stock; or in other Words, raising Estates for their own Families, by +bringing into their Country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it +whatever is superfluous. + +Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her +Blessings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this +mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the +several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance upon one +another, and be united together by their common Interest. Almost every +_Degree_ produces something peculiar to it. The Food often grows in one +Country, and the Sauce in another. The Fruits of _Portugal_ are +corrected by the Products of _Barbadoes:_ The Infusion of a _China_ +Plant sweetned with the Pith of an _Indian_ Cane. The _Philippick_ +Islands give a Flavour to our _European_ Bowls. The single Dress of a +Woman of Quality is often the Product of a hundred Climates. The Muff +and the Fan come together from the different Ends of the Earth. The +Scarf is sent from the Torrid Zone, and the Tippet from beneath the +Pole. The Brocade Petticoat rises out of the Mines of _Peru_, and the +Diamond Necklace out of the Bowels of _Indostan_. + +If we consider our own Country in its natural Prospect, without any of +the Benefits and Advantages of Commerce, what a barren uncomfortable +Spot of Earth falls to our Share! Natural Historians tell us, that no +Fruit grows Originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and +Pig-Nutts, with other Delicates of the like Nature; That our Climate of +itself, and without the Assistances of Art, can make no further Advances +towards a Plumb than to a Sloe, and carries an Apple to no greater a +Perfection than a Crab: That [our [2]] Melons, our Peaches, our Figs, +our Apricots, and Cherries, are Strangers among us, imported in +different Ages, and naturalized in our _English_ Gardens; and that they +would all degenerate and fall away into the Trash of our own Country, if +they were wholly neglected by the Planter, and left to the Mercy of our +Sun and Soil. Nor has Traffick more enriched our Vegetable World, than +it has improved the whole Face of Nature among us. Our Ships are laden +with the Harvest of every Climate: Our Tables are stored with Spices, +and Oils, and Wines: Our Rooms are filled with Pyramids of _China_, and +adorned with the Workmanship of _Japan_: Our Morning's Draught comes to +us from the remotest Corners of the Earth: We repair our Bodies by the +Drugs of _America_, and repose ourselves under _Indian_ Canopies. My +Friend Sir ANDREW calls the Vineyards of _France_ our Gardens; the +Spice-Islands our Hot-beds; the _Persians_ our Silk-Weavers, and the +_Chinese_ our Potters. Nature indeed furnishes us with the bare +Necessaries of Life, but Traffick gives us greater Variety of what is +Useful, and at the same time supplies us with every thing that is +Convenient and Ornamental. Nor is it the least Part of this our +Happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest Products of the North and +South, we are free from those Extremities of Weather [which [3]] give +them Birth; That our Eyes are refreshed with the green Fields of +_Britain_, at the same time that our Palates are feasted with Fruits +that rise between the Tropicks. + +For these Reasons there are no more useful Members in a Commonwealth +than Merchants. They knit Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of +good Offices, distribute the Gifts of Nature, find Work for the Poor, +add Wealth to the Rich, and Magnificence to the Great. Our _English_ +Merchant converts the Tin of his own Country into Gold, and exchanges +his Wool for Rubies. The _Mahometans_ are clothed in our _British_ +Manufacture, and the Inhabitants of the frozen Zone warmed with the +Fleeces of our Sheep. + +When I have been upon the _'Change_, I have often fancied one of our old +Kings standing in Person, where he is represented in Effigy, and looking +down upon the wealthy Concourse of People with which that Place is every +Day filled. In this Case, how would he be surprized to hear all the +Languages of _Europe_ spoken in this little Spot of his former +Dominions, and to see so many private Men, who in his Time would have +been the Vassals of some powerful Baron, negotiating like Princes for +greater Sums of Mony than were formerly to be met with in the Royal +Treasury! Trade, without enlarging the _British_ Territories, has given +us a kind of additional Empire: It has multiplied the Number of the +Rich, made our Landed Estates infinitely more Valuable than they were +formerly, and added to them an Accession of other Estates as Valuable as +the Lands themselves. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: A reference to the Spectator's voyage to Grand Cairo +mentioned in No. 1.] + + +[Footnote 2: "these Fruits, in their present State, as well as our"] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 70. Monday, May 21, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Interdum vulgus rectum videt.' + + Hor. + + +When I travelled, I took a particular Delight in hearing the Songs and +Fables that are come from Father to Son, and are most in Vogue among the +common People of the Countries through which I passed; for it is +impossible that any thing should be universally tasted and approved by a +Multitude, tho' they are only the Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in +it some peculiar Aptness to please and gratify the Mind of Man. Human +Nature is the same in all reasonable Creatures; and whatever falls in +with it, will meet with Admirers amongst Readers of all Qualities and +Conditions. _Molière_, as we are told by Monsieur _Boileau_, used to +read all his Comedies to [an [1]] old Woman [who [2]] was his +Housekeeper, as she sat with him at her Work by the Chimney-Corner; and +could foretel the Success of his Play in the Theatre, from the Reception +it met at his Fire-side: For he tells us the Audience always followed +the old Woman, and never failed to laugh in the same Place. [3] + +I know nothing which more shews the essential and inherent Perfection of +Simplicity of Thought, above that which I call the Gothick Manner in +Writing, than this, that the first pleases all Kinds of Palates, and the +latter only such as have formed to themselves a wrong artificial Taste +upon little fanciful Authors and Writers of Epigram. _Homer_, _Virgil_, +or _Milton_, so far as the Language of their Poems is understood, will +please a Reader of plain common Sense, who would neither relish nor +comprehend an Epigram of _Martial_, or a Poem of _Cowley_: So, on the +contrary, an ordinary Song or Ballad that is the Delight of the common +People, cannot fail to please all such Readers as are not unqualified +for the Entertainment by their Affectation or Ignorance; and the Reason +is plain, because the same Paintings of Nature which recommend it to the +most ordinary Reader, will appear Beautiful to the most refined. + +The old Song of _Chevey Chase_ is the favourite Ballad of the common +People of _England_; and _Ben Johnson_ used to say he had rather have +been the Author of it than of all his Works. Sir _Philip Sidney_ in his +'Discourse of Poetry' [4] speaks of it in the following Words; + + _I never heard the old Song of_ Piercy _and_ Douglas, _that I found + not my Heart more moved than with a Trumpet; and yet it is sung by + some blind Crowder with no rougher Voice than rude Stile; which being + so evil apparelled in the Dust and Cobweb of that uncivil Age, what + would it work trimmed in the gorgeous Eloquence of_ Pindar? + +For my own part I am so professed an Admirer of this antiquated Song, +that I shall give my Reader a Critick upon it, without any further +Apology for so doing. + +The greatest Modern Criticks have laid it down as a Rule, that an +Heroick Poem should be founded upon some important Precept of Morality, +adapted to the Constitution of the Country in which the Poet writes. +_Homer_ and _Virgil_ have formed their Plans in this View. As _Greece_ +was a Collection of many Governments, who suffered very much among +themselves, and gave the _Persian_ Emperor, who was their common Enemy, +many Advantages over them by their mutual Jealousies and Animosities, +_Homer_, in order to establish among them an Union, which was so +necessary for their Safety, grounds his Poem upon the Discords of the +several _Grecian_ Princes who were engaged in a Confederacy against an +_Asiatick_ Prince, and the several Advantages which the Enemy gained by +such their Discords. At the Time the Poem we are now treating of was +written, the Dissentions of the Barons, who were then so many petty +Princes, ran very high, whether they quarrelled among themselves, or +with their Neighbours, and produced unspeakable Calamities to the +Country: [5] The Poet, to deter Men from such unnatural Contentions, +describes a bloody Battle and dreadful Scene of Death, occasioned by the +mutual Feuds which reigned in the Families of an _English_ and _Scotch_ +Nobleman: That he designed this for the Instruction of his Poem, we may +learn from his four last Lines, in which, after the Example of the +modern Tragedians, he draws from it a Precept for the Benefit of his +Readers. + + _God save the King, and bless the Land + In Plenty, Joy, and Peace; + And grant henceforth that foul Debate + 'Twixt Noblemen may cease._ + + +The next Point observed by the greatest Heroic Poets, hath been to +celebrate Persons and Actions which do Honour to their Country: Thus +_Virgil's_ Hero was the Founder of _Rome_, _Homer's_ a Prince of +_Greece_; and for this Reason _Valerius Flaccus_ and _Statius_, who were +both _Romans_, might be justly derided for having chosen the Expedition +of the _Golden Fleece_, and the _Wars of Thebes_ for the Subjects of +their Epic Writings. + +The Poet before us has not only found out an Hero in his own Country, +but raises the Reputation of it by several beautiful Incidents. The +_English_ are the first [who [6]] take the Field, and the last [who [7]] +quit it. The _English_ bring only Fifteen hundred to the Battle, the +_Scotch_ Two thousand. The _English_ keep the Field with Fifty three: +The _Scotch_ retire with Fifty five: All the rest on each side being +slain in Battle. But the most remarkable Circumstance of this kind, is +the different Manner in which the _Scotch_ and _English_ Kings [receive +[8]] the News of this Fight, and of the great Men's Deaths who commanded +in it. + + _This News was brought to_ Edinburgh, + _Where_ Scotland's _King did reign, + That brave Earl_ Douglas _suddenly + Was with an Arrow slain. + + O heavy News, King James did say,_ + Scotland _can Witness be, + I have not any Captain more + Of such Account as he. + + Like Tydings to King_ Henry _came + Within as short a Space, + That_ Piercy _of_ Northumberland + _Was slain in_ Chevy-Chase. + + _Now God be with him, said our King, + Sith 'twill no better be, + I trust I have within my Realm + Five hundred as good as he. + + Yet shall not_ Scot _nor_ Scotland _say + But I will Vengeance take, + And be revenged on them all + For brave Lord_ Piercy's _Sake. + + This Vow full well the King performed + After on_ Humble-down, + _In one Day fifty Knights were slain, + With Lords of great Renown. + + And of the rest of small Account + Did many Thousands dye,_ &c. + +At the same time that our Poet shews a laudable Partiality to his +Countrymen, he represents the _Scots_ after a Manner not unbecoming so +bold and brave a People. + + _Earl Douglas on a milk-white Steed, + Most like a Baron bold, + Rode foremost of the Company + Whose Armour shone like Gold_. + +His Sentiments and Actions are every Way suitable to an Hero. One of us +two, says he, must dye: I am an Earl as well as your self, so that you +can have no Pretence for refusing the Combat: However, says he, 'tis +Pity, and indeed would be a Sin, that so many innocent Men should perish +for our sakes, rather let you and I end our Quarrel [in single Fight. +[9]] + + _Ere thus I will out-braved be, + One of us two shall dye; + I know thee well, an Earl thou art, + Lord Piercy, so am I. + + But trust me_, Piercy, _Pity it were, + And great Offence, to kill + Any of these our harmless Men, + For they have done no Ill. + + Let thou and I the Battle try, + And set our Men aside; + Accurst be he, Lord_ Piercy _said, + By whom this is deny'd_. + +When these brave Men had distinguished themselves in the Battle and a +single Combat with each other, in the Midst of a generous Parly, full of +heroic Sentiments, the _Scotch_ Earl falls; and with his dying Words +encourages his Men to revenge his Death, representing to them, as the +most bitter Circumstance of it, that his Rival saw him fall. + + _With that there came an Arrow keen + Out of an_ English _Bow, + Which struck Earl_ Douglas _to the Heart + A deep and deadly Blow. + + Who never spoke more Words than these, + Fight on, my merry Men all, + For why, my Life is at an End, + Lord_ Piercy sees _my Fall. + +_Merry Men_, in the Language of those Times, is no more than a cheerful +Word for Companions and Fellow-Soldiers. A Passage in the Eleventh Book +of _Virgil's Æneid_ is very much to be admired, where _Camilla_ in her +last Agonies instead of weeping over the Wound she had received, as one +might have expected from a Warrior of her Sex, considers only (like the +Hero of whom we are now speaking) how the Battle should be continued +after her Death. + + _Tum sic exspirans_, &c. + + _A gathering Mist overclouds her chearful Eyes; + And from her Cheeks the rosie Colour flies. + Then turns to her, whom, of her Female Train, + She trusted most, and thus she speaks with Pain. + Acca, 'tis past! He swims before my Sight, + Inexorable Death; and claims his Right. + Bear my last Words to Turnus, fly with Speed, + And bid him timely to my Charge succeed; + Repel the Trojans, and the Town relieve: + Farewel_ ... + +_Turnus_ did not die in so heroic a Manner; tho' our Poet seems to +have had his Eye upon _Turnus's_ Speech in the last Verse, + +_Lord Piercy sees my Fall. +... Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas +Ausonii videre_ ... + +Earl _Piercy's_ Lamentation over his Enemy is generous, beautiful, and +passionate; I must only caution the Reader not to let the Simplicity of +the Stile, which one may well pardon in so old a Poet, prejudice him +against the Greatness of the Thought. + + _Then leaving Life, Earl Piercy took + The dead Man by the Hand, + And said, Earl Douglas, for thy Life + Would I had lost my Land. + + O Christ! my very heart doth bleed + With Sorrow for thy Sake; + For sure a more renowned Knight + Mischance did never take_. + +That beautiful Line, _Taking the dead Man by the Hand_, will put the +Reader in mind of _Æneas's_ Behaviour towards _Lausus_, whom he himself +had slain as he came to the Rescue of his aged Father. + + _At vero ut vultum vidit morientis, et ora, + Ora modis Anchisiades, pallentia miris; + Ingemuit, miserans graviter, dextramque tetendit, &c. + + The pious Prince beheld young Lausus dead; + He grieved, he wept; then grasped his Hand, and said, + Poor hapless Youth! What Praises can be paid + To worth so great ..._ + +I shall take another Opportunity to consider the other Part of this old +Song. + + + +[Footnote 1: a little] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: Besides the old woman, Moliere is said to have relied on +the children of the Comedians, read his pieces to them, and corrected +passages at which they did not show themselves to be amused.] + + +[Footnote 4: 'Defence of Poesy'.] + + +[Footnote 5: The author of Chevy Chase was not contemporary with the +dissensions of the Barons, even if the ballad of the 'Hunting of the +Cheviot' was a celebration of the Battle of Otterbourne, fought in 1388, +some 30 miles from Newcastle. The battle of Chevy Chase, between the +Percy and the Douglas, was fought in Teviotdale, and the ballad which +moved Philip Sidney's heart was written in the fifteenth century. It may +have referred to a Battle of Pepperden, fought near the Cheviot Hills, +between the Earl of Northumberland and Earl William Douglas of Angus, in +1436. The ballad quoted by Addison is not that of which Sidney spoke, +but a version of it, written after Sidney's death, and after the best +plays of Shakespeare had been written.] + + +[Footnote 6: that] + + +[Footnote 7: that] + + +[Footnote 8: received] + + +[Footnote 9: by a single Combat.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 71. Tuesday, May 22, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Scribere jussit Amor.' + + Ovid. + + +The entire Conquest of our Passions is so difficult a Work, that they +who despair of it should think of a less difficult Task, and only +attempt to Regulate them. But there is a third thing which may +contribute not only to the Ease, but also to the Pleasure of our Life; +and that is refining our Passions to a greater Elegance, than we receive +them from Nature. When the Passion is Love, this Work is performed in +innocent, though rude and uncultivated Minds, by the mere Force and +Dignity of the Object. There are Forms which naturally create Respect in +the Beholders, and at once Inflame and Chastise the Imagination. Such an +Impression as this gives an immediate Ambition to deserve, in order to +please. This Cause and Effect are beautifully described by Mr. +_Dryden_ in the Fable of _Cymon_ and _Iphigenia_. After +he has represented _Cymon_ so stupid, that + + _He Whistled as he went, for want of Thought_, + +he makes him fall into the following Scene, and shews its Influence upon +him so excellently, that it appears as Natural as Wonderful. + + _It happen'd on a Summer's Holiday, + That to the Greenwood-shade he took his Way; + His Quarter-staff, which he cou'd ne'er forsake, + Hung half before, and half behind his Back. + He trudg'd along unknowing what he sought, + And whistled as he went, for want of Thought. + + By Chance conducted, or by Thirst constrain'd, + The deep recesses of the Grove he gain'd; + Where in a Plain, defended by the Wood, + Crept thro' the matted Grass a Crystal Flood, + By which an Alabaster Fountain stood: + And on the Margin of the Fount was laid, + (Attended by her Slaves) a sleeping Maid, + Like_ Dian, _and her Nymphs, when, tir'd with Sport, + To rest by cool_ Eurotas _they resort: + The Dame herself the Goddess well expressed, + Not more distinguished by her Purple Vest, + Than by the charming Features of her Face, + And even in Slumber a superior Grace: + Her comely Limbs composed with decent Care, + Her Body shaded with a slight Cymarr; + Her Bosom to the View was only bare_:[1] + + ... + + _The fanning Wind upon her Bosom blows, + To meet the fanning Wind the Bosom rose; + The fanning Wind and purling Streams continue her Repose. + + The Fool of Nature stood with stupid Eyes + And gaping Mouth, that testify'd Surprize, + Fix'd on her Face, nor could remove his Sight, + New as he was to Love, and Novice in Delight: + Long mute he stood, and leaning on his Staff, + His Wonder witness'd with an Idiot Laugh; + Then would have spoke, but by his glimmering Sense + First found his want of Words, and fear'd Offence: + Doubted for what he was he should be known, + By his Clown-Accent, and his Country Tone_. + + +But lest this fine Description should be excepted against, as the +Creation of that great Master, Mr. _Dryden_, and not an Account of what +has really ever happened in the World; I shall give you, _verbatim_, the +Epistle of an enamoured Footman in the Country to his Mistress. [2] +Their Sirnames shall not be inserted, because their Passion demands a +greater Respect than is due to their Quality. _James_ is Servant in a +great Family, and Elizabeth waits upon the Daughter of one as numerous, +some Miles off of her Lover. _James_, before he beheld _Betty_, was vain +of his Strength, a rough Wrestler, and quarrelsome Cudgel-Player; +_Betty_ a Publick Dancer at Maypoles, a Romp at Stool-Ball: He always +following idle Women, she playing among the Peasants: He a Country +Bully, she a Country Coquet. But Love has made her constantly in her +Mistress's Chamber, where the young Lady gratifies a secret Passion of +her own, by making _Betty_ talk of _James_; and _James_ is become a +constant Waiter near his Master's Apartment, in reading, as well as he +can, Romances. I cannot learn who _Molly_ is, who it seems walked Ten +Mile to carry the angry Message, which gave Occasion to what follows. + + To _ELIZABETH_ ... + + _My Dear Betty_, May 14, 1711. + + Remember your bleeding Lover, + who lies bleeding at the ... + _Where two beginning Paps were scarcely spy'd, + For yet their Places were but signify'd_. + + Wounds _Cupid_ made with the Arrows he borrowed at the Eyes of _Venus_, + which is your sweet Person. + + Nay more, with the Token you sent me for my Love and Service offered + to your sweet Person; which was your base Respects to my ill + Conditions; when alas! there is no ill Conditions in me, but quite + contrary; all Love and Purity, especially to your sweet Person; but + all this I take as a Jest. + + But the sad and dismal News which _Molly_ brought me, struck me to the + Heart, which was, it seems, and is your ill Conditions for my Love and + Respects to you. + + For she told me, if I came Forty times to you, you would not speak + with me, which Words I am sure is a great Grief to me. + + Now, my Dear, if I may not be permitted to your sweet Company, and to + have the Happiness of speaking with your sweet Person, I beg the + Favour of you to accept of this my secret Mind and Thoughts, which + hath so long lodged in my Breast; the which if you do not accept, I + believe will go nigh to break my Heart. + + For indeed, my Dear, I Love you above all the Beauties I ever saw in + all my Life. + + The young Gentleman, and my Masters Daughter, the _Londoner_ that is + come down to marry her, sat in the Arbour most part of last Night. Oh! + dear _Betty_, must the Nightingales sing to those who marry for Mony, + and not to us true Lovers! Oh my dear _Betty_, that we could meet this + Night where we used to do in the Wood! + + Now, my Dear, if I may not have the Blessing of kissing your sweet + Lips, I beg I may have the Happiness of kissing your fair Hand, with a + few Lines from your dear self, presented by whom you please or think + fit. I believe, if Time would permit me, I could write all Day; but + the Time being short, and Paper little, no more from your + never-failing Lover till Death, James ... + +Poor James! Since his Time and Paper were so short; I, that have more +than I can use well of both, will put the Sentiments of his kind Letter +(the Stile of which seems to be confused with Scraps he had got in +hearing and reading what he did not understand) into what he meant to +express. + + Dear Creature, Can you then neglect him who has forgot all his + Recreations and Enjoyments, to pine away his Life in thinking of you? + + When I do so, you appear more amiable to me than _Venus_ does in the + most beautiful Description that ever was made of her. All this + Kindness you return with an Accusation, that I do not love you: But + the contrary is so manifest, that I cannot think you in earnest. But + the Certainty given me in your Message by _Molly_, that you do not + love me, is what robs me of all Comfort. She says you will not see me: + If you can have so much Cruelty, at least write to me, that I may kiss + the Impression made by your fair Hand. I love you above all things, + and, in my Condition, what you look upon with Indifference is to me + the most exquisite Pleasure or Pain. Our young Lady, and a fine + Gentleman from _London_, who are to marry for mercenary Ends, walk + about our Gardens, and hear the Voice of Evening Nightingales, as if + for Fashion-sake they courted those Solitudes, because they have heard + Lovers do so. Oh _Betty!_ could I hear these Rivulets murmur, and + Birds sing while you stood near me, how little sensible should I be + that we are both Servants, that there is anything on Earth above us. + Oh! I could write to you as long as I love you, till Death it self. + + _JAMES_. + +_N. B._ By the Words _Ill-Conditions_, James means in a Woman +_Coquetry_, in a Man _Inconstancy_. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: The next couplet Steele omits:] + + +[Footnote 2: James Hirst, a servant to the Hon. Edward Wortley (who was +familiar with Steele, and a close friend of Addison's), by mistake gave +to his master, with a parcel of letters, one that he had himself written +to his sweetheart. Mr. Wortley opened it, read it, and would not return +it. + + 'No, James,' he said, 'you shall be a great man. This letter must + appear in the Spectator.' + +And so it did. The end of the love story is that Betty died when on the +point of marriage to James, who, out of love to her, married her +sister.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 72. Wednesday, May 23, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Genus immortale manet, multosque per annos + Stat fortuna Domus, et avi numerantur avorum.' + + Virg. + + +Having already given my Reader an Account of several extraordinary Clubs +both ancient and modern, I did not design to have troubled him with any +more Narratives of this Nature; but I have lately received Information +of a Club which I can call neither ancient nor modern, that I dare say +will be no less surprising to my Reader than it was to my self; for +which Reason I shall communicate it to the Publick as one of the +greatest Curiosities in its kind. + +A Friend of mine complaining of a Tradesman who is related to him, after +having represented him as a very idle worthless Fellow, who neglected +his Family, and spent most of his Time over a Bottle, told me, to +conclude his Character, that he was a Member of the _Everlasting Club_. +So very odd a Title raised my Curiosity to enquire into the Nature of a +Club that had such a sounding Name; upon which my Friend gave me the +following Account. + +The Everlasting Club consists of a hundred Members, who divide the whole +twenty four Hours among them in such a Manner, that the Club sits Day +and Night from one end of the Year to [another [1]], no Party presuming +to rise till they are relieved by those who are in course to succeed +them. By this means a Member of the Everlasting Club never wants +Company; for tho' he is not upon Duty himself, he is sure to find some +[who [2]] are; so that if he be disposed to take a Whet, a Nooning, an +Evening's Draught, or a Bottle after Midnight, he goes to the Club and +finds a Knot of Friends to his Mind. + +It is a Maxim in this Club That the Steward never dies; for as they +succeed one another by way of Rotation, no Man is to quit the great +Elbow-chair [which [2]] stands at the upper End of the Table, 'till his +Successor is in a Readiness to fill it; insomuch that there has not been +a _Sede vacante_ in the Memory of Man. + +This Club was instituted towards the End (or, as some of them say, about +the Middle) of the Civil Wars, and continued without Interruption till +the Time of the _Great Fire_, [3] which burnt them out and dispersed +them for several Weeks. The Steward at that time maintained his Post +till he had like to have been blown up with a neighbouring-House, (which +was demolished in order to stop the Fire;) and would not leave the Chair +at last, till he had emptied all the Bottles upon the Table, and +received repeated Directions from the Club to withdraw himself. This +Steward is frequently talked of in the Club, and looked upon by every +Member of it as a greater Man, than the famous Captain [mentioned in my +Lord _Clarendon_, [who [2]] was burnt in his Ship because he would not +quit it without Orders. It is said that towards the close of 1700, being +the great Year of Jubilee, the Club had it under Consideration whether +they should break up or continue their Session; but after many Speeches +and Debates it was at length agreed to sit out the other Century. This +Resolution passed in a general Club _Nemine Contradicente_. + +Having given this short Account of the Institution and Continuation of +the Everlasting Club, I should here endeavour to say something of the +Manners and Characters of its several Members, which I shall do +according to the best Lights I have received in this Matter. + +It appears by their Books in general, that, since their first +Institution, they have smoked fifty Tun of Tobacco; drank thirty +thousand Butts of Ale, One thousand Hogsheads of Red Port, Two hundred +Barrels of Brandy, and a Kilderkin of small Beer. There has been +likewise a great Consumption of Cards. It is also said, that they +observe the law in _Ben. Johnson's_ Club, which orders the Fire to be +always kept in (_focus perennis esto_) as well for the Convenience of +lighting their Pipes, as to cure the Dampness of the Club-Room. They +have an old Woman in the nature of a Vestal, whose Business it is to +cherish and perpetuate the Fire [which [2]] burns from Generation to +Generation, and has seen the Glass-house Fires in and out above an +Hundred Times. + +The Everlasting Club treats all other Clubs with an Eye of Contempt, and +talks even of the Kit-Cat and October as of a couple of Upstarts. Their +ordinary Discourse (as much as I have been able to learn of it) turns +altogether upon such Adventures as have passed in their own Assembly; of +Members who have taken the Glass in their Turns for a Week together, +without stirring out of their Club; of others [who [2]] have smoaked an +Hundred Pipes at a Sitting; of others [who [2]] have not missed their +Morning's Draught for Twenty Years together: Sometimes they speak in +Raptures of a Run of Ale in King Charles's Reign; and sometimes reflect +with Astonishment upon Games at Whisk, [which [2]] have been +miraculously recovered by Members of the Society, when in all human +Probability the Case was desperate. + +They delight in several old Catches, which they sing at all Hours to +encourage one another to moisten their Clay, and grow immortal by +drinking; with many other edifying Exhortations of the like Nature. + +There are four general Clubs held in a Year, at which Times they fill up +Vacancies, appoint Waiters, confirm the old Fire-Maker or elect a new +one, settle Contributions for Coals, Pipes, Tobacco, and other +Necessaries. + +The Senior Member has out-lived the whole Club twice over, and has been +drunk with the Grandfathers of some of the present sitting Members. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: The other] + + +[Footnotes 2 (several): that] + + +[Footnote 3: Of London in 1666.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 73. Thursday, May 24, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... O Dea certé!' + + Virg. + + +It is very strange to consider, that a Creature like Man, who is +sensible of so many Weaknesses and Imperfections, should be actuated by +a Love of Fame: That Vice and Ignorance, Imperfection and Misery should +contend for Praise, and endeavour as much as possible to make themselves +Objects of Admiration. + +But notwithstanding Man's Essential Perfection is but very little, his +Comparative Perfection may be very considerable. If he looks upon +himself in an abstracted Light, he has not much to boast of; but if he +considers himself with regard to it in others, he may find Occasion of +glorying, if not in his own Virtues at least in the Absence of another's +Imperfections. This gives a different Turn to the Reflections of the +Wise Man and the Fool. The first endeavours to shine in himself, and the +last to outshine others. The first is humbled by the Sense of his own +Infirmities, the last is lifted up by the Discovery of those which he +observes in other men. The Wise Man considers what he wants, and the +Fool what he abounds in. The Wise Man is happy when he gains his own +Approbation, and the Fool when he Recommends himself to the Applause of +those about him. + +But however unreasonable and absurd this Passion for Admiration may +appear in such a Creature as Man, it is not wholly to be discouraged; +since it often produces very good Effects, not only as it restrains him +from doing any thing [which [1]] is mean and contemptible, but as it +pushes him to Actions [which [1]] are great and glorious. The Principle +may be defective or faulty, but the Consequences it produces are so +good, that, for the Benefit of Mankind, it ought not to be extinguished. + +It is observed by Cicero,[2]--that men of the greatest and the most +shining Parts are the most actuated by Ambition; and if we look into the +two Sexes, I believe we shall find this Principle of Action stronger in +Women than in Men. + +The Passion for Praise, which is so very vehement in the Fair Sex, +produces excellent Effects in Women of Sense, who desire to be admired +for that only which deserves Admiration: + +And I think we may observe, without a Compliment to them, that many of +them do not only live in a more uniform Course of Virtue, but with an +infinitely greater Regard to their Honour, than what we find in the +Generality of our own Sex. How many Instances have we of Chastity, +Fidelity, Devotion? How many Ladies distinguish themselves by the +Education of their Children, Care of their Families, and Love of their +Husbands, which are the great Qualities and Atchievements of Womankind: +As the making of War, the carrying on of Traffic, the Administration of +Justice, are those by which Men grow famous, and get themselves a Name. + +But as this Passion for Admiration, when it works according to Reason, +improves the beautiful Part of our Species in every thing that is +Laudable; so nothing is more Destructive to them when it is governed by +Vanity and Folly. What I have therefore here to say, only regards the +vain Part of the Sex, whom for certain Reasons, which the Reader will +hereafter see at large, I shall distinguish by the Name of _Idols_. An +_Idol_ is wholly taken up in the Adorning of her Person. You see in +every Posture of her Body, Air of her Face, and Motion of her Head, that +it is her Business and Employment to gain Adorers. For this Reason your +_Idols_ appear in all publick Places and Assemblies, in order to seduce +Men to their Worship. The Play-house is very frequently filled with +_Idols_; several of them are carried in Procession every Evening about +the Ring, and several of them set up their Worship even in Churches. +They are to be accosted in the Language proper to the Deity. Life and +Death are in their Power: Joys of Heaven and Pains of Hell are at their +Disposal: Paradise is in their Arms, and Eternity in every Moment that +you are present with them. Raptures, Transports, and Ecstacies are the +Rewards which they confer: Sighs and Tears, Prayers and broken Hearts, +are the Offerings which are paid to them. Their Smiles make Men happy; +their Frowns drive them to Despair. I shall only add under this Head, +that _Ovid's_ Book of the Art of Love is a kind of Heathen Ritual, which +contains all the forms of Worship which are made use of to an _Idol_. + +It would be as difficult a Task to reckon up these different kinds of +_Idols_, as _Milton's_ was [3] to number those that were known in +_Canaan_, and the Lands adjoining. Most of them are worshipped, like +_Moloch_, in _Fire and Flames_. Some of them, like _Baal_, love to see +their Votaries cut and slashed, and shedding their Blood for them. Some +of them, like the _Idol_ in the _Apocrypha_, must have Treats and +Collations prepared for them every Night. It has indeed been known, that +some of them have been used by their incensed Worshippers like the +_Chinese Idols_, who are Whipped and Scourged when they refuse to comply +with the Prayers that are offered to them. + +I must here observe, that those Idolaters who devote themselves to the +_Idols_ I am here speaking of, differ very much from all other kinds of +Idolaters. For as others fall out because they Worship different +_Idols_, these Idolaters quarrel because they Worship the same. + +The Intention therefore of the _Idol_ is quite contrary to the wishes of +the Idolater; as the one desires to confine the Idol to himself, the +whole Business and Ambition of the other is to multiply Adorers. This +Humour of an _Idol_ is prettily described in a Tale of _Chaucer_; He +represents one of them sitting at a Table with three of her Votaries +about her, who are all of them courting her Favour, and paying their +Adorations: She smiled upon one, drank to another, and trod upon the +other's Foot which was under the Table. Now which of these three, says +the old Bard, do you think was the Favourite? In troth, says he, not one +of all the three. [4] + +The Behaviour of this old _Idol_ in _Chaucer_, puts me in mind of the +Beautiful _Clarinda_, one of the greatest _Idols_ among the Moderns. She +is Worshipped once a Week by Candle-light, in the midst of a large +Congregation generally called an Assembly. Some of the gayest Youths in +the Nation endeavour to plant themselves in her Eye, whilst she sits in +form with multitudes of Tapers burning about her. To encourage the Zeal +of her Idolaters, she bestows a Mark of her Favour upon every one of +them, before they go out of her Presence. She asks a Question of one, +tells a Story to another, glances an Ogle upon a third, takes a Pinch of +Snuff from the fourth, lets her Fan drop by accident to give the fifth +an Occasion of taking it up. In short, every one goes away satisfied +with his Success, and encouraged to renew his Devotions on the same +Canonical Hour that Day Sevennight. + +An _Idol_ may be Undeified by many accidental Causes. Marriage in +particular is a kind of Counter-_Apotheosis_, or a Deification inverted. +When a Man becomes familiar with his Goddess, she quickly sinks into a +Woman. + +Old Age is likewise a great Decayer of your _Idol_: The Truth of it is, +there is not a more unhappy Being than a Superannuated _Idol_, +especially when she has contracted such Airs and Behaviour as are only +Graceful when her Worshippers are about her. + +Considering therefore that in these and many other Cases the _Woman_ +generally outlives the _Idol_, I must return to the Moral of this Paper, +and desire my fair Readers to give a proper Direction to their Passion +for being admired; In order to which, they must endeavour to make +themselves the Objects of a reasonable and lasting Admiration. This is +not to be hoped for from Beauty, or Dress, or Fashion, but from those +inward Ornaments which are not to be defaced by Time or Sickness, and +which appear most amiable to those who are most acquainted with them. + +C. + + + +[Footnotes 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Tuscul. Quæst.' Lib. v. § 243.] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Paradise Lost', Bk. I.] + + +[Footnote 4: The story is in 'The Remedy of Love' Stanzas 5--10.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 74. Friday, May 25, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Pendent opera interrupta ...' + + Virg. + + + +In my last _Monday's_ Paper I gave some general Instances of those +beautiful Strokes which please the Reader in the old Song of +_Chevey-Chase_; I shall here, according to my Promise, be more +particular, and shew that the Sentiments in that Ballad are extremely +natural and poetical, and full of [the [1]] majestick Simplicity which +we admire in the greatest of the ancient Poets: For which Reason I shall +quote several Passages of it, in which the Thought is altogether the +same with what we meet in several Passages of the _Æneid_; not that I +would infer from thence, that the Poet (whoever he was) proposed to +himself any Imitation of those Passages, but that he was directed to +them in general by the same Kind of Poetical Genius, and by the same +Copyings after Nature. + +Had this old Song been filled with Epigrammatical Turns and Points of +Wit, it might perhaps have pleased the wrong Taste of some Readers; but +it would never have become the Delight of the common People, nor have +warmed the Heart of Sir _Philip Sidney_ like the Sound of a Trumpet; it +is only Nature that can have this Effect, and please those Tastes which +are the most unprejudiced or the most refined. I must however beg leave +to dissent from so great an Authority as that of Sir _Philip Sidney_, in +the Judgment which he has passed as to the rude Stile and evil Apparel +of this antiquated Song; for there are several Parts in it where not +only the Thought but the Language is majestick, and the Numbers +[sonorous; [2]] at least, the _Apparel_ is much more _gorgeous_ than +many of the Poets made use of in Queen _Elizabeth's_ Time, as the Reader +will see in several of the following Quotations. + +What can be greater than either the Thought or the Expression in that +Stanza, + + _To drive the Deer with Hound and Horn + Earl_ Piercy _took his Way; + The Child may rue that was unborn + The Hunting of that Day!_ + +This way of considering the Misfortunes which this Battle would bring +upon Posterity, not only on those who were born immediately after the +Battle and lost their Fathers in it, but on those also who [perished +[3]] in future Battles which [took their rise [4]] from this Quarrel of +the two Earls, is wonderfully beautiful, and conformable to the Way of +Thinking among the ancient Poets. + + 'Audiet pugnas vilio parentum + + Rara juventus'. + + Hor. + +What can be more sounding and poetical, resemble more the majestic +Simplicity of the Ancients, than the following Stanzas? + + _The stout Earl of_ Northumberland + _A Vow to God did make, + His Pleasure in the_ Scotish _Woods + Three Summers Days to take. + + With fifteen hundred Bowmen bold, + All chosen Men of Might, + Who knew full well, in time of Need, + To aim their Shafts aright. + + The Hounds ran swiftly thro' the Woods + The nimble Deer to take, + And with their Cries the Hills and Dales + An Eccho shrill did make_. + + + ... Vocat ingenti Clamore Cithseron + Taygetique canes, domitrixque Epidaurus equorum: + Et vox assensu nemorum ingeminata remugit. + + + _Lo, yonder doth Earl_ Dowglas _come, + His Men in Armour bright; + Full twenty Hundred_ Scottish _Spears, + All marching in our Sight_. + + _All Men of pleasant Tividale, + Fast by the River Tweed, etc_. + + +The Country of the _Scotch_ Warriors, described in these two last +Verses, has a fine romantick Situation, and affords a couple of smooth +Words for Verse. If the Reader compares the forgoing six Lines of the +Song with the following Latin Verses, he will see how much they are +written in the Spirit of _Virgil_. + + _Adversi campo apparent, hastasque reductis + Protendunt longe dextris; et spicula vibrant; + Quique altum Preneste viri, quique arva Gabinæ + Junonis, gelidumque Anienem, et roscida rivis + Hernica saxa colunt: ... qui rosea rura Velini, + Qui Terticæ horrentes rupes, montemque Severum, + Casperiamque colunt, Forulosque et flumen Himellæ: + Qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt_ ... + +But to proceed. + + _Earl_ Dowglas _on a milk-white Steed, + Most like a Baron bold, + Rode foremost of the Company, + Whose Armour shone like Gold._ + +Turnus ut antevolans tardum precesserat agmen, &c. Vidisti, quo Turnus +equo, quibus ibat in armis Aureus ... + + _Our_ English _Archers bent their Bows + Their Hearts were good and true; + At the first Flight of Arrows sent, + Full threescore_ Scots _they slew. + + They clos'd full fast on ev'ry side, + No Slackness there was found. + And many a gallant Gentleman + Lay gasping on the Ground. + + With that there came an Arrow keen + Out of an_ English _Bow, + Which struck Earl_ Dowglas _to the Heart + A deep and deadly Blow._ + +Æneas was wounded after the same Manner by an unknown Hand in the midst +of a Parly. + + _Has inter voces, media inter talia verba, + Ecce viro stridens alis allapsa sagitta est, + Incertum quâ pulsa manu ... + +But of all the descriptive Parts of this Song, there are none more +beautiful than the four following Stanzas which have a great Force and +Spirit in them, and are filled with very natural Circumstances. The +Thought in the third Stanza was never touched by any other Poet, and is +such an one as would have shined in _Homer_ or in _Virgil_. + + So thus did both those Nobles die, + Whose Courage none could stain: + An _English_ Archer then perceived + The noble Earl was slain. + + He had a Bow bent in his Hand, + Made of a trusty Tree, + An Arrow of a Cloth-yard long + Unto the Head drew he. + + Against Sir _Hugh Montgomery_ + So right his Shaft he set, + The Gray-goose Wing that was thereon + In his Heart-Blood was wet. + + This Fight did last from Break of Day + Till setting of the Sun; + For when they rung the Evening Bell + The Battle scarce was done. + +One may observe likewise, that in the Catalogue of the Slain the Author +has followed the Example of the greatest ancient Poets, not only in +giving a long List of the Dead, but by diversifying it with little +Characters of particular Persons. + + And with Earl _Dowglas_ there was slain + Sir _Hugh Montgomery_, + Sir _Charles Carrel_, that from the Field + One Foot would never fly: + + Sir _Charles Murrel_ of Ratcliff too, + His Sister's Son was he; + Sir _David Lamb_, so well esteem'd, + Yet saved could not be. + +The familiar Sound in these Names destroys the Majesty of the +Description; for this Reason I do not mention this Part of the Poem but +to shew the natural Cast of Thought which appears in it, as the two last +Verses look almost like a Translation of _Virgil_. + + ... Cadit et Ripheus justissimus unus + Qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus æqui, + Diis aliter visum est ... + +In the Catalogue of the _English_ [who [5]] fell, _Witherington's_ +Behaviour is in the same manner particularized very artfully, as the +Reader is prepared for it by that Account which is given of him in the +Beginning of the Battle [; though I am satisfied your little Buffoon +Readers (who have seen that Passage ridiculed in _Hudibras_) will not be +able to take the Beauty of it: For which Reason I dare not so much as +quote it]. + + Then stept a gallant Squire forth, + _Witherington_ was his Name, + Who said, I would not have it told + To _Henry_ our King for Shame, + + That e'er my Captain fought on Foot, + And I stood looking on. + +We meet with the same Heroic Sentiments in _Virgil_. + + Non pudet, O Rutuli, cunctis pro talibus unam + Objectare animam? numerone an viribus æqui + Non sumus ... ? + +What can be more natural or more moving than the Circumstances in which +he describes the Behaviour of those Women who had lost their Husbands on +this fatal Day? + + Next Day did many Widows come + Their Husbands to bewail; + They washed their Wounds in brinish Tears, + But all would not prevail. + + Their Bodies bath'd in purple Blood, + They bore with them away; + They kiss'd them dead a thousand Times, + When they were clad in Clay. + +Thus we see how the Thoughts of this Poem, which naturally arise from +the Subject, are always simple, and sometimes exquisitely noble; that +the Language is often very sounding, and that the whole is written with +a true poetical Spirit. + +If this Song had been written in the _Gothic_ Manner, which is the +Delight of all our little Wits, whether Writers or Readers, it would not +have hit the Taste of so many Ages, and have pleased the Readers of all +Ranks and Conditions. I shall only beg Pardon for such a Profusion of +_Latin_ Quotations; which I should not have made use of, but that I +feared my own Judgment would have looked too singular on such a Subject, +had not I supported it by the Practice and Authority of _Virgil_. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: very sonorous;] + + +[Footnote 3: should perish] + + +[Footnote 4: should arise] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 75. Saturday, May 26, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res.' + + Hor. + + +It was with some Mortification that I suffered the Raillery of a Fine +Lady of my Acquaintance, for calling, in one of my Papers, _Dorimant_ a +Clown. She was so unmerciful as to take Advantage of my invincible +Taciturnity, and on that occasion, with great Freedom to consider the +Air, the Height, the Face, the Gesture of him who could pretend to judge +so arrogantly of Gallantry. She is full of Motion, Janty and lively in +her Impertinence, and one of those that commonly pass, among the +Ignorant, for Persons who have a great deal of Humour. She had the Play +of Sir _Fopling_ in her Hand, and after she had said it was happy for +her there was not so charming a Creature as _Dorimant_ now living, she +began with a Theatrical Air and Tone of Voice to Read, by way of Triumph +over me, some of his Speeches. _'Tis she, that lovely Hair, that easy +Shape, those wanton Eyes, and all those melting Charms about her Mouth, +which_ Medley _spoke of; I'll follow the Lottery, and put in for a Prize +with my Friend_ Bellair. + + _In Love the Victors from the Vanquish'd fly; + They fly that wound, and they pursue that dye, + +Then turning over the Leaves, she reads alternately, and speaks, + + _And you and_ Loveit _to her Cost shall find + I fathom all the Depths of Womankind_. + +Oh the Fine Gentleman! But here, continues she, is the Passage I admire +most, where he begins to Teize _Loveit_, and mimick Sir _Fopling_: Oh +the pretty Satyr, in his resolving to be a Coxcomb to please, since +Noise and Nonsense have such powerful Charms! + + _I, that I may Successful prove, + Transform my self to what you love_. + +Then how like a Man of the Town, so Wild and Gay is that + + _The Wife will find a Diff'rence in our Fate, + You wed a Woman, I a good Estate_. + +It would have been a very wild Endeavour for a Man of my Temper to offer +any Opposition to so nimble a Speaker as my Fair Enemy is; but her +Discourse gave me very many Reflections, when I had left her Company. +Among others, I could not but consider, with some Attention, the false +Impressions the generality (the Fair Sex more especially) have of what +should be intended, when they say a _Fine Gentleman_; and could not help +revolving that Subject in my Thoughts, and settling, as it were, an Idea +of that Character in my own Imagination. + +No Man ought to have the Esteem of the rest of the World, for any +Actions which are disagreeable to those Maxims which prevail, as the +Standards of Behaviour, in the Country wherein he lives. What is +opposite to the eternal Rules of Reason and good Sense, must be excluded +from any Place in the Carriage of a Well-bred Man. I did not, I confess, +explain myself enough on this Subject, when I called _Dorimant_ a Clown, +and made it an Instance of it, that he called the _Orange Wench_, +_Double Tripe_: I should have shewed, that Humanity obliges a Gentleman +to give no Part of Humankind Reproach, for what they, whom they +Reproach, may possibly have in Common with the most Virtuous and Worthy +amongst us. When a Gentleman speaks Coarsly, he has dressed himself +Clean to no purpose: The Cloathing of our Minds certainly ought to be +regarded before that of our Bodies. To betray in a Man's Talk a +corrupted Imagination, is a much greater Offence against the +Conversation of Gentlemen, than any Negligence of Dress imaginable. But +this Sense of the Matter is so far from being received among People even +of Condition, that _Vocifer_ passes for a fine Gentleman. He is Loud, +Haughty, Gentle, Soft, Lewd, and Obsequious by turns, just as a little +Understanding and great Impudence prompt him at the present Moment. He +passes among the silly Part of our Women for a Man of Wit, because he is +generally in Doubt. He contradicts with a Shrug, and confutes with a +certain Sufficiency, in professing such and such a Thing is above his +Capacity. What makes his Character the pleasanter is, that he is a +professed Deluder of Women; and because the empty Coxcomb has no Regard +to any thing that is of it self Sacred and Inviolable, I have heard an +unmarried Lady of Fortune say, It is pity so fine a Gentleman as +_Vocifer_ is so great an Atheist. The Crowds of such inconsiderable +Creatures that infest all Places of Assembling, every Reader will have +in his Eye from his own Observation; but would it not be worth +considering what sort of Figure a Man who formed himself upon those +Principles among us, which are agreeable to the Dictates of Honour and +Religion, would make in the familiar and ordinary Occurrences of Life? + +I hardly have observed any one fill his several Duties of Life better +than _Ignotus_. All the under Parts of his Behaviour and such as are +exposed to common Observation, have their Rise in him from great and +noble Motives. A firm and unshaken Expectation of another Life, makes +him become this; Humanity and Good-nature, fortified by the Sense of +Virtue, has the same Effect upon him, as the Neglect of all Goodness has +upon many others. Being firmly established in all Matters of Importance, +that certain Inattention which makes Men's Actions look easie appears in +him with greater Beauty: By a thorough Contempt of little Excellencies, +he is perfectly Master of them. This Temper of Mind leaves him under no +Necessity of Studying his Air, and he has this peculiar Distinction, +that his Negligence is unaffected. + +He that can work himself into a Pleasure in considering this Being as an +uncertain one, and think to reap an Advantage by its Discontinuance, is +in a fair way of doing all things with a graceful Unconcern, and +Gentleman-like Ease. Such a one does not behold his Life as a short, +transient, perplexing State, made up of trifling Pleasures, and great +Anxieties; but sees it in quite another Light; his Griefs are Momentary, +and his Joys Immortal. Reflection upon Death is not a gloomy and sad +Thought of Resigning every Thing that he Delights in, but it is a short +Night followed by an endless Day. What I would here contend for is, that +the more Virtuous the Man is, the nearer he will naturally be to the +Character of Genteel and Agreeable. A Man whose Fortune is Plentiful, +shews an Ease in his Countenance, and Confidence in his Behaviour, which +he that is under Wants and Difficulties cannot assume. It is thus with +the State of the Mind; he that governs his Thoughts with the everlasting +Rules of Reason and Sense, must have something so inexpressibly Graceful +in his Words and Actions, that every Circumstance must become him. The +Change of Persons or Things around him do not at all alter his +Situation, but he looks disinterested in the Occurrences with which +others are distracted, because the greatest Purpose of his Life is to +maintain an Indifference both to it and all its Enjoyments. In a word, +to be a Fine Gentleman, is to be a Generous and a Brave Man. What can +make a Man so much in constant Good-humour and Shine, as we call it, +than to be supported by what can never fail him, and to believe that +whatever happens to him was the best thing that could possibly befal +him, or else he on whom it depends would not have permitted it to have +befallen him at all? + +R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 76. Monday, May 28, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Ut tu Fortunam, sic nos te, Celse, feremus.' + + Hor. + + +There is nothing so common as to find a Man whom in the general +Observations of his Carriage you take to be of an uniform Temper, +subject to such unaccountable Starts of Humour and Passion, that he is +as much unlike himself and differs as much from the Man you at first +thought him, as any two distinct Persons can differ from each other. +This proceeds from the Want of forming some Law of Life to our selves, +or fixing some Notion of things in general, which may affect us in such +Manner as to create proper Habits both in our Minds and Bodies. The +Negligence of this, leaves us exposed not only to an unbecoming Levity +in our usual Conversation, but also to the same Instability in our +Friendships, Interests, and Alliances. A Man who is but a mere Spectator +of what passes around him, and not engaged in Commerces of any +Consideration, is but an ill Judge of the secret Motions of the Heart of +Man, and by what Degrees it is actuated to make such visible Alterations +in the same Person: But at the same Time, when a Man is no way concerned +in the Effects of such Inconsistences in the Behaviour of Men of the +World, the Speculation must be in the utmost Degree both diverting and +instructive; yet to enjoy such Observations in the highest Relish, he +ought to be placed in a Post of Direction, and have the dealing of their +Fortunes to them. I have therefore been wonderfully diverted with some +Pieces of secret History, which an Antiquary, my very good Friend, lent +me as a Curiosity. They are memoirs of the private Life of _Pharamond of +France_. [1] + +'_Pharamond_, says my Author, was a Prince of infinite Humanity and +Generosity, and at the same time the most pleasant and facetious +Companion of his Time. He had a peculiar Taste in him (which would have +been unlucky in any Prince but himself,) he thought there could be no +exquisite Pleasure in Conversation but among Equals; and would +pleasantly bewail himself that he always lived in a Crowd, but was the +only man in _France_ that never could get into Company. This Turn of +Mind made him delight in Midnight Rambles, attended only with one Person +of his Bed-chamber: He would in these Excursions get acquainted with Men +(whose Temper he had a Mind to try) and recommend them privately to the +particular Observation of his first Minister. He generally found himself +neglected by his new Acquaintance as soon as they had Hopes of growing +great; and used on such Occasions to remark, That it was a great +Injustice to tax Princes of forgetting themselves in their high +Fortunes, when there were so few that could with Constancy bear the +Favour of their very Creatures.' + +My Author in these loose Hints has one Passage that gives us a very +lively Idea of the uncommon Genius of _Pharamond_. He met with one Man +whom he had put to all the usual Proofs he made of those he had a mind +to know thoroughly, and found him for his Purpose: In Discourse with him +one Day, he gave him Opportunity of saying how much would satisfy all +his Wishes. The Prince immediately revealed himself, doubled the Sum, +and spoke to him in this manner. + +'Sir, _You have twice what you desired, by the Favour of_ Pharamond; +_but look to it, that you are satisfied with it, for 'tis the last you +shall ever receive. I from this Moment consider you as mine; and to make +you truly so, I give you my Royal Word you shall never be greater or +less than you are at present. Answer me not_, (concluded the Prince +smiling) _but enjoy the Fortune I have put you in, which is above my own +Condition; for you have hereafter nothing to hope or to fear_.' + +His Majesty having thus well chosen and bought a Friend and Companion, +he enjoyed alternately all the Pleasures of an agreeable private Man and +a great and powerful Monarch: He gave himself, with his Companion, the +Name of the merry Tyrant; for he punished his Courtiers for their +Insolence and Folly, not by any Act of Publick Disfavour, but by +humorously practising upon their Imaginations. If he observed a Man +untractable to his Inferiors, he would find an Opportunity to take some +favourable Notice of him, and render him insupportable. He knew all his +own Looks, Words and Actions had their Interpretations; and his Friend +Monsieur _Eucrate_ (for so he was called) having a great Soul without +Ambition, he could communicate all his Thoughts to him, and fear no +artful Use would be made of that Freedom. It was no small Delight when +they were in private to reflect upon all which had passed in publick. + +_Pharamond_ would often, to satisfy a vain Fool of Power in his Country, +talk to him in a full Court, and with one Whisper make him despise all +his old Friends and Acquaintance. He was come to that Knowledge of Men +by long Observation, that he would profess altering the whole Mass of +Blood in some Tempers, by thrice speaking to them. As Fortune was in his +Power, he gave himself constant Entertainment in managing the mere +Followers of it with the Treatment they deserved. He would, by a skilful +Cast of his Eye and half a Smile, make two Fellows who hated, embrace +and fall upon each other's Neck with as much Eagerness, as if they +followed their real Inclinations, and intended to stifle one another. +When he was in high good Humour, he would lay the Scene with _Eucrate_, +and on a publick Night exercise tho Passions of his whole Court. He was +pleased to see an haughty Beauty watch the Looks of the Man she had long +despised, from Observation of his being taken notice of by _Pharamond_; +and the Lover conceive higher Hopes, than to follow the Woman he was +dying for the Day before. In a Court where Men speak Affection in the +strongest Terms, and Dislike in the faintest, it was a comical Mixture +of Incidents to see Disguises thrown aside in one Case and encreased on +the other, according as Favour or Disgrace attended the respective +Objects of Men's Approbation or Disesteem. _Pharamond_ in his Mirth upon +the Meanness of Mankind used to say, + +'As he could take away a Man's Five Senses, he could give him an +Hundred. The Man in Disgrace shall immediately lose all his natural +Endowments, and he that finds Favour have the Attributes of an Angel.' +He would carry it so far as to say, 'It should not be only so in the +Opinion of the lower Part of his Court, but the Men themselves shall +think thus meanly or greatly of themselves, as they are out or in the +good Graces of a Court.' + +A Monarch who had Wit and Humour like _Pharamond_, must have Pleasures +which no Man else can ever have Opportunity of enjoying. He gave Fortune +to none but those whom he knew could receive it without Transport: He +made a noble and generous Use of his Observations; and did not regard +his Ministers as they were agreeable to himself, but as they were useful +to his Kingdom: By this means the King appeared in every Officer of +State; and no Man had a Participation of the Power, who had not a +Similitude of the Virtue of _Pharamond_. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Pharamond, or _Faramond_, was the subject of one of +the romances of M. de Costes de la Calprenède, published at Paris (12 +vols.) in 1661. It was translated into English (folio) by J. Phillips in +1677.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 77. Tuesday, May 29, 1711. Budgell. + + + + 'Non convivere licet, nec urbe tota + Quisquam est tam propè tam proculque nobis.' + + Mart. + + +My Friend WILL HONEYCOMB is one of those Sort of Men who are very often +absent in Conversation, and what the _French_ call _a reveur_ and _a +distrait_. A little before our Club-time last Night we were walking +together in _Somerset_ Garden, where WILL, had picked up a small Pebble +of so odd a Make, that he said he would present it to a Friend of his, +an eminent _Virtuoso_. After we had walked some time, I made a full stop +with my Face towards the West, which WILL, knowing to be my usual Method +of asking what's a Clock, in an Afternoon, immediately pulled out his +Watch, and told me we had seven Minutes good. We took a turn or two +more, when, to my great Surprize, I saw him squirr away his Watch a +considerable way into the _Thames_, and with great Sedateness in his +Looks put up the Pebble, he had before found, in his Fob. As I have +naturally an Aversion to much Speaking, and do not love to be the +Messenger of ill News, especially when it comes too late to be useful, I +left him to be convinced of his Mistake in due time, and continued my +Walk, reflecting on these little Absences and Distractions in Mankind, +and resolving to make them the Subject of a future Speculation. + +I was the more confirmed in my Design, when I considered that they were +very often Blemishes in the Characters of Men of excellent Sense; and +helped to keep up the Reputation of that Latin Proverb, [1] which Mr. +_Dryden_ has Translated in the following Lines: + + _Great Wit to Madness sure is near ally'd, + And thin Partitions do their Bounds divide._ + +My Reader does, I hope, perceive, that I distinguish a Man who is +_Absent_, because he thinks of something else, from one who is _Absent_, +because he thinks of nothing at all: The latter is too innocent a +Creature to be taken notice of; but the Distractions of the former may, +I believe, be generally accounted for from one of these Reasons. + +Either their Minds are wholly fixed on some particular Science, which is +often the Case of Mathematicians and other learned Men; or are wholly +taken up with some Violent Passion, such as Anger, Fear, or Love, which +ties the Mind to some distant Object; or, lastly, these Distractions +proceed from a certain Vivacity and Fickleness in a Man's Temper, which +while it raises up infinite Numbers of _Ideas_ in the Mind, is +continually pushing it on, without allowing it to rest on any particular +Image. Nothing therefore is more unnatural than the Thoughts and +Conceptions of such a Man, which are seldom occasioned either by the +Company he is in, or any of those Objects which are placed before him. +While you fancy he is admiring a beautiful Woman, 'tis an even Wager +that he is solving a Proposition in _Euclid_; and while you may imagine +he is reading the _Paris_ Gazette, it is far from being impossible, that +he is pulling down and rebuilding the Front of his Country-house. + +At the same time that I am endeavouring to expose this Weakness in +others, I shall readily confess that I once laboured under the same +Infirmity myself. The Method I took to conquer it was a firm Resolution +to learn something from whatever I was obliged to see or hear. There is +a way of Thinking if a Man can attain to it, by which he may strike +somewhat out of any thing. I can at present observe those Starts of good +Sense and Struggles of unimproved Reason in the Conversation of a Clown, +with as much Satisfaction as the most shining Periods of the most +finished Orator; and can make a shift to command my Attention at a +_Puppet-Show_ or an _Opera_, as well as at _Hamlet_ or _Othello_. I +always make one of the Company I am in; for though I say little myself, +my Attention to others, and those Nods of Approbation which I never +bestow unmerited, sufficiently shew that I am among them. Whereas WILL. +HONEYCOMB, tho' a Fellow of good Sense, is every Day doing and saying an +hundred Things which he afterwards confesses, with a well-bred +Frankness, were somewhat _mal a propos_, and undesigned. + +I chanced the other Day to go into a Coffee-house, where WILL, was +standing in the midst of several Auditors whom he had gathered round +him, and was giving them an Account of the Person and Character of _Moll +Hinton_. My Appearance before him just put him in mind of me, without +making him reflect that I was actually present. So that keeping his Eyes +full upon me, to the great Surprize of his Audience, he broke off his +first Harangue, and proceeded thus: + + 'Why now there's my Friend (mentioning me by my Name) he is a Fellow + that thinks a great deal, but never opens his Mouth; I warrant you he + is now thrusting his short Face into some Coffee-house about + _'Change_. I was his Bail in the time of the _Popish-Plot_, when he + was taken up for a Jesuit.' + +If he had looked on me a little longer, he had certainly described me so +particularly, without ever considering what led him into it, that the +whole Company must necessarily have found me out; for which Reason, +remembering the old Proverb, _Out of Sight out of Mind_, I left the +Room; and upon meeting him an Hour afterwards, was asked by him, with a +great deal of Good-humour, in what Part of the World I had lived, that +he had not seen me these three Days. + +Monsieur _Bruyere_ has given us the Character of _an absent_ Man [2], +with a great deal of Humour, which he has pushed to an agreeable +Extravagance; with the Heads of it I shall conclude my present Paper. + + '_Menalcas_ (says that excellent Author) comes down in a Morning, + opens his Door to go out, but shuts it again, because he perceives + that he has his Night-cap on; and examining himself further finds that + he is but half-shaved, that he has stuck his Sword on his right Side, + that his Stockings are about his Heels, and that his Shirt is over his + Breeches. When he is dressed he goes to Court, comes into the + Drawing-room, and walking bolt-upright under a Branch of Candlesticks + his Wig is caught up by one of them, and hangs dangling in the Air. + All the Courtiers fall a laughing, but _Menalcas_ laughs louder than + any of them, and looks about for the Person that is the Jest of the + Company. Coming down to the Court-gate he finds a Coach, which taking + for his own, he whips into it; and the Coachman drives off, not + doubting but he carries his Master. As soon as he stops, _Menalcas_ + throws himself out of the Coach, crosses the Court, ascends the + Staircase, and runs thro' all the Chambers with the greatest + Familiarity, reposes himself on a Couch, and fancies himself at home. + The Master of the House at last comes in, _Menalcas_ rises to receive + him, and desires him to sit down; he talks, muses, and then talks + again. The Gentleman of the House is tired and amazed; _Menalcas_ is + no less so, but is every Moment in Hopes that his impertinent Guest + will at last end his tedious Visit. Night comes on, when _Menalcas_ is + hardly undeceived. + + When he is playing at Backgammon, he calls for a full Glass of Wine + and Water; 'tis his turn to throw, he has the Box in one Hand and his + Glass in the other, and being extremely dry, and unwilling to lose + Time, he swallows down both the Dice, and at the same time throws his + Wine into the Tables. He writes a Letter, and flings the Sand into the + Ink-bottle; he writes a second, and mistakes the Superscription: A + Nobleman receives one of them, and upon opening it reads as follows: + _I would have you, honest Jack, immediately upon the Receipt of this, + take in Hay enough to serve me the Winter._ His Farmer receives the + other and is amazed to see in it, _My Lord, I received your Grace's + Commands with an entire Submission to_--If he is at an Entertainment, + you may see the Pieces of Bread continually multiplying round his + Plate: 'Tis true the rest of the Company want it, as well as their + Knives and Forks, which _Menalcas_ does not let them keep long. + Sometimes in a Morning he puts his whole Family in an hurry, and at + last goes out without being able to stay for his Coach or Dinner, and + for that Day you may see him in every Part of the Town, except the + very Place where he had appointed to be upon a Business of Importance. + You would often take him for every thing that he is not; for a Fellow + quite stupid, for he hears nothing; for a Fool, for he talks to + himself, and has an hundred Grimaces and Motions with his Head, which + are altogether involuntary; for a proud Man, for he looks full upon + you, and takes no notice of your saluting him: The Truth on't is, his + Eyes are open, but he makes no use of them, and neither sees you, nor + any Man, nor any thing else: He came once from his Country-house, and + his own Footman undertook to rob him, and succeeded: They held a + Flambeau to his Throat, and bid him deliver his Purse; he did so, and + coming home told his Friends he had been robbed; they desired to know + the Particulars, _Ask my Servants, _says_ Menalcas, for they were with + me_. + +X. + + + +[Footnote 1: Seneca 'de Tranquill. Anim.' cap. xv. + + 'Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixturâ dementiæ' + +Dryden's lines are in Part I of 'Absalom and Achitophel'.] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Caractères', Chap. xi. de l'Homme. La Bruyère's Menalque +was identified with a M. de Brancas, brother of the Duke de Villars. The +adventure of the wig is said really to have happened to him at a +reception by the Queen-Mother. He was said also on his wedding-day to +have forgotten that he had been married. He went abroad as usual, and +only remembered the ceremony of the morning upon finding the changed +state of his household when, as usual, he came home in the evening.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 78. Wednesday, May 30, 1711. Steele. + + + + Cum Talis sis, Utinam noster esses! + + +The following Letters are so pleasant, that I doubt not but the Reader +will be as much diverted with them as I was. I have nothing to do in +this Day's Entertainment, but taking the Sentence from the End of the +_Cambridge_ Letter, and placing it at the Front of my Paper; to shew the +Author I wish him my Companion with as much Earnestness as he invites me +to be his. + + + SIR, + + 'I Send you the inclosed, to be inserted (if you think them worthy of + it) in your SPECTATORS; in which so surprizing a Genius appears, that + it is no Wonder if all Mankind endeavours to get somewhat into a Paper + which will always live. + + As to the _Cambridge_ Affair, the Humour was really carried on in the + Way I described it. However, you have a full Commission to put out or + in, and to do whatever you think fit with it. I have already had the + Satisfaction of seeing you take that Liberty with some things I have + before sent you. [1] + + 'Go on, Sir, and prosper. You have the best Wishes of + + _SIR, Your very Affectionate, + and Obliged Humble Servant._' + + + + _Cambridge_. + + _Mr, SPECTATOR_, + + 'You well know it is of great Consequence to clear Titles, and it is + of Importance that it be done in the proper Season; On which Account + this is to assure you, that the CLUB OF UGLY FACES was instituted + originally at _CAMBRIDGE_ in the merry Reign of King _Charles_ II. As + in great Bodies of Men it is not difficult to find Members enough for + such a Club, so (I remember) it was then feared, upon their Intention + of dining together, that the Hall belonging to _CLAREHALL_, (the + ugliest _then_ in the Town, tho' _now_ the neatest) would not be large + enough HANDSOMELY to hold the Company. Invitations were made to great + Numbers, but very few accepted them without much Difficulty. ONE + pleaded that being at _London_ in a Bookseller's Shop, a Lady going by + with a great Belly longed to kiss him. HE had certainly been excused, + but that Evidence appeared, That indeed one in _London_ did pretend + she longed to kiss him, but that it was only a _Pickpocket_, who + during his kissing her stole away all his Money. ANOTHER would have + got off by a Dimple in his Chin; but it was proved upon _him_, that he + had, by coming into a Room, made a Woman miscarry, and frightened two + Children into Fits. A THIRD alledged, That he was taken by a Lady for + another Gentleman, who was one of the handsomest in the University; + But upon Enquiry it was found that the Lady had actually lost one Eye, + and the other was very much upon the Decline. A FOURTH produced + Letters out of the Country in his Vindication, in which a Gentleman + offered him his Daughter, who had lately fallen in Love with him, with + a good Fortune: But it was made appear that the young Lady was + amorous, and had like to have run away with her Father's Coachman, so + that it was supposed, that her Pretence of falling in Love with him + was only in order to be well married. It was pleasant to hear the + several Excuses which were made, insomuch that some made as much + Interest to be excused as they would from serving Sheriff; however at + last the Society was formed, and proper Officers were appointed; and + the Day was fix'd for the Entertainment, which was in _Venison + Season_. A pleasant _Fellow of King's College_ (commonly called CRAB + from his sour Look, and the only Man who did not pretend to get off) + was nominated for Chaplain; and nothing was wanting but some one to + sit in the Elbow-Chair, by way of PRESIDENT, at the upper end of the + Table; and there the Business stuck, for there was no Contention for + Superiority _there_. This Affair made so great a Noise, that the King, + who was then at _Newmarket_, heard of it, and was pleased merrily and + graciously to say, HE COULD NOT BE THERE HIMSELF, BUT HE WOULD SEND + THEM A BRACE OF BUCKS. + + I would desire you, Sir, to set this Affair in a true Light, that + Posterity may not be misled in so important a Point: For when _the + wise Man who shall write your true History_ shall acquaint the World, + That you had a DIPLOMA sent from the _Ugly Club at OXFORD_, and that + by vertue of it you were admitted into it, what a learned Work will + there be among _future Criticks_ about the Original of that Club, + which both Universities will contend so warmly for? And perhaps some + hardy _Cantabrigian_ Author may then boldly affirm, that the Word + _OXFORD_ was an interpolation of some _Oxonian_ instead of + _CAMBRIDGE_. This Affair will be best adjusted in your Life-time; but + I hope your Affection to your MOTHER will not make you partial to your + AUNT. + + To tell you, Sir, my own Opinion: Tho' I cannot find any ancient + Records of any Acts of the SOCIETY OF THE UGLY FACES, considered in a + _publick_ Capacity; yet in a _private_ one they have certainly + Antiquity on their Side. I am perswaded they will hardly give Place to + the LOWNGERS, and the LOWNGERS are of the same Standing with the + University itself. + + Tho' we well know, Sir, you want no Motives to do Justice, yet I am + commission'd to tell you, that you are invited to be admitted _ad + eundem_ at _CAMBRIDGE_; and I believe I may venture safely to deliver + this as the Wish of our Whole University.' + + + + _To Mr_. SPECTATOR. + + _The humble Petition of WHO and WHICH_. + + Sheweth, + + 'THAT your Petitioners being in a forlorn and destitute Condition, + know not to whom we should apply ourselves for Relief, because there + is hardly any Man alive who hath not injured us. Nay, we speak it with + Sorrow, even You your self, whom we should suspect of such a Practice + the last of all Mankind, can hardly acquit your self of having given + us some Cause of Complaint. We are descended of ancient Families, and + kept up our Dignity and Honour many Years, till the Jack-sprat THAT + supplanted us. How often have we found ourselves slighted by the + Clergy in their Pulpits, and the Lawyers at the Bar? Nay, how often + have we heard in one of the most polite and august Assemblies in the + Universe, to our great Mortification, these Words, _That THAT that + noble Lord urged_; which if one of us had had Justice done, would have + sounded nobler thus, _That WHICH that noble Lord urged_. Senates + themselves, the Guardians of _British_ Liberty, have degraded us, and + preferred THAT to us; and yet no Decree was ever given against us. In + the very Acts of Parliament, in which the utmost Right should be done + to every _Body_, _WORD_ and _Thing_, we find our selves often either + not used, or used one instead of another. In the first and best Prayer + Children are taught, they learn to misuse us: _Our_ _Father WHICH art + in Heaven_, should be, _Our Father WHO_ _art in Heaven_; and even a + CONVOCATION after long Debates, refused to consent to an Alteration of + it. In our _general Confession_ we say,--_Spare thou them, O God, + WHICH confess their Faults_, which ought to be, _WHO confess their + Faults_. What Hopes then have we of having Justice done so, when the + Makers of our very Prayers and Laws, and the most learned in all + Faculties, seem to be in a Confederacy against us, and our Enemies + themselves must be our Judges.' + + The _Spanish_ Proverb says, _Il sabio muda consejo, il necio no_; i. + e. _A wise Man changes his Mind, a Fool never will_. So that we think + You, Sir, a very proper Person to address to, since we know you to be + capable of being convinced, and changing your Judgment. You are well + able to settle this Affair, and to you we submit our Cause. We desire + you to assign the Butts and Bounds of each of us; and that for the + future we may both enjoy our own. We would desire to be heard by our + Counsel, but that we fear in their very Pleadings they would betray + our Cause: Besides, we have been oppressed so many Years, that we can + appear no other way, but _in forma pauperis_. All which considered, we + hope you will be pleased to do that which to Right and Justice shall + appertain. + + _And your Petitioners, &c_. + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: This letter is probably by Laurence Eusden, and the +preceding letter by the same hand would be the account of the Loungers +in No. 54. Laurence Eusden, son of Dr. Eusden, Rector of Spalsworth, in +Yorkshire, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, took orders, and +became Chaplain to Lord Willoughby de Broke. He obtained the patronage +of Lord Halifax by a Latin version of his Lordship's poem on the Battle +of the Boyne, in 1718. By the influence of the Duke of Newcastle, then +Lord Chamberlain, he was made Poet-laureate, upon the death of Rowe. +Eusden died, rector of Conington, Lincolnshire, in 1730, and his death +was hastened by intemperance. Of the laurel left for Cibber Pope wrote +in the Dunciad, + + _Know, Eusden thirsts no more for sack or praise; + He sleeps among the dull of ancient days._] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 79. Thursday, May 31, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore.' + + Hor. + + +I have received very many Letters of late from my Female Correspondents, +most of whom are very angry with me for Abridging their Pleasures, and +looking severely upon Things, in themselves, indifferent. But I think +they are extremely Unjust to me in this Imputation: All that I contend +for is, that those Excellencies, which are to be regarded but in the +second Place, should not precede more weighty Considerations. The Heart +of Man deceives him in spite of the Lectures of half a Life spent in +Discourses on the Subjection of Passion; and I do not know why one may +not think the Heart of Woman as Unfaithful to itself. If we grant an +Equality in the Faculties of both Sexes, the Minds of Women are less +cultivated with Precepts, and consequently may, without Disrespect to +them, be accounted more liable to Illusion in Cases wherein natural +Inclination is out of the Interests of Virtue. I shall take up my +present Time in commenting upon a Billet or two which came from Ladies, +and from thence leave the Reader to judge whether I am in the right or +not, in thinking it is possible Fine Women may be mistaken. + +The following Address seems to have no other Design in it, but to tell +me the Writer will do what she pleases for all me. + + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am Young, and very much inclin'd to follow the Paths of Innocence: + but at the same time, as I have a plentiful Fortune, and of Quality, I + am unwilling to resign the Pleasures of Distinction, some little + Satisfaction in being Admired in general, and much greater in being + beloved by a Gentleman, whom I design to make my Husband. But I have a + mind to put off entering into Matrimony till another Winter is over my + Head, which, (whatever, musty Sir, you may think of the Matter) I + design to pass away in hearing Music, going to Plays, Visiting, and + all other Satisfactions which Fortune and Youth, protected by + Innocence and Virtue, can procure for,' + + SIR, + + _Your most humble Servant_, + + M. T. + + 'My Lover does not know I like him, therefore having no Engagements + upon me, I think to stay and know whether I may not like any one else + better.' + + + +I have heard WILL. HONEYCOMB say, + + _A Woman seldom writes her Mind but in her Postscript_. + +I think this Gentlewoman has sufficiently discovered hers in this. I'll +lay what Wager she pleases against her present Favourite, and can tell +her that she will Like Ten more before she is fixed, and then will take +the worst Man she ever liked in her Life. There is no end of Affection +taken in at the Eyes only; and you may as well satisfie those Eyes with +seeing, as controul any Passion received by them only. It is from loving +by Sight that Coxcombs so frequently succeed with Women, and very often +a Young Lady is bestowed by her Parents to a Man who weds her as +Innocence itself, tho' she has, in her own Heart, given her Approbation +of a different Man in every Assembly she was in the whole Year before. +What is wanting among Women, as well as among Men, is the Love of +laudable Things, and not to rest only in the Forbearance of such as are +Reproachful. + +How far removed from a Woman of this light Imagination is _Eudosia! +Eudosia_ has all the Arts of Life and good Breeding with so much Ease, +that the Virtue of her Conduct looks more like an Instinct than Choice. +It is as little difficult to her to think justly of Persons and Things, +as it is to a Woman of different Accomplishments, to move ill or look +awkward. That which was, at first, the Effect of Instruction, is grown +into an Habit; and it would be as hard for _Eudosia_ to indulge a wrong +Suggestion of Thought, as it would be for _Flavia_ the fine Dancer to +come into a Room with an unbecoming Air. + +But the Misapprehensions People themselves have of their own State of +Mind, is laid down with much discerning in the following Letter, which +is but an Extract of a kind Epistle from my charming mistress +_Hecatissa_, who is above the Vanity of external Beauty, and is the best +Judge of the Perfections of the Mind. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + "I Write this to acquaint you, that very many Ladies, as well as + myself, spend many Hours more than we used at the Glass, for want of + the Female Library of which you promised us a Catalogue. I hope, Sir, + in the Choice of Authors for us, you will have a particular Regard to + Books of Devotion. What they are, and how many, must be your chief + Care; for upon the Propriety of such Writings depends a great deal. I + have known those among us who think, if they every Morning and Evening + spend an Hour in their Closet, and read over so many Prayers in six or + seven Books of Devotion, all equally nonsensical, with a sort of + Warmth, (that might as well be raised by a Glass of Wine, or a Drachm + of Citron) they may all the rest of their time go on in whatever their + particular Passion leads them to. The beauteous _Philautia_, who is + (in your Language) an _Idol_, is one of these Votaries; she has a very + pretty furnished Closet, to which she retires at her appointed Hours: + This is her Dressing-room, as well as Chapel; she has constantly + before her a large Looking-glass, and upon the Table, according to a + very witty Author, + + _Together lye her Prayer-book and Paint, + At once t' improve the Sinner and the Saint_. + + It must be a good Scene, if one could be present at it, to see this + _Idol_ by turns lift up her Eyes to Heaven, and steal Glances at her + own dear Person. It cannot but be a pleasing Conflict between Vanity + and Humiliation. When you are upon this Subject, choose Books which + elevate the Mind above the World, and give a pleasing Indifference to + little things in it. For want of such Instructions, I am apt to + believe so many People take it in their Heads to be sullen, cross and + angry, under pretence of being abstracted from the Affairs of this + Life, when at the same time they betray their Fondness for them by + doing their Duty as a Task, and pouting and reading good Books for a + Week together. Much of this I take to proceed from the Indiscretion of + the Books themselves, whose very Titles of Weekly Preparations, and + such limited Godliness, lead People of ordinary Capacities into great + Errors, and raise in them a Mechanical Religion, entirely distinct + from Morality. I know a Lady so given up to this sort of Devotion, + that tho' she employs six or eight Hours of the twenty-four at Cards, + she never misses one constant Hour of Prayer, for which time another + holds her Cards, to which she returns with no little Anxiousness till + two or three in the Morning. All these Acts are but empty Shows, and, + as it were, Compliments made to Virtue; the Mind is all the while + untouched with any true Pleasure in the Pursuit of it. From hence I + presume it arises that so many People call themselves Virtuous, from + no other Pretence to it but an Absence of Ill. There is _Dulcianara_ + is the most insolent of all Creatures to her Friends and Domesticks, + upon no other Pretence in Nature but that (as her silly Phrase is) no + one can say Black is her Eye. She has no Secrets, forsooth, which + should make her afraid to speak her Mind, and therefore she is + impertinently Blunt to all her Acquaintance, and unseasonably + Imperious to all her Family. Dear Sir, be pleased to put such Books in + our Hands, as may make our Virtue more inward, and convince some of us + that in a Mind truly virtuous the Scorn of Vice is always accompanied + with the Pity of it. This and other things are impatiently expected + from you by our whole Sex; among the rest by, + + SIR, + + _Your most humble Servant_,' + + +B. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 80. Friday, June 1, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.' + + Hor. + + + +In the Year 1688, and on the same Day of that Year, were born in +_Cheapside, London_, two Females of exquisite Feature and Shape; the one +we shall call _Brunetta_, the other _Phillis_. A close Intimacy between +their Parents made each of them the first Acquaintance the other knew in +the World: They played, dressed Babies, acted Visitings, learned to +Dance and make Curtesies, together. They were inseparable Companions in +all the little Entertainments their tender Years were capable of: Which +innocent Happiness continued till the Beginning of their fifteenth Year, +when it happened that Mrs. _Phillis_ had an Head-dress on which became +her so very well, that instead of being beheld any more with Pleasure +for their Amity to each other, the Eyes of the Neighbourhood were turned +to remark them with Comparison of their Beauty. They now no longer +enjoyed the Ease of Mind and pleasing Indolence in which they were +formerly happy, but all their Words and Actions were misinterpreted by +each other, and every Excellence in their Speech and Behaviour was +looked upon as an Act of Emulation to surpass the other. These +Beginnings of Disinclination soon improved into a Formality of +Behaviour; a general Coldness, and by natural Steps into an +irreconcilable Hatred. + +These two Rivals for the Reputation of Beauty, were in their Stature, +Countenance and Mien so very much alike, that if you were speaking of +them in their Absence, the Words in which you described the one must +give you an Idea of the other. They were hardly distinguishable, you +would think, when they were apart, tho' extremely different when +together. What made their Enmity the more entertaining to all the rest +of their Sex was, that in Detraction from each other neither could fall +upon Terms which did not hit herself as much as her Adversary. Their +Nights grew restless with Meditation of new Dresses to outvie each +other, and inventing new Devices to recal Admirers, who observed the +Charms of the one rather than those of the other on the last Meeting. +Their Colours failed at each other's Appearance, flushed with Pleasure +at the Report of a Disadvantage, and their Countenances withered upon +Instances of Applause. The Decencies to which Women are obliged, made +these Virgins stifle their Resentment so far as not to break into open +Violences, while they equally suffered the Torments of a regulated +Anger. Their Mothers, as it is usual, engaged in the Quarrel, and +supported the several Pretensions of the Daughters with all that +ill-chosen Sort of Expence which is common with People of plentiful +Fortunes and mean Taste. The Girls preceded their Parents like Queens of +_May_, in all the gaudy Colours imaginable, on every _Sunday_ to Church, +and were exposed to the Examination of the Audience for Superiority of +Beauty. + +During this constant Straggle it happened, that _Phillis_ one Day at +publick Prayers smote the Heart of a gay _West-Indian_, who appear'd in +all the Colours which can affect an Eye that could not distinguish +between being fine and tawdry. This _American_ in a Summer-Island Suit +was too shining and too gay to be resisted by _Phillis_, and too intent +upon her Charms to be diverted by any of the laboured Attractions of +_Brunetta_. Soon after, _Brunetta_ had the Mortification to see her +Rival disposed of in a wealthy Marriage, while she was only addressed to +in a Manner that shewed she was the Admiration of all Men, but the +Choice of none. _Phillis_ was carried to the Habitation of her Spouse in +_Barbadoes_: _Brunetta_ had the Ill-nature to inquire for her by every +Opportunity, and had the Misfortune to hear of her being attended by +numerous Slaves, fanned into Slumbers by successive Hands of them, and +carried from Place to Place in all the Pomp of barbarous Magnificence. +_Brunetta_ could not endure these repeated Advices, but employed all her +Arts and Charms in laying Baits for any of Condition of the same Island, +out of a mere Ambition to confront her once more before she died. She at +last succeeded in her Design, and was taken to Wife by a Gentleman whose +Estate was contiguous to that of her Enemy's Husband. It would be +endless to enumerate the many Occasions on which these irreconcileable +Beauties laboured to excel each other; but in process of Time it +happened that a Ship put into the Island consigned to a Friend of +_Phillis_, who had Directions to give her the Refusal of all Goods for +Apparel, before _Brunetta_ could be alarmed of their Arrival. He did so, +and _Phillis_ was dressed in a few Days in a Brocade more gorgeous and +costly than had ever before appeared in that Latitude. _Brunetta_ +languished at the Sight, and could by no means come up to the Bravery of +her Antagonist. She communicated her Anguish of Mind to a faithful +Friend, who by an Interest in the Wife of _Phillis's_ Merchant, procured +a Remnant of the same Silk for _Brunetta_. _Phillis_ took pains to +appear in all public Places where she was sure to meet _Brunetta_; +_Brunetta_ was now prepared for the Insult, and came to a public Ball in +a plain black Silk Mantua, attended by a beautiful Negro Girl in a +Petticoat of the same Brocade with which _Phillis_ was attired. This +drew the Attention of the whole Company, upon which the unhappy +_Phillis_ swooned away, and was immediately convey'd to her House. As +soon as she came to herself she fled from her Husband's House, went on +board a Ship in the Road, and is now landed in inconsolable Despair at +_Plymouth_. + +_POSTSCRIPT_. + +After the above melancholy Narration, it may perhaps be a Relief to the +Reader to peruse the following Expostulation. + + _To Mr._ SPECTATOR. + + _The just Remonstrance of affronted THAT._ + + 'Tho' I deny not the Petition of Mr. _Who_ and _Which_, yet You should + not suffer them to be rude and call honest People Names: For that + bears very hard on some of those Rules of Decency, which You are + justly famous for establishing. They may find fault, and correct + Speeches in the Senate and at the Bar: But let them try to get + _themselves_ so _often_ and with so much _Eloquence_ repeated in a + Sentence, as a great Orator doth frequently introduce me. + + My Lords! (says he) with humble Submission, _That_ that I say is + this; that, _That_ that that Gentleman has advanced, is not _That_, + that he should have proved to your Lordships. Let those two + questionary Petitioners try to do thus with their _Who's_ and their + _Whiches_. + + 'What great advantage was I of to Mr. _Dryden_ in his _Indian + Emperor_, + + _You force me still to answer You in_ That, + + to furnish out a Rhyme to _Morat_? And what a poor Figure would Mr. + _Bayes_ have made without his _Egad and all That_? How can a judicious + Man distinguish one thing from another, without saying _This here_, or + _That there_? And how can a sober Man without using the _Expletives_ + of Oaths (in which indeed the Rakes and Bullies have a great advantage + over others) make a Discourse of any tolerable Length, without _That + is_; and if he be a very grave Man indeed, without _That is to say_? + And how instructive as well as entertaining are those usual + Expressions in the Mouths of great Men, _Such Things as That_ and _The + like of That_. + + I am not against reforming the Corruptions of Speech You mention, and + own there are proper Seasons for the Introduction of other Words + besides _That_; but I scorn as much to supply the Place of a _Who_ or + a _Which_ at every Turn, as they are _unequal_ always to fill mine; + And I expect good Language and civil Treatment, and hope to receive it + for the future: _That_, that I shall only add is, that I am, + + _Yours_, + + THAT.' + + +R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +CHARLES LORD HALLIFAX. [1] + + +_My_ LORD, + +Similitude of Manners and Studies is usually mentioned as one of the +strongest motives to Affection and Esteem; but the passionate Veneration +I have for your Lordship, I think, flows from an Admiration of Qualities +in You, of which, in the whole course of these Papers I have +acknowledged myself incapable. While I busy myself as a Stranger upon +Earth, and can pretend to no other than being a Looker-on, You are +conspicuous in the Busy and Polite world, both in the World of Men, and +that of Letters; While I am silent and unobserv'd in publick Meetings, +You are admired by all that approach You as the Life and Genius of the +Conversation. What an happy Conjunction of different Talents meets in +him whose whole Discourse is at once animated by the Strength and Force +of Reason, and adorned with all the Graces and Embellishments of Wit: +When Learning irradiates common Life, it is then in its highest Use and +Perfection; and it is to such as Your Lordship, that the Sciences owe +the Esteem which they have with the active Part of Mankind. Knowledge of +Books in recluse Men, is like that sort of Lanthorn which hides him who +carries it, and serves only to pass through secret and gloomy Paths of +his own; but in the Possession of a Man of Business, it is as a Torch in +the Hand of one who is willing and able to shew those, who are +bewildered, the Way which leads to their Prosperity and Welfare. A +generous Concern for your Country, and a Passion for every thing which +is truly Great and Noble, are what actuate all Your Life and Actions; +and I hope You will forgive me that I have an Ambition this Book may be +placed in the Library of so good a Judge of what is valuable, in that +Library where the Choice is such, that it will not be a Disparagement to +be the meanest Author in it. Forgive me, my Lord, for taking this +Occasion of telling all the World how ardently I Love and Honour You; +and that I am, with the utmost Gratitude for all Your Favours, + +_My Lord, +Your Lordship's +Most Obliged, +Most Obedient, and +Most Humble Servant, +THE SPECTATOR._ + + + +[Footnote 1: When the 'Spectators' were reissued in volumes, Vol. I. +ended with No. 80, and to the second volume, containing the next 89 +numbers, this Dedication was prefixed. + +Charles Montague, at the time of the dedication fifty years old, and +within four years of the end of his life, was born, in 1661, at Horton, +in Northamptonshire. His father was a younger son of the first Earl of +Manchester. He was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity +College, Cambridge. + +Apt for wit and verse, he joined with his friend Prior in writing a +burlesque on Dryden's 'Hind and Panther', 'Transversed to the Story of +the Country and the City Mouse.' In Parliament in James the Second's +reign, he joined in the invitation of William of Orange, and rose +rapidly, a self-made man, after the Revolution. In 1691 he was a Lord of +the Treasury; in April, 1694, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and +in May, 1697, First Lord of the Treasury, retaining the Chancellorship +and holding both offices till near the close of 1699. Of his dealing +with the currency, see note on p. 19. In 1700 he was made Baron Halifax, +and had secured the office of Auditor of the Exchequer, which was worth +at least £4000 a year, and in war time twice as much. The Tories, on +coming to power, made two unsuccessful attempts to fix on him charges of +fraud. In October, 1714, George I made him Earl of Halifax and Viscount +Sunbury. Then also he again became Prime Minister. He was married, but +died childless, in May, 1715. In 1699, when Somers and Halifax were the +great chiefs of the Whig Ministry, they joined in befriending Addison, +then 27 years old, who had pleased Somers with a piece of English verse +and Montague with Latin lines upon the Peace of Ryswick. + +Now, therefore, having dedicated the First volume of the 'Spectator' to +Somers, it is to Halifax that Steele and he inscribe the Second. + +Of the defect in Charles Montague's character, Lord Macaulay writes +that, when at the height of his fortune, + + "He became proud even to insolence. Old companions ... hardly knew + their friend Charles in the great man who could not forget for one + moment that he was First Lord of the Treasury, that he was Chancellor + of the Exchequer, that he had been a Regent of the kingdom, that he + had founded the Bank of England, and the new East India Company, that + he had restored the Currency, that he had invented the Exchequer + Bills, that he had planned the General Mortgage, and that he had been + pronounced, by a solemn vote of the Commons, to have deserved all the + favours which he had received from the Crown. It was said that + admiration of himself and contempt of others were indicated by all his + gestures, and written in all the lines of his face."] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 81. Saturday, June 2, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Qualis ubi audito venantum murmure Tigris + Horruit in maculas ...' + + Statins. + + +About the Middle of last Winter I went to see an Opera at the Theatre in +the _Hay-Market_, where I could not but take notice of two Parties of +very fine Women, that had placed themselves in the opposite Side-Boxes, +and seemed drawn up in a kind of Battle-Array one against another. After +a short Survey of them, I found they were Patch'd differently; the Faces +on one Hand, being spotted on the right Side of the Forehead, and those +upon the other on the Left. I quickly perceived that they cast hostile +Glances upon one another; and that their Patches were placed in those +different Situations, as Party-Signals to distinguish Friends from Foes. +In the Middle-Boxes, between these two opposite Bodies, were several +Ladies who Patched indifferently on both Sides of their Faces, and +seem'd to sit there with no other Intention but to see the Opera. Upon +Inquiry I found, that the Body of _Amazons_ on my Right Hand, were +Whigs, and those on my Left, Tories; And that those who had placed +themselves in the Middle Boxes were a Neutral Party, whose Faces had not +yet declared themselves. These last, however, as I afterwards found, +diminished daily, and took their Party with one Side or the other; +insomuch that I observed in several of them, the Patches, which were +before dispersed equally, are now all gone over to the Whig or Tory Side +of the Face. The Censorious say, That the Men, whose Hearts are aimed +at, are very often the Occasions that one Part of the Face is thus +dishonoured, and lies under a kind of Disgrace, while the other is so +much Set off and Adorned by the Owner; and that the Patches turn to the +Right or to the Left, according to the Principles of the Man who is most +in Favour. But whatever may be the Motives of a few fantastical Coquets, +who do not Patch for the Publick Good so much as for their own private +Advantage, it is certain, that there are several Women of Honour who +patch out of Principle, and with an Eye to the Interest of their +Country. Nay, I am informed that some of them adhere so stedfastly to +their Party, and are so far from sacrificing their Zeal for the Publick +to their Passion for any particular Person, that in a late Draught of +Marriage-Articles a Lady has stipulated with her Husband, That, whatever +his Opinions are, she shall be at liberty to Patch on which Side she +pleases. + +I must here take notice, that _Rosalinda_, a famous Whig Partizan, has +most unfortunately a very beautiful Mole on the Tory Part of her +Forehead; which being very conspicuous, has occasioned many Mistakes, +and given an Handle to her Enemies to misrepresent her Face, as tho' it +had Revolted from the Whig Interest. But, whatever this natural Patch +may seem to intimate, it is well known that her Notions of Government +are still the same. This unlucky Mole, however, has mis-led several +Coxcombs; and like the hanging out of false Colours, made some of them +converse with _Rosalinda_ in what they thought the Spirit of her Party, +when on a sudden she has given them an unexpected Fire, that has sunk +them all at once. If _Rosalinda_ is unfortunate in her Mole, +_Nigranilla_ is as unhappy in a Pimple, which forces her, against her +Inclinations, to Patch on the Whig Side. + +I am told that many virtuous Matrons, who formerly have been taught to +believe that this artificial Spotting of the Face was unlawful, are now +reconciled by a Zeal for their Cause, to what they could not be prompted +by a Concern for their Beauty. This way of declaring War upon one +another, puts me in mind of what is reported of the Tigress, that +several Spots rise in her Skin when she is angry, or as Mr. _Cowley_ has +imitated the Verses that stand as the Motto on this Paper, + + ... _She swells with angry Pride, + And calls forth all her Spots on ev'ry Side_. [1] + +When I was in the Theatre the Time above-mentioned, I had the Curiosity +to count the Patches on both Sides, and found the Tory Patches to be +about Twenty stronger than the Whig; but to make amends for this small +Inequality, I the next Morning found the whole Puppet-Show filled with +Faces spotted after the Whiggish Manner. Whether or no the Ladies had +retreated hither in order to rally their Forces I cannot tell; but the +next Night they came in so great a Body to the Opera, that they +out-number'd the Enemy. + +This Account of Party Patches, will, I am afraid, appear improbable to +those who live at a Distance from the fashionable World: but as it is a +Distinction of a very singular Nature, and what perhaps may never meet +with a Parallel, I think I should not have discharged the Office of a +faithful SPECTATOR, had I not recorded it. + +I have, in former Papers, endeavoured to expose this Party-Rage in +Women, as it only serves to aggravate the Hatreds and Animosities that +reign among Men, and in a great measure deprive the Fair Sex of those +peculiar Charms with which Nature has endowed them. + +When the _Romans_ and _Sabines_ were at War, and just upon the Point of +giving Battel, the Women, who were allied to both of them, interposed +with so many Tears and Intreaties, that they prevented the mutual +Slaughter which threatned both Parties, and united them together in a +firm and lasting Peace. + +I would recommend this noble Example to our _British_ Ladies, at a Time +when their Country is torn with so many unnatural Divisions, that if +they continue, it will be a Misfortune to be born in it. The _Greeks_ +thought it so improper for Women to interest themselves in Competitions +and Contentions, that for this Reason, among others, they forbad them, +under Pain of Death, to be present at the _Olympick_ Games, +notwithstanding these were the publick Diversions of all _Greece_. + +As our _English_ Women excel those of all Nations in Beauty, they should +endeavour to outshine them in all other Accomplishments [proper [2]] to +the Sex, and to distinguish themselves as tender Mothers, and faithful +Wives, rather than as furious Partizans. Female Virtues are of a +Domestick Turn. The Family is the proper Province for Private Women to +shine in. If they must be shewing their Zeal for the Publick, let it not +be against those who are perhaps of the same Family, or at least of the +same Religion or Nation, but against those who are the open, professed, +undoubted Enemies of their Faith, Liberty and Country. When the _Romans_ +were pressed with a Foreign Enemy, the Ladies voluntarily contributed +all their Rings and Jewels to assist the Government under a publick +Exigence, which appeared so laudable an Action in the Eyes of their +Countrymen, that from thenceforth it was permitted by a Law to pronounce +publick Orations at the Funeral of a Woman in Praise of the deceased +Person, which till that Time was peculiar to Men. Would our _English_ +Ladies, instead of sticking on a Patch against those of their own +Country, shew themselves so truly Publick-spirited as to sacrifice every +one her Necklace against the common Enemy, what Decrees ought not to be +made in Favour of them? + +Since I am recollecting upon this Subject such Passages as occur to my +Memory out of ancient Authors, I cannot omit a Sentence in the +celebrated Funeral Oration of _Pericles_ [3] which he made in Honour of +those brave _Athenians_ that were slain in a fight with the +_Lacedaemonians_. After having addressed himself to the several Ranks +and Orders of his Countrymen, and shewn them how they should behave +themselves in the Publick Cause, he turns to the Female Part of his +Audience; + + 'And as for you (says he) I shall advise you in very few Words: + Aspire only to those Virtues that are peculiar to your Sex; follow + your natural Modesty, and think it your greatest Commendation not to + be talked of one way or other'. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Davideis', Bk III. But Cowley's Tiger is a Male.] + + +[Footnote 2: that are proper] + + +[Footnote 3: Thucydides, Bk II.] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 82. Monday, June 4, 1711. Steele. + + + '... Caput domina venate sub hasta.' + + Juv. + + +Passing under _Ludgate_ [1] the other Day, I heard a Voice bawling for +Charity, which I thought I had somewhere heard before. Coming near to +the Grate, the Prisoner called me by my Name, and desired I would throw +something into the Box: I was out of Countenance for him, and did as he +bid me, by putting in half a Crown. I went away, reflecting upon the +strange Constitution of some Men, and how meanly they behave themselves +in all Sorts of Conditions. The Person who begged of me is now, as I +take it, Fifty; I was well acquainted with him till about the Age of +Twenty-five; at which Time a good Estate fell to him by the Death of a +Relation. Upon coming to this unexpected good Fortune, he ran into all +the Extravagancies imaginable; was frequently in drunken Disputes, broke +Drawers Heads, talked and swore loud, was unmannerly to those above him, +and insolent to those below him. I could not but remark, that it was the +same Baseness of Spirit which worked in his Behaviour in both Fortunes: +The same little Mind was insolent in Riches, and shameless in Poverty. +This Accident made me muse upon the Circumstances of being in Debt in +general, and solve in my Mind what Tempers were most apt to fall into +this Error of Life, as well as the Misfortune it must needs be to +languish under such Pressures. As for my self, my natural Aversion to +that sort of Conversation which makes a Figure with the Generality of +Mankind, exempts me from any Temptations to Expence; and all my Business +lies within a very narrow Compass, which is only to give an honest Man, +who takes care of my Estate, proper Vouchers for his quarterly Payments +to me, and observe what Linnen my Laundress brings and takes away with +her once a Week: My Steward brings his Receipt ready for my Signing; and +I have a pretty Implement with the respective Names of Shirts, Cravats, +Handkerchiefs and Stockings, with proper Numbers to know how to reckon +with my Laundress. This being almost all the Business I have in the +World for the Care of my own Affairs, I am at full Leisure to observe +upon what others do, with relation to their Equipage and Oeconomy. + +When I walk the Street, and observe the Hurry about me in this Town, + + _Where with like Haste, tho' diff'rent Ways they run; + Some to undo, and some to be undone;_ [2] + +I say, when I behold this vast Variety of Persons and Humours, with the +Pains they both take for the Accomplishment of the Ends mentioned in the +above Verse of _Denham,_ I cannot much wonder at the Endeavour after +Gain, but am extremely astonished that Men can be so insensible of the +Danger of running into Debt. One would think it impossible a Man who is +given to contract Debts should know, that his Creditor has, from that +Moment in which he transgresses Payment, so much as that Demand comes to +in his Debtor's Honour, Liberty, and Fortune. One would think he did not +know, that his Creditor can say the worst thing imaginable of him, to +wit, _That he is unjust_, without Defamation; and can seize his Person, +without being guilty of an Assault. Yet such is the loose and abandoned +Turn of some Men's Minds, that they can live under these constant +Apprehensions, and still go on to encrease the Cause of them. Can there +be a more low and servile Condition, than to be ashamed, or afraid, to +see any one Man breathing? Yet he that is much in Debt, is in that +Condition with relation to twenty different People. There are indeed +Circumstances wherein Men of honest Natures may become liable to Debts, +by some unadvised Behaviour in any great Point of their Life, or +mortgaging a Man's Honesty as a Security for that of another, and the +like; but these Instances are so particular and circumstantiated, that +they cannot come within general Considerations: For one such Case as one +of these, there are ten, where a Man, to keep up a Farce of Retinue and +Grandeur within his own House, shall shrink at the Expectation of surly +Demands at his Doors. The Debtor is the Creditor's Criminal, and all the +Officers of Power and State, whom we behold make so great a Figure, are +no other than so many Persons in Authority to make good his Charge +against him. Human Society depends upon his having the Vengeance Law +allots him; and the Debtor owes his Liberty to his Neighbour, as much as +the Murderer does his Life to his Prince. + +Our Gentry are, generally speaking, in Debt; and many Families have put +it into a kind of Method of being so from Generation to Generation. The +Father mortgages when his Son is very young: and the Boy is to marry as +soon as he is at Age, to redeem it, and find Portions for his Sisters. +This, forsooth, is no great Inconvenience to him; for he may wench, keep +a publick Table or feed Dogs, like a worthy _English_ Gentleman, till he +has out-run half his Estate, and leave the same Incumbrance upon his +First-born, and so on, till one Man of more Vigour than ordinary goes +quite through the Estate, or some Man of Sense comes into it, and scorns +to have an Estate in Partnership, that is to say, liable to the Demand +or Insult of any Man living. There is my Friend Sir ANDREW, tho' for +many Years a great and general Trader, was never the Defendant in a +Law-Suit, in all the Perplexity of Business, and the Iniquity of Mankind +at present: No one had any Colour for the least Complaint against his +Dealings with him. This is certainly as uncommon, and in its Proportion +as laudable in a Citizen, as it is in a General never to have suffered a +Disadvantage in Fight. How different from this Gentleman is _Jack +Truepenny,_ who has been an old Acquaintance of Sir ANDREW and my self +from Boys, but could never learn our Caution. _Jack_ has a whorish +unresisting Good-nature, which makes him incapable of having a Property +in any thing. His Fortune, his Reputation, his Time and his Capacity, +are at any Man's Service that comes first. When he was at School, he was +whipped thrice a Week for Faults he took upon him to excuse others; +since he came into the Business of the World, he has been arrested twice +or thrice a Year for Debts he had nothing to do with, but as a Surety +for others; and I remember when a Friend of his had suffered in the Vice +of the Town, all the Physick his Friend took was conveyed to him by +_Jack_, and inscribed, 'A Bolus or an Electuary for Mr. _Truepenny_.' +_Jack_ had a good Estate left him, which came to nothing; because he +believed all who pretended to Demands upon it. This Easiness and +Credulity destroy all the other Merit he has; and he has all his Life +been a Sacrifice to others, without ever receiving Thanks, or doing one +good Action. + +I will end this Discourse with a Speech which I heard _Jack_ make to one +of his Creditors, (of whom he deserved gentler Usage) after lying a +whole Night in Custody at his Suit. + + + SIR, + + 'Your Ingratitude for the many Kindnesses I have done you, shall not + make me unthankful for the Good you have done me, in letting me see + there is such a Man as you in the World. I am obliged to you for the + Diffidence I shall have all the rest of my Life: _I shall hereafter + trust no Man so far as to be in his Debt_.' + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Ludgate was originally built in 1215, by the Barons who +entered London, destroyed houses of Jews and erected this gate with +their ruins. It was first used as a prison in 1373, being then a free +prison, but soon losing that privilege. Sir Stephen Forster, who was +Lord Mayor in 1454, had been a prisoner at Ludgate and begged at the +grate, where he was seen by a rich widow who bought his liberty, took +him into her service, and eventually married him. To commemorate this he +enlarged the accommodation for the prisoners and added a chapel. The old +gate was taken down and rebuilt in 1586. That second gate was destroyed +in the Fire of London. + +The gate which succeeded and was used, like its predecessors, as a +wretched prison for debtors, was pulled down in 1760, and the prisoners +removed, first to the London workhouse, afterwards to part of the +Giltspur Street Compter.] + + +[Footnote 2: Sir John Denham's 'Cooper's Hill.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 83. Tuesday, June 5, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Animum pictura pascit inani.' + + Virg. + + +When the Weather hinders me from taking my Diversions without Doors, I +frequently make a little Party with two or three select Friends, to +visit any thing curious that may be seen under Covert. My principal +Entertainments of this Nature are Pictures, insomuch that when I have +found the Weather set in to be very bad, I have taken a whole Day's +Journey to see a Gallery that is furnished by the Hands of great +Masters. By this means, when the Heavens are filled with Clouds, when +the Earth swims in Rain, and all Nature wears a lowering Countenance, I +withdraw myself from these uncomfortable Scenes into the visionary +Worlds of Art; where I meet with shining Landskips, gilded Triumphs, +beautiful Faces, and all those other Objects that fill the mind with gay +Ideas, and disperse that Gloominess which is apt to hang upon it in +those dark disconsolate Seasons. + +I was some Weeks ago in a Course of these Diversions; which had taken +such an entire Possession of my Imagination, that they formed in it a +short Morning's Dream, which I shall communicate to my Reader, rather as +the first Sketch and Outlines of a Vision, than as a finished Piece. + +I dreamt that I was admitted into a long spacious Gallery, which had one +Side covered with Pieces of all the Famous Painters who are now living, +and the other with the Works of the greatest Masters that are dead. + +On the side of the _Living_, I saw several Persons busy in Drawing, +Colouring, and Designing; on the side of the _Dead_ Painters, I could +not discover more than one Person at Work, who was exceeding slow in his +Motions, and wonderfully nice in his Touches. + +I was resolved to examine the several Artists that stood before me, and +accordingly applied my self to the side of the _Living_. The first I +observed at Work in this Part of the Gallery was VANITY, with his Hair +tied behind him in a Ribbon, and dressed like a _Frenchman_. All the +Faces he drew were very remarkable for their Smiles, and a certain +smirking Air which he bestowed indifferently on every Age and Degree of +either Sex. The _Toujours Gai_ appeared even in his Judges, Bishops, and +Privy-Counsellors: In a word all his Men were _Petits Maitres_, and all +his Women _Coquets_. The Drapery of his Figures was extreamly +well-suited to his Faces, and was made up of all the glaring Colours +that could be mixt together; every Part of the Dress was in a Flutter, +and endeavoured to distinguish itself above the rest. + +On the left Hand of VANITY stood a laborious Workman, who I found was +his humble Admirer, and copied after him. He was dressed like a +_German_, and had a very hard Name, that sounded something like +STUPIDITY. + +The third Artist that I looked over was FANTASQUE, dressed like a +Venetian Scaramouch. He had an excellent Hand at a _Chimera_, and dealt +very much in Distortions and Grimaces: He would sometimes affright +himself with the Phantoms that flowed from his Pencil. In short, the +most elaborate of his Pieces was at best but a terrifying Dream; and one +could say nothing more of his finest Figures, than that they were +agreeable Monsters. + +The fourth Person I examined was very remarkable for his hasty Hand, +which left his Pictures so unfinished, that the Beauty in the Picture +(which was designed to continue as a monument of it to Posterity) faded +sooner than in the Person after whom it was drawn. He made so much haste +to dispatch his Business, that he neither gave himself time to clean his +Pencils, [nor [1]] mix his Colours. The Name of this expeditious Workman +was AVARICE. + +Not far from this Artist I saw another of a quite different Nature, who +was dressed in the Habit of a _Dutchman_, and known by the Name of +INDUSTRY. His Figures were wonderfully laboured; If he drew the +Portraiture of a man, he did not omit a single Hair in his Face; if the +Figure of a Ship, there was not a Rope among the Tackle that escaped +him. He had likewise hung a great Part of the Wall with Night-pieces, +that seemed to shew themselves by the Candles which were lighted up in +several Parts of them; and were so inflamed by the Sun-shine which +accidentally fell upon them, that at first sight I could scarce forbear +crying out, _Fire_. + +The five foregoing Artists were the most considerable on this Side the +Gallery; there were indeed several others whom I had not time to look +into. One of them, however, I could not forbear observing, who was very +busie in retouching the finest Pieces, tho' he produced no Originals of +his own. His Pencil aggravated every Feature that was before +over-charged, loaded every Defect, and poisoned every Colour it touched. +Though this workman did so much Mischief on the Side of the Living, he +never turned his Eye towards that of the Dead. His Name was ENVY. + +Having taken a cursory View of one Side of the Gallery, I turned my self +to that which was filled by the Works of those great Masters that were +dead; when immediately I fancied my self standing before a Multitude of +Spectators, and thousands of Eyes looking upon me at once; for all +before me appeared so like Men and Women, that I almost forgot they were +Pictures. _Raphael's_ Figures stood in one Row, _Titian's_ in another, +_Guido Rheni's_ in a third. One Part of the Wall was peopled by +_Hannibal Carrache_, another by _Correggio_, and another by _Rubens_. To +be short, there was not a great Master among the Dead who had not +contributed to the Embellishment of this Side of the Gallery. The +Persons that owed their Being to these several Masters, appeared all of +them to be real and alive, and differed among one another only in the +Variety of their Shapes, Complexions, and Cloaths; so that they looked +like different Nations of the same Species. + +Observing an old Man (who was the same Person I before mentioned, as the +only Artist that was at work on this Side of the Gallery) creeping up +and down from one Picture to another, and retouching all the fine Pieces +that stood before me, I could not but be very attentive to all his +Motions. I found his Pencil was so very light, that it worked +imperceptibly, and after a thousand Touches, scarce produced any visible +Effect in the Picture on which he was employed. However, as he busied +himself incessantly, and repeated Touch after Touch without Rest or +Intermission, he wore off insensibly every little disagreeable Gloss +that hung upon a Figure. He also added such a beautiful Brown to the +Shades, and Mellowness to the Colours, that he made every Picture appear +more perfect than when it came fresh from [the [2]] Master's Pencil. I +could not forbear looking upon the Face of this ancient Workman, and +immediately, by the long Lock of Hair upon his Forehead, discovered him +to be TIME. + +Whether it were because the Thread of my Dream was at an End I cannot +tell, but upon my taking a Survey of this imaginary old Man, my Sleep +left me. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: or] + + +[Footnote 2: its] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 84. Wednesday, June 6, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Quis talia fando + Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulyssei + Temperet a Lachrymis?' + + Virg. + + +Looking over the old Manuscript wherein the private Actions of +_Pharamond_ [1] are set down by way of Table-Book. I found many things +which gave me great Delight; and as human Life turns upon the same +Principles and Passions in all Ages, I thought it very proper to take +Minutes of what passed in that Age, for the Instruction of this. The +Antiquary, who lent me these Papers, gave me a Character of _Eucrate_, +the Favourite of _Pharamond_, extracted from an Author who lived in that +Court. The Account he gives both of the Prince and this his faithful +Friend, will not be improper to insert here, because I may have Occasion +to mention many of their Conversations, into which these Memorials of +them may give Light. + + '_Pharamond_, when he had a Mind to retire for an Hour or two from the + Hurry of Business and Fatigue of Ceremony, made a Signal to _Eucrate_, + by putting his Hand to his Face, placing his Arm negligently on a + Window, or some such Action as appeared indifferent to all the rest of + the Company. Upon such Notice, unobserved by others, (for their entire + Intimacy was always a Secret) _Eucrate_ repaired to his own Apartment + to receive the King. There was a secret Access to this Part of the + Court, at which _Eucrate_ used to admit many whose mean Appearance in + the Eyes of the ordinary Waiters and Door-keepers made them be + repulsed from other Parts of the Palace. Such as these were let in + here by Order of _Eucrate_, and had Audiences of _Pharamond_. This + Entrance _Pharamond_ called _The Gate of the Unhappy_, and the Tears + of the Afflicted who came before him, he would say were Bribes + received by _Eucrate_; for _Eucrate_ had the most compassionate Spirit + of all Men living, except his generous Master, who was always kindled + at the least Affliction which was communicated to him. In the Regard + for the Miserable, _Eucrate_ took particular Care, that the common + Forms of Distress, and the idle Pretenders to Sorrow, about Courts, + who wanted only Supplies to Luxury, should never obtain Favour by his + Means: But the Distresses which arise from the many inexplicable + Occurrences that happen among Men, the unaccountable Alienation of + Parents from their Children, Cruelty of Husbands to Wives, Poverty + occasioned from Shipwreck or Fire, the falling out of Friends, or such + other terrible Disasters, to which the Life of Man is exposed; In + Cases of this Nature, _Eucrate_ was the Patron; and enjoyed this Part + of the Royal Favour so much without being envied, that it was never + inquired into by whose Means, what no one else cared for doing, was + brought about. + + 'One Evening when _Pharamond_ came into the Apartment of _Eucrate_, he + found him extremely dejected; upon which he asked (with a Smile which + was natural to him) + + "What, is there any one too miserable to be relieved by _Pharamond_, + that _Eucrate_ is melancholy? + + I fear there is, answered the Favourite; a Person without, of a good + Air, well Dressed, and tho' a Man in the Strength of his Life, seems + to faint under some inconsolable Calamity: All his Features seem + suffused with Agony of Mind; but I can observe in him, that it is + more inclined to break away in Tears than Rage. I asked him what he + would have; he said he would speak to _Pharamond_. I desired his + Business; he could hardly say to me, _Eucrate_, carry me to the + King, my Story is not to be told twice, I fear I shall not be able + to speak it at all." + + _Pharamond_ commanded _Eucrate_ to let him enter; he did so, and the + Gentleman approached the King with an Air which spoke [him under the + greatest Concern in what Manner to demean himself. [2]] The King, who + had a quick Discerning, relieved him from the Oppression he was under; + and with the most beautiful Complacency said to him, + + "Sir, do not add to that Load of Sorrow I see in your Countenance, + the Awe of my Presence: Think you are speaking to your Friend; if + the Circumstances of your Distress will admit of it, you shall find + me so." + + To whom the Stranger: + + "Oh excellent _Pharamond_, name not a Friend to the unfortunate + _Spinamont_. I had one, but he is dead by my own Hand; [3] but, oh + _Pharamond_, tho' it was by the Hand of _Spinamont_, it was by the + Guilt of _Pharamond_. I come not, oh excellent Prince, to implore + your Pardon; I come to relate my Sorrow, a Sorrow too great for + human Life to support: From henceforth shall all Occurrences appear + Dreams or short Intervals of Amusement, from this one Affliction + which has seiz'd my very Being: Pardon me, oh _Pharamond_, if my + Griefs give me Leave, that I lay before you, in the Anguish of a + wounded Mind, that you, good as you are, are guilty of the generous + Blood spilt this Day by this unhappy Hand: Oh that it had perished + before that Instant!" + + Here the Stranger paused, and recollecting his Mind, after some little + Meditation, he went on in a calmer Tone and Gesture as follows. + + "There is an Authority due to Distress; and as none of human Race is + above the Reach of Sorrow, none should be above the Hearing the + Voice of it: I am sure _Pharamond_ is not. Know then, that I have + this Morning unfortunately killed in a Duel, the Man whom of all Men + living I most loved. I command my self too much in your royal + Presence, to say, _Pharamond_, give me my Friend! _Pharamond_ has + taken him from me! I will not say, shall the merciful _Pharamond_ + destroy his own Subjects? Will the Father of his Country murder his + People? But, the merciful _Pharamond_ does destroy his Subjects, the + Father of his Country does murder his People. Fortune is so much the + Pursuit of Mankind, that all Glory and Honour is in the Power of a + Prince, because he has the Distribution of their Fortunes. It is + therefore the Inadvertency, Negligence, or Guilt of Princes, to let + any thing grow into Custom which is against their Laws. A Court can + make Fashion and Duty walk together; it can never, without the Guilt + of a Court, happen, that it shall not be unfashionable to do what is + unlawful. But alas! in the Dominions of _Pharamond_, by the Force of + a Tyrant Custom, which is mis-named a Point of Honour, the Duellist + kills his Friend whom he loves; and the Judge condemns the Duellist, + while he approves his Behaviour. Shame is the greatest of all Evils; + what avail Laws, when Death only attends the Breach of them, and + Shame Obedience to them? As for me, oh _Pharamond_, were it possible + to describe the nameless Kinds of Compunctions and Tendernesses I + feel, when I reflect upon the little Accidents in our former + Familiarity, my Mind swells into Sorrow which cannot be resisted + enough to be silent in the Presence of _Pharamond_." + + With that he fell into a Flood of Tears, and wept aloud. + + "Why should not _Pharamond_ hear the Anguish he only can relieve + others from in Time to come? Let him hear from me, what they feel + who have given Death by the false Mercy of his Administration, and + form to himself the Vengeance call'd for by those who have perished + by his Negligence.' + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: See No. 76. Steele uses the suggestion of the Romance of +'Pharamond' whose + + 'whole Person,' says the romancer, 'was of so excellent a composition, + and his words so Great and so Noble that it was very difficult to deny + him reverence,' + +to connect with a remote king his ideas of the duty of a Court. +Pharamond's friend Eucrate, whose name means Power well used, is an +invention of the Essayist, as well as the incident and dialogue here +given, for an immediate good purpose of his own, which he pleasantly +contrives in imitation of the style of the romance. In the original, +Pharamond is said to be + + 'truly and wholly charming, as well for the vivacity and delicateness + of his spirit, accompanied with a perfect knowledge of all Sciences, + as for a sweetness which is wholly particular to him, and a + complacence which &c ... All his inclinations are in such manner fixed + upon virtue, that no consideration nor passion can disturb him; and in + those extremities into which his ill fortune hath cast him, he hath + never let pass any occasion to do good.' + +That is why Steele chose Pharamond for his king in this and a preceding +paper.] + + +[Footnote 2: the utmost sense of his Majesty without the ability to +express it.] + + +[Footnote 3: Spinamont is Mr. Thornhill, who, on the 9th of May, 1711, +killed in a duel Sir Cholmomleley Dering, Baronet, of Kent. Mr. +Thornhill was tried and acquitted; but two months afterwards, +assassinated by two men, who, as they stabbed him, bade him remember Sir +Cholmondeley Dering. Steele wrote often and well against duelling, +condemning it in the 'Tatler' several times, in the 'Spectator' several +times, in the 'Guardian' several times, and even in one of his plays.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 85. Thursday, June 7, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Interdum speciosa locis, morataque recte + Fabula nullius Veneris, sine pondere et Arte, + Valdius oblectat populum, meliusque moratur, + Quàm versus inopes rerum, nugaeque canoræ.' + + Hor. + + +It is the Custom of the _Mahometans_, if they see any printed or written +Paper upon the Ground, to take it up and lay it aside carefully, as not +knowing but it may contain some Piece of their _Alcoran_. I must confess +I have so much of the _Mussulman_ in me, That I cannot forbear looking +into every printed Paper which comes in my Way, under whatsoever +despicable Circumstances it may appear; for as no mortal Author, in the +ordinary Fate and Vicissitude of Things, knows to what Use his Works +may, some time or other, be applied, a Man may often meet with very +celebrated Names in a Paper of Tobacco. I have lighted my Pipe more than +once with the Writings of a Prelate; and know a Friend of mine, who, for +these several Years, has converted the Essays of a Man of Quality into a +kind of Fringe for his Candlesticks. I remember in particular, after +having read over a Poem of an Eminent Author on a Victory, I met with +several Fragments of it upon the next rejoicing Day, which had been +employ'd in Squibs and Crackers, and by that means celebrated its +Subject in a double Capacity. I once met with a Page of Mr. _Baxter_ +under a _Christmas_ Pye. Whether or no the Pastry-Cook had made use of +it through Chance or Waggery, for the Defence of that superstitious +_Viande_, I know not; but upon the Perusal of it, I conceived so good an +Idea of the Author's Piety, that I bought the whole Book. I have often +profited by these accidental Readings, and have sometimes found very +Curious Pieces, that are either out of Print, or not to be met with in +the Shops of our _London Booksellers_. For this Reason, when my Friends +take a Survey of my Library, they are very much surprised to find, upon +the Shelf of Folios, two long Band-Boxes standing upright among my +Books, till I let them see that they are both of them lined with deep +Erudition and abstruse Literature. I might likewise mention a +Paper-Kite, from which I have received great Improvement; and a +Hat-Case, which I would not exchange for all the Beavers in +_Great-Britain_. This my inquisitive Temper, or rather impertinent +Humour of prying into all Sorts of Writing, with my natural Aversion to +Loquacity, give me a good deal of Employment when I enter any House in +the Country; for I cannot for my Heart leave a Room, before I have +thoroughly studied the Walls of it, and examined the several printed +Papers which are usually pasted upon them. The last Piece that I met +with upon this Occasion gave me a most exquisite Pleasure. My Reader +will think I am not serious, when I acquaint him that the Piece I am +going to speak of was the old Ballad of the _Two Children in the Wood_, +which is one of the darling Songs of the common People, and has been the +Delight of most _Englishmen_ in some Part of their Age. + +This Song is a plain simple Copy of Nature, destitute of the Helps and +Ornaments of Art. The Tale of it is a pretty Tragical Story, and pleases +for no other Reason but because it is a Copy of Nature. There is even a +despicable Simplicity in the Verse; and yet because the Sentiments +appear genuine and unaffected, they are able to move the Mind of the +most polite Reader with Inward Meltings of Humanity and Compassion. The +Incidents grow out of the Subject, and are such as [are the most proper +to excite Pity; for [1]] which Reason the whole Narration has something +in it very moving, notwithstanding the Author of it (whoever he was) has +deliver'd it in such an abject Phrase and Poorness of Expression, that +the quoting any part of it would look like a Design of turning it into +Ridicule. But though the Language is mean, the Thoughts [, as I have +before said,] from one end to the other are [natural, [2]] and therefore +cannot fail to please those who are not Judges of Language, or those +who, notwithstanding they are Judges of Language, have a [true [3]] and +unprejudiced Taste of Nature. The Condition, Speech, and Behaviour of +the dying Parents, with the Age, Innocence, and Distress of the +Children, are set forth in such tender Circumstances, that it is +impossible for a [Reader of common Humanity [4]] not to be affected with +them. As for the Circumstance of the _Robin-red-breast_, it is indeed a +little Poetical Ornament; and to shew [the Genius of the Author [5]] +amidst all his Simplicity, it is just the same kind of Fiction which one +of the greatest of the _Latin_ Poets has made use of upon a parallel +Occasion; I mean that Passage in _Horace_, where he describes himself +when he was a Child, fallen asleep in a desart Wood, and covered with +Leaves by the Turtles that took pity on him. + + Me fabulosa Vulture in Apulo, + Altricis extra limen Apuliæ, + Ludo fatigatumque somno + Fronde novâ puerum palumbes + Texere ... + +I have heard that the late Lord _Dorset_, who had the greatest Wit +temper'd with the greatest [Candour, [6]] and was one of the finest +Criticks as well as the best Poets of his Age, had a numerous collection +of old _English_ Ballads, and took a particular Pleasure in the Reading +of them. I can affirm the same of Mr. _Dryden_, and know several of the +most refined Writers of our present Age who are of the same Humour. + +I might likewise refer my Reader to _Moliere's_ Thoughts on this +Subject, as he has expressed them in the Character of the _Misanthrope_; +but those only who are endowed with a true Greatness of Soul and Genius +can divest themselves of the little Images of Ridicule, and admire +Nature in her Simplicity and Nakedness. As for the little conceited Wits +of the Age, who can only shew their Judgment by finding Fault, they +cannot be supposed to admire these Productions [which [7]] have nothing +to recommend them but the Beauties of Nature, when they do not know how +to relish even those Compositions that, with all the Beauties of Nature, +have also the additional Advantages of Art. [8] + + + +[Footnote 1: _Virgil_ himself would have touched upon, had the like +Story been told by that Divine Poet. For] + + +[Footnote 2: wonderfully natural] + + +[Footnote 3: genuine] + + +[Footnote 4: goodnatured Reader] + + +[Footnote 5: what a Genius the Author was Master of] + + +[Footnote 6: Humanity] + + +[Footnote 7: that] + + +[Footnote 8: Addison had incurred much ridicule from the bad taste of +the time by his papers upon Chevy Chase, though he had gone some way to +meet it by endeavouring to satisfy the Dennises of 'that polite age,' +with authorities from Virgil. Among the jests was a burlesque criticism +of Tom Thumb. What Addison thought of the 'little images of Ridicule' +set up against him, the last paragraph of this Essay shows, but the +collation of texts shows that he did flinch a little. We now see how he +modified many expressions in the reprint of this Essay upon the 'Babes +in the Wood'.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 86. Friday, June 8, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Heu quam difficile est crimen non prodere vultu!' + + Ovid. + + +There are several Arts which [all Men are [1]] in some measure [Masters +[2]] of, without having been at the Pains of learning them. Every one +that speaks or reasons is a Grammarian and a Logician, tho' he may be +wholly unacquainted with the Rules of Grammar or Logick, as they are +delivered in Books and Systems. In the same Manner, every one is in some +Degree a Master of that Art which is generally distinguished by the Name +of Physiognomy; and naturally forms to himself the Character or Fortune +of a Stranger, from the Features and Lineaments of his Face. We are no +sooner presented to any one we never saw before, but we are immediately +struck with the Idea of a proud, a reserved, an affable, or a +good-natured Man; and upon our first going into a Company of [Strangers, +[3]] our Benevolence or Aversion, Awe or Contempt, rises naturally +towards several particular Persons before we have heard them speak a +single Word, or so much as know who they are. + +Every Passion gives a particular Cast to the Countenance, and is apt to +discover itself in some Feature or other. I have seen an Eye curse for +half an Hour together, and an Eye-brow call a Man Scoundrel. Nothing is +more common than for Lovers to complain, resent, languish, despair, and +die in dumb Show. For my own part, I am so apt to frame a Notion of +every Man's Humour or Circumstances by his Looks, that I have sometimes +employed my self from _Charing-Cross_ to the _Royal-Exchange_ in drawing +the Characters of those who have passed by me. When I see a Man with a +sour rivell'd Face, I cannot forbear pitying his Wife; and when I meet +with an open ingenuous Countenance, think on the Happiness of his +Friends, his Family, and Relations. + +I cannot recollect the Author of a famous Saying to a Stranger who stood +silent in his Company, _Speak that I may_ see thee:_ [4] But, with +Submission, I think we may be better known by our Looks than by our +Words; and that a Man's Speech is much more easily disguised than his +Countenance. In this Case, however, I think the Air of the whole Face is +much more expressive than the Lines of it: The Truth of it is, the Air +is generally nothing else but the inward Disposition of the Mind made +visible. + +Those who have established Physiognomy into an Art, and laid down Rules +of judging Mens Tempers by their Faces, have regarded the Features much +more than the Air. _Martial_ has a pretty Epigram on this Subject: + + Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine loesus: + Rem magnam proestas, Zoile, si bonus es. + + (Epig. 54, 1. 12) + + Thy Beard and Head are of a diff'rent Dye; + Short of one Foot, distorted in an Eye: + With all these Tokens of a Knave compleat, + Should'st thou be honest, thou'rt a dev'lish Cheat. + +I have seen a very ingenious Author on this Subject, [who [5]] founds +his Speculations on the Supposition, That as a Man hath in the Mould of +his Face a remote Likeness to that of an Ox, a Sheep, a Lion, an Hog, or +any other Creature; he hath the same Resemblance in the Frame of his +Mind, and is subject to those Passions which are predominant in the +Creature that appears in his Countenance. [6] Accordingly he gives the +Prints of several Faces that are of a different Mould, and by [a little] +overcharging the Likeness, discovers the Figures of these several Kinds +of brutal Faces in human Features. I remember, in the Life of the famous +Prince of _Conde_ [7] the Writer observes, [the [8]] Face of that Prince +was like the Face of an Eagle, and that the Prince was very well pleased +to be told so. In this Case therefore we may be sure, that he had in his +Mind some general implicit Notion of this Art of Physiognomy which I +have just now mentioned; and that when his Courtiers told him his Face +was made like an Eagle's, he understood them in the same manner as if +they had told him, there was something in his Looks which shewed him to +be strong, active, piercing, and of a royal Descent. Whether or no the +different Motions of the Animal Spirits, in different Passions, may have +any Effect on the Mould of the Face when the Lineaments are pliable and +tender, or whether the same kind of Souls require the same kind of +Habitations, I shall leave to the Consideration of the Curious. In the +mean Time I think nothing can be more glorious than for a Man to give +the Lie to his Face, and to be an honest, just, good-natured Man, in +spite of all those Marks and Signatures which Nature seems to have set +upon him for the Contrary. This very often happens among those, who, +instead of being exasperated by their own Looks, or envying the Looks of +others, apply themselves entirely to the cultivating of their Minds, and +getting those Beauties which are more lasting and more ornamental. I +have seen many an amiable Piece of Deformity; and have observed a +certain Chearfulness in as bad a System of Features as ever was clapped +together, which hath appeared more lovely than all the blooming Charms +of an insolent Beauty. There is a double Praise due to Virtue, when it +is lodged in a Body that seems to have been prepared for the Reception +of Vice; in many such Cases the Soul and the Body do not seem to be +Fellows. + +_Socrates_ was an extraordinary Instance of this Nature. There chanced +to be a great Physiognomist in his Time at _Athens_, [9] who had made +strange Discoveries of Mens Tempers and Inclinations by their outward +Appearances. _Socrates's_ Disciples, that they might put this Artist to +the Trial, carried him to their Master, whom he had never seen before, +and did not know [he was then in company with him. [10]] After a short +Examination of his Face, the Physiognomist pronounced him the most lewd, +libidinous, drunken old Fellow that he had ever [met with [11]] in his +[whole] Life. Upon which the Disciples all burst out a laughing, as +thinking they had detected the Falshood and Vanity of his Art. But +_Socrates_ told them, that the Principles of his Art might be very true, +notwithstanding his present Mistake; for that he himself was naturally +inclined to those particular Vices which the Physiognomist had +discovered in his Countenance, but that he had conquered the strong +Dispositions he was born with by the Dictates of Philosophy. + +We are indeed told by an ancient Author, that _Socrates_ very much +resembled _Silenus_ in his Face; [12] which we find to have been very +rightly observed from the Statues and Busts of both, [that [13]] are +still extant; as well as on several antique Seals and precious Stones, +which are frequently enough to be met with in the Cabinets of the +Curious. But however Observations of this Nature may sometimes hold, a +wise Man should be particularly cautious how he gives credit to a Man's +outward Appearance. It is an irreparable Injustice [we [14]] are guilty +of towards one another, when we are prejudiced by the Looks and Features +of those whom we do not know. How often do we conceive Hatred against a +Person of Worth, or fancy a Man to be proud and ill-natured by his +Aspect, whom we think we cannot esteem too much when we are acquainted +with his real Character? Dr. _Moore_, [15] in his admirable System of +Ethicks, reckons this particular Inclination to take a Prejudice against +a Man for his Looks, among the smaller Vices in Morality, and, if I +remember, gives it the Name of a _Prosopolepsia_. + + + +[Footnote 1: every Man is] + + +[Footnote 2: Master] + + +[Footnote 3: unknown Persons] + + +[Footnote 4: Socrates. In Apul. 'Flor'.] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: The idea is as old as Aristotle who, in treating of arguing +from signs in general, speaks under the head of Physiognomy of +conclusions drawn from natural signs, such as indications of the temper +proper to each class of animals in forms resembling them. The book +Addison refers to is Baptista della Porta 'De Human, Physiognomiâ'] + + +[Footnote 7: 'Histoire du Louis de Bourbon II. du Nom Prince de Condé,' +Englished by Nahum Tate in 1693.] + + +[Footnote 8: that the] + + +[Footnote 9: Cicero, 'Tusc. Quæst.' Bk. IV. near the close. Again +'de Fato', c. 5, he says that the physiognomist Zopyrus pronounced +Socrates stupid and dull, because the outline of his throat was not +concave, but full and obtuse.] + + +[Footnote 10: who he was.] + + +[Footnote 11: seen] + + +[Footnote 12: Plato in the 'Symposium'; where Alcibiades is made to +draw the parallel under the influence of wine and revelry. He compares +the person of Socrates to the sculptured figures of the Sileni and the +Mercuries in the streets of Athens, but owns the spell by which he was +held, in presence of Socrates, as by the flute of the Satyr Marsyas.] + + +[Footnote 13: which] + + +[Footnote 14: that we] + + +[Footnote 15: Dr Henry More.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 87. Saturday, June 9, 1711. Steel. + + + + '... Nimium ne crede colori.' + + Virg. + + +It has been the Purpose of several of my Speculations to bring People to +an unconcerned Behaviour, with relation to their Persons, whether +beautiful or defective. As the Secrets of the _Ugly Club_ were exposed +to the Publick, that Men might see there were some noble Spirits in the +Age, who are not at all displeased with themselves upon Considerations +which they had no Choice in: so the Discourse concerning _Idols_ tended +to lessen the Value People put upon themselves from personal Advantages, +and Gifts of Nature. As to the latter Species of Mankind, the Beauties, +whether Male or Female, they are generally the most untractable People +of all others. You are so excessively perplexed with the Particularities +in their Behaviour, that, to be at Ease, one would be apt to wish there +were no such Creatures. They expect so great Allowances, and give so +little to others, that they who have to do with them find in the main, a +Man with a better Person than ordinary, and a beautiful Woman, might be +very happily changed for such to whom Nature has been less liberal. The +Handsome Fellow is usually so much a Gentleman, and the Fine Woman has +something so becoming, that there is no enduring either of them. It has +therefore been generally my Choice to mix with chearful Ugly Creatures, +rather than Gentlemen who are Graceful enough to omit or do what they +please; or Beauties who have Charms enough to do and say what would be +disobliging in any but themselves. + +Diffidence and Presumption, upon account of our Persons, are equally +Faults; and both arise from the Want of knowing, or rather endeavouring +to know, our selves, and for what we ought to be valued or neglected. +But indeed, I did not imagine these little Considerations and Coquetries +could have the ill Consequences as I find they have by the following +Letters of my Correspondents, where it seems Beauty is thrown into the +Account, in Matters of Sale, to those who receive no Favour from the +Charmers. + + + _June 4. + + Mr. SPECTATOR_, + + After I have assured you I am in every respect one of the Handsomest + young Girls about Town--I need be particular in nothing but the make + of my Face, which has the Misfortune to be exactly Oval. This I take + to proceed from a Temper that naturally inclines me both to speak and + hear. + + With this Account you may wonder how I can have the Vanity to offer my + self as a Candidate, which I now do, to a Society, where the SPECTATOR + and _Hecatissa_ have been admitted with so much Applause. I don't want + to be put in mind how very Defective I am in every thing that is Ugly: + I am too sensible of my own Unworthiness in this Particular, and + therefore I only propose my self as a Foil to the Club. + + You see how honest I have been to confess all my Imperfections, which + is a great deal to come from a Woman, and what I hope you will + encourage with the Favour of your Interest. + + There can be no Objection made on the Side of the matchless + _Hecatissa_, since it is certain I shall be in no Danger of giving her + the least occasion of Jealousy: And then a Joint-Stool in the very + lowest Place at the Table, is all the Honour that is coveted by + + _Your most Humble and Obedient Servant_, + + ROSALINDA. + + P.S. I have sacrificed my Necklace to put into the Publick Lottery + against the Common Enemy. And last _Saturday_, about Three a Clock in + the Afternoon, I began to patch indifferently on both Sides of my + Face. + + + + _London, June 7, 1711._ + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'Upon reading your late Dissertation concerning _Idols_, I cannot but + complain to you that there are, in six or seven Places of this City, + Coffee-houses kept by Persons of that Sisterhood. These _Idols_ sit + and receive all Day long the adoration of the Youth within such and + such Districts: I know, in particular, Goods are not entered as they + ought to be at the Custom-house, nor Law-Reports perused at the + Temple; by reason of one Beauty who detains the young Merchants too + long near _Change_, and another Fair One who keeps the Students at her + House when they should be at Study. It would be worth your while to + see how the Idolaters alternately offer Incense to their _Idols_, and + what Heart-burnings arise in those who wait for their Turn to receive + kind Aspects from those little Thrones, which all the Company, but + these Lovers, call the Bars. I saw a Gentleman turn as pale as Ashes, + because an _Idol_ turned the Sugar in a Tea-Dish for his Rival, and + carelessly called the Boy to serve him, with a _Sirrah! Why don't you + give the Gentleman the Box to please himself?_ Certain it is, that a + very hopeful young Man was taken with Leads in his Pockets below + Bridge, where he intended to drown himself, because his _Idol_ would + wash the Dish in which she had [but just [1]] drank Tea, before she + would let him use it. + + I am, Sir, a Person past being Amorous, and do not give this + Information out of Envy or Jealousy, but I am a real Sufferer by it. + These Lovers take any thing for Tea and Coffee; I saw one Yesterday + surfeit to make his Court; and all his Rivals, at the same time, loud + in the Commendation of Liquors that went against every body in the + Room that was not in Love. While these young Fellows resign their + Stomachs with their Hearts, and drink at the _Idol_ in this manner, we + who come to do Business, or talk Politicks, are utterly poisoned: They + have also Drams for those who are more enamoured than ordinary; and it + is very common for such as are too low in Constitution to ogle the + _Idol_ upon the Strength of Tea, to fluster themselves with warmer + Liquors: Thus all Pretenders advance, as fast as they can, to a Feaver + or a Diabetes. I must repeat to you, that I do not look with an evil + Eye upon the Profit of the _Idols_, or the Diversion of the Lovers; + what I hope from this Remonstrance, is only that we plain People may + not be served as if we were Idolaters; but that from the time of + publishing this in your Paper, the _Idols_ would mix Ratsbane only for + their Admirers, and take more care of us who don't love them. + I am, + _SIR, + Yours_, + T.T. [2] + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: just before] + + +[Footnote 2: This letter is ascribed to Laurence Eusden.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + _ADVERTISEMENT_. + + _This to give Notice, + That the three Criticks + who last_ Sunday _settled the Characters + of my Lord_ Rochester _and_ Boileau, + _in the Yard of a Coffee House in_ Fuller's Rents, + _will meet this next_ Sunday _at the same Time and Place, + to finish the Merits of several Dramatick Writers: + And will also make an End of_ the Nature of True Sublime. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 88. Monday, June 11, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Quid Domini facient, audent cum tulia Fures?' + + Virg. + + + May 30, 1711. + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + I have no small Value for your Endeavours to lay before the World what + may escape their Observation, and yet highly conduces to their + Service. You have, I think, succeeded very well on many Subjects; and + seem to have been conversant in very different Scenes of Life. But in + the Considerations of Mankind, as a SPECTATOR, you should not omit + Circumstances which relate to the inferior Part of the World, any more + than those which concern the greater. There is one thing in particular + which I wonder you have not touched upon, and that is the general + Corruption of Manners in the Servants of _Great Britain_. I am a Man + that have travelled and seen many Nations, but have for seven Years + last past resided constantly in _London_, or within twenty Miles of + it: In this Time I have contracted a numerous Acquaintance among the + best Sort of People, and have hardly found one of them happy in their + Servants. This is matter of great Astonishment to Foreigners, and all + such as have visited Foreign Countries; especially since we cannot but + observe, That there is no Part of the World where Servants have those + Privileges and Advantages as in _England:_ They have no where else + such plentiful Diet, large Wages, or indulgent Liberty: There is no + Place wherein they labour less, and yet where they are so little + respectful, more wasteful, more negligent, or where they so frequently + change their Masters. To this I attribute, in a great measure, the + frequent Robberies and Losses which we suffer on the high Road and in + our own Houses. That indeed which gives me the present Thought of this + kind, is, that a careless Groom of mine has spoiled me the prettiest + Pad in the World with only riding him ten Miles, and I assure you, if + I were to make a Register of all the Horses I have known thus abused + by Negligence of Servants, the Number would mount a Regiment. I wish + you would give us your Observations, that we may know how to treat + these Rogues, or that we Masters may enter into Measures to reform + them. Pray give us a Speculation in general about Servants, and you + make me + + Pray do not omit the Mention + of Grooms in particular. + + _Yours_, + + Philo-Britannicus + + +This honest Gentleman, who is so desirous that I should write a Satyr +upon Grooms, has a great deal of Reason for his Resentment; and I know +no Evil which touches all Mankind so much as this of the Misbehaviour of +Servants. + +The Complaint of this Letter runs wholly upon Men-Servants; and I can +attribute the Licentiousness which has at present prevailed among them, +to nothing but what an hundred before me have ascribed it to, The Custom +of giving Board-Wages: This one Instance of false Oeconomy is sufficient +to debauch the whole Nation of Servants, and makes them as it were but +for some part of their Time in that Quality. They are either attending +in Places where they meet and run into Clubs, or else, if they wait at +Taverns, they eat after their Masters, and reserve their Wages for other +Occasions. From hence it arises, that they are but in a lower Degree +what their Masters themselves are; and usually affect an Imitation of +their Manners: And you have in Liveries, Beaux, Fops, and Coxcombs, in +as high Perfection as among People that keep Equipages. It is a common +Humour among the Retinue of People of Quality, when they are in their +Revels, that is when they are out of their Masters Sight, to assume in a +humourous Way the Names and Titles of those whose Liveries they wear. By +which means Characters and Distinctions become so familiar to them, that +it is to this, among other Causes, one may impute a certain Insolence +among our Servants, that they take no Notice of any Gentleman though +they know him ever so well, except he is an Acquaintance of their +Master's. + +My Obscurity and Taciturnity leave me at Liberty, without Scandal, to +dine, if I think fit, at a common Ordinary, in the meanest as well as +the most sumptuous House of Entertainment. Falling in the other Day at a +Victualling-House near the House of Peers, I heard the Maid come down +and tell the Landlady at the Bar, That my Lord Bishop swore he would +throw her out [at [1]] Window, if she did not bring up more Mild Beer, +and that my Lord Duke would have a double Mug of Purle. My Surprize was +encreased, in hearing loud and rustick Voices speak and answer to each +other upon the publick Affairs, by the Names of the most Illustrious of +our Nobility; till of a sudden one came running in, and cry'd the House +was rising. Down came all the Company together, and away! The Alehouse +was immediately filled with Clamour, and scoring one Mug to the Marquis +of such a Place, Oyl and Vinegar to such an Earl, three Quarts to my new +Lord for wetting his Title, and so forth. It is a Thing too notorious to +mention the Crowds of Servants, and their Insolence, near the Courts of +Justice, and the Stairs towards the Supreme Assembly, where there is an +universal Mockery of all Order, such riotous Clamour and licentious +Confusion, that one would think the whole Nation lived in Jest, and +there were no such thing as Rule and Distinction among us. + +The next Place of Resort, wherein the servile World are let loose, is at +the Entrance of _Hide-Park_, while the Gentry are at the Ring. Hither +People bring their Lacqueys out of State, and here it is that all they +say at their Tables, and act in their Houses, is communicated to the +whole Town. There are Men of Wit in all Conditions of Life; and mixing +with these People at their Diversions, I have heard Coquets and Prudes +as well rallied, and Insolence and Pride exposed, (allowing for their +want of Education) with as much Humour and good Sense, as in the +politest Companies. It is a general Observation, That all Dependants run +in some measure into the Manners and Behaviour of those whom they serve: +You shall frequently meet with Lovers and Men of Intrigue among the +Lacqueys, as well as at _White's_ [2] or in the Side-Boxes. I remember +some Years ago an Instance of this Kind. A Footman to a Captain of the +Guard used frequently, when his Master was out of the Way, to carry on +Amours and make Assignations in his Master's Cloaths. The Fellow had a +very good Person, and there are very many Women that think no further +than the Outside of a Gentleman: besides which, he was almost as learned +a Man as the Colonel himself: I say, thus qualified, the Fellow could +scrawl _Billets-doux_ so well, and furnish a Conversation on the common +Topicks, that he had, as they call it, a great deal of good Business on +his Hands. It happened one Day, that coming down a Tavern-Stairs in his +Master's fine Guard-Coat, with a well-dress'd Woman masked, he met the +Colonel coming up with other Company; but with a ready Assurance he +quitted his Lady, came up to him, and said, _Sir, I know you have too +much Respect for yourself to cane me in this honourable Habit: But you +see there is a Lady in the Case, and I hope on that Score also you will +put off your Anger till I have told you all another time._ After a +little Pause the Colonel cleared up his Countenance, and with an Air of +Familiarity whispered his Man apart, _Sirrah, bring the Lady with you to +ask Pardon for you;_ then aloud, _Look to it_, Will, _I'll never forgive +you else._ The Fellow went back to his Mistress, and telling her with a +loud Voice and an Oath, That was the honestest Fellow in the World, +convey'd her to an Hackney-Coach. + +But the many Irregularities committed by Servants in the Places +above-mentioned, as well as in the Theatres, of which Masters are +generally the Occasions, are too various not to need being resumed on +another Occasion. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: of the] + + +[Footnote 2: 'White's', established as a chocolate-house in 1698, had a +polite character for gambling, and was a haunt of sharpers and gay +noblemen before it became a Club.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 89. Tuesday, June 12, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Petite hinc juvenesque senesque + Finem animo certum, miserisque viatica canis. + Cras hoc fiet. Idem eras fiet. Quid? quasi magnum + Nempe diem donas? sed cum lux altera venit, + Jam cras hesternum consumpsimus; ecce aliud cras + Egerit hos annos, et semper paulum erit ultra. + Nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno + Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum.' + + Per. + + +As my Correspondents upon the Subject of Love are very numerous, it is +my Design, if possible, to range them under several Heads, and address +my self to them at different Times. The first Branch of them, to whose +Service I shall Dedicate these Papers, are those that have to do with +Women of dilatory Tempers, who are for spinning out the Time of +Courtship to an immoderate Length, without being able either to close +with their Lovers, or to dismiss them. I have many Letters by me filled +with Complaints against, this sort of Women. In one of them no less a +Man than a Brother of the Coif tells me, that he began his Suit +_Vicesimo nono Caroli secundi_, before he had been a Twelvemonth at the +_Temple;_ that he prosecuted it for many Years after he was called to +the Bar; that at present he is a Sergeant at Law; and notwithstanding he +hoped that Matters would have been long since brought to an Issue, the +Fair One still _demurrs_. I am so well pleased with this Gentleman's +Phrase, that I shall distinguish this Sect of Women by the Title of +_Demurrers_. I find by another Letter from one that calls himself +_Thirsis_, that his Mistress has been Demurring above these seven Years. +But among all my Plaintiffs of this Nature, I most pity the unfortunate +_Philander_, a Man of a constant Passion and plentiful Fortune, who sets +forth that the timorous and irresolute _Silvia_ has demurred till she is +past Child-bearing. _Strephon_ appears by his Letter to be a very +cholerick Lover, and irrevocably smitten with one that demurrs out of +Self-interest. He tells me with great Passion that she has bubbled him +out of his Youth; that she drilled him on to Five and Fifty, and that he +verily believes she will drop him in his old Age, if she can find her +Account in another. I shall conclude this Narrative with a Letter from +honest Sam Hopewell, a very pleasant Fellow, who it seems has at last +married a _Demurrer:_ I must only premise, that Sam, who is a very good +Bottle-Companion, has been the Diversion of his Friends, upon account of +his Passion, ever since the Year One thousand Six hundred and Eighty one. + + + _Dear SIR_, + + 'You know very well my Passion for Mrs. _Martha_, and what a Dance she + has led me: She took me at the Age of Two and Twenty, and dodged with + me above Thirty Years. I have loved her till she is grown as Grey as a + Cat, and am with much ado become the Master of her Person, such as it + is at present. She is however in my Eye a very charming old Woman. We + often lament that we did not marry sooner, but she has no Body to + blame for it but her self: You know very well that she would never + think of me whilst she had a Tooth in her Head. I have put the Date of + my Passion (_Anno Amoris Trigesimo primo_) instead of a Posy, on my + Wedding-Ring. I expect you should send me a Congratulatory Letter, or, + if you please, an _Epithalamium_, upon this Occasion. + + _Mrs_. Martha's and + _Yours Eternally_, + SAM HOPEWELL + + +In order to banish an Evil out of the World, that does not only produce +great Uneasiness to private Persons, but has also a very bad Influence +on the Publick, I shall endeavour to shew the Folly of _Demurrage_ from +two or three Reflections which I earnestly recommend to the Thoughts of +my fair Readers. + +First of all I would have them seriously think on the Shortness of their +Time. Life is not long enough for a Coquet to play all her Tricks in. A +timorous Woman drops into her Grave before she has done deliberating. +Were the Age of Man the same that it was before the Flood, a Lady might +sacrifice half a Century to a Scruple, and be two or three Ages in +demurring. Had she Nine Hundred Years good, she might hold out to the +Conversion of the _Jews_ before she thought fit to be prevailed upon. +But, alas! she ought to play her Part in haste, when she considers that +she is suddenly to quit the Stage, and make Room for others. + +In the second Place, I would desire my Female Readers to consider, that +as the Term of Life is short, that of Beauty is much shorter. The finest +Skin wrinkles in a few Years, and loses the Strength of its Colourings +so soon, that we have scarce Time to admire it. I might embellish this +Subject with Roses and Rain-bows, and several other ingenious Conceits, +which I may possibly reserve for another Opportunity. + +There is a third Consideration which I would likewise recommend to a +Demurrer, and that is the great Danger of her falling in Love when she +is about Threescore, if she cannot satisfie her Doubts and Scruples +before that Time. There is a kind of _latter Spring_, that sometimes +gets into the Blood of an old Woman and turns her into a very odd sort +of an Animal. I would therefore have the Demurrer consider what a +strange Figure she will make, if she chances to get over all +Difficulties, and comes to a final Resolution, in that unseasonable Part +of her Life. + +I would not however be understood, by any thing I have here said, to +discourage that natural Modesty in the Sex, which renders a Retreat from +the first Approaches of a Lover both fashionable and graceful: All that +I intend, is, to advise them, when they are prompted by Reason and +Inclination, to demurr only out of Form, and so far as Decency requires. +A virtuous Woman should reject the first Offer of Marriage, as a good +Man does that of a Bishoprick; but I would advise neither the one nor +the other to persist in refusing what they secretly approve. I would in +this Particular propose the Example of _Eve_ to all her Daughters, as +_Milton_ has represented her in the following Passage, which I cannot +forbear transcribing intire, tho' only the twelve last Lines are to my +present Purpose. + + _The Rib he form'd and fashion'd with his Hands; + Under his forming Hands a Creature grew, + Man-like, but diff'rent Sex; so lovely fair! + That what seem'd fair in all the World, seem'd now + Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd + And in her Looks; which from that time infus'd + Sweetness into my Heart, unfelt before: + And into all things from her Air inspir'd + The Spirit of Love and amorous Delight. + + She disappear'd, and left me dark! I wak'd + To find her, or for ever to deplore + Her Loss, and other Pleasures [all [1]] abjure; + When out of Hope, behold her, not far off, + Such as I saw her in my Dream, adorn'd + With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow + To make her amiable: On she came, + Led by her heav'nly Maker, though unseen, + And guided by his Voice, nor uninform'd + Of nuptial Sanctity and Marriage Rites: + Grace was in all her Steps, Heav'n in her Eye, + In every Gesture Dignity and Love. + I overjoyed, could not forbear aloud. + + This Turn hath made Amends; thou hast fulfill'd + Thy Words, Creator bounteous and benign! + Giver of all things fair! but fairest this + Of all thy Gifts, nor enviest. I now see + Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh, my Self.... + + She heard me thus, and tho' divinely brought, + Yet Innocence and Virgin Modesty, + Her Virtue, and the Conscience of her Worth, + That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won, + Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retir'd + The more desirable; or, to say all, + Nature her self, tho' pure of sinful Thought, + Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she [turn'd [2]] + I followed her: she what was Honour knew, + And with obsequious Majesty approved + My pleaded Reason. To the Nuptial Bower + I led her blushing like the Morn [3]---- + + +[Footnote 1: to] + + +[Footnote 2: fled;] + + +[Footnote 3: P. L. Bk. VIII.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 90. Wednesday, June 13, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Magnus sine viribus Ignis + Incassum furit' + + Virg. + + +There is not, in my Opinion, a Consideration more effectual to +extinguish inordinate Desires in the Soul of Man, than the Notions of +_Plato_ and his Followers [1] upon that Subject. They tell us, that +every Passion which has been contracted by the Soul during her Residence +in the Body, remains with her in a separate State; and that the Soul in +the Body or out of the Body, differs no more than the Man does from +himself when he is in his House, or in open Air. When therefore the +obscene Passions in particular have once taken Root and spread +themselves in the Soul, they cleave to her inseparably, and remain in +her for ever, after the Body is cast off and thrown aside. As an +Argument to confirm this their Doctrine they observe, that a lewd Youth +who goes on in a continued Course of Voluptuousness, advances by Degrees +into a libidinous old Man; and that the Passion survives in the Mind +when it is altogether dead in the Body; nay, that the Desire grows more +violent, and (like all other Habits) gathers Strength by Age, at the +same time that it has no Power of executing its own Purposes. If, say +they, the Soul is the most subject to these Passions at a time when it +has the least Instigations from the Body, we may well suppose she will +still retain them when she is entirely divested of it. The very +Substance of the Soul is festered with them, the Gangrene is gone too +far to be ever cured; the Inflammation will rage to all Eternity. + +In this therefore (say the _Platonists_) consists the Punishment of a +voluptuous Man after Death: He is tormented with Desires which it is +impossible for him to gratify, solicited by a Passion that has neither +Objects nor Organs adapted to it: He lives in a State of invincible +Desire and Impotence, and always burns in the Pursuit of what he always +despairs to possess. It is for this Reason (says _Plato_) that the Souls +of the Dead appear frequently in Coemiteries, and hover about the Places +where their Bodies are buried, as still hankering after their old brutal +Pleasures, and desiring again to enter the Body that gave them an +Opportunity of fulfilling them. + +Some of our most eminent Divines have made use of this _Platonick_ +Notion, so far as it regards the Subsistence of our Passions after +Death, with great Beauty and Strength of Reason. _Plato_ indeed carries +the Thought very far, when he grafts upon it his Opinion of Ghosts +appearing in Places of Burial. Though, I must confess, if one did +believe that the departed Souls of Men and Women wandered up and down +these lower Regions, and entertained themselves with the Sight of their +Species, one could not devise a more Proper Hell for an impure Spirit +than that which _Plato_ has touched upon. + +The Ancients seem to have drawn such a State of Torments in the +Description of _Tantalus_, who was punished with the Rage of an eternal +Thirst, and set up to the Chin in Water that fled from his Lips whenever +he attempted to drink it. + +_Virgil_, who has cast the whole System of _Platonick_ Philosophy, so +far as it relates to the Soul of Man, in beautiful Allegories, in the +sixth Book of his _Æneid_ gives us the Punishment of a Voluptuary after +Death, not unlike that which we are here speaking of. + +... _Lucent genialibus altis +Aurea fulcra toris, epulæque ante ora paratæ +Regifico luxu: Furiarum maxima juxta +Accubat, et manibus prohibet contingere mensas; +Exurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore. + +They lie below on Golden Beds display'd, +And genial Feasts with regal Pomp are made: +The Queen of Furies by their Side is set, +And snatches from their Mouths th' untasted Meat; +Which if they touch, her hissing Snakes she rears, +Tossing her Torch, and thund'ring in their Ears_. + +Dryd. + + +That I may a little alleviate the Severity of this my Speculation (which +otherwise may lose me several of my polite Readers) I shall translate a +Story [that [2]] has been quoted upon another Occasion by one of the +most learned Men of the present Age, as I find it in the Original. The +Reader will see it is not foreign to my present Subject, and I dare say +will think it a lively Representation of a Person lying under the +Torments of such a kind of Tantalism, or _Platonick_ Hell, as that which +we have now under Consideration. Monsieur _Pontignan_ speaking of a +Love-Adventure that happened to him in the Country, gives the following +Account of it. [3] + + 'When I was in the Country last Summer, I was often in Company with a + Couple of charming Women, who had all the Wit and Beauty one could + desire in Female Companions, with a Dash of Coquetry, that from time + to time gave me a great many agreeable Torments. I was, after my Way, + in Love with both of them, and had such frequent opportunities of + pleading my Passion to them when they were asunder, that I had Reason + to hope for particular Favours from each of them. As I was walking one + Evening in my Chamber with nothing about me but my Night gown, they + both came into my Room and told me, They had a very pleasant Trick to + put upon a Gentleman that was in the same House, provided I would bear + a Part in it. Upon this they told me such a plausible Story, that I + laughed at their Contrivance, and agreed to do whatever they should + require of me: They immediately began to swaddle me up in my + Night-Gown with long Pieces of Linnen, which they folded about me till + they had wrapt me in above an hundred Yards of Swathe: My Arms were + pressed to my Sides, and my Legs closed together by so many Wrappers + one over another, that I looked like an _Ægyptian_ Mummy. As I stood + bolt upright upon one End in this antique Figure, one of the Ladies + burst out a laughing, And now, _Pontignan_, says she, we intend to + perform the Promise that we find you have extorted from each of us. + You have often asked the Favour of us, and I dare say you are a better + bred Cavalier than to refuse to go to Bed to two Ladies, that desire + it of you. After having stood a Fit of Laughter, I begged them to + uncase me, and do with me what they pleased. No, no, said they, we + like you very well as you are; and upon that ordered me to be carried + to one of their Houses, and put to Bed in all my Swaddles. The Room + was lighted up on all Sides: and I was laid very decently between a + [Pair [4]] of Sheets, with my Head (which was indeed the only Part I + could move) upon a very high Pillow: This was no sooner done, but my + two Female Friends came into Bed to me in their finest Night-Clothes. + You may easily guess at the Condition of a Man that saw a Couple of + the most beautiful Women in the World undrest and abed with him, + without being able to stir Hand or Foot. I begged them to release me, + and struggled all I could to get loose, which I did with so much + Violence, that about Midnight they both leaped out of the Bed, crying + out they were undone. But seeing me safe, they took their Posts again, + and renewed their Raillery. Finding all my Prayers and Endeavours were + lost, I composed my self as well as I could, and told them, that if + they would not unbind me, I would fall asleep between them, and by + that means disgrace them for ever: But alas! this was impossible; + could I have been disposed to it, they would have prevented me by + several little ill-natured Caresses and Endearments which they + bestowed upon me. As much devoted as I am to Womankind, I would not + pass such another Night to be Master of the whole Sex. My Reader will + doubtless be curious to know what became of me the next Morning: Why + truly my Bed-fellows left me about an Hour before Day, and told me, if + I would be good and lie still, they would send somebody to take me up + as soon as it was time for me to rise: Accordingly about Nine a Clock + in the Morning an old Woman came to un-swathe me. I bore all this very + patiently, being resolved to take my Revenge of my Tormentors, and to + keep no Measures with them as soon as I was at Liberty; but upon + asking my old Woman what was become of the two Ladies, she told me she + believed they were by that Time within Sight of _Paris_, for that they + went away in a Coach and six before five a clock in the Morning. + + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Plato's doctrine of the soul and of its destiny is to be +found at the close of his 'Republic'; also near the close of the +'Phædon', in a passage of the 'Philebus', and in another of the +'Gorgias'. In § 131 of the 'Phædon' is the passage here especially +referred to; which was the basis also of lines 461-475 of Milton's +'Comus'. The last of our own Platonists was Henry More, one of whose +books Addison quoted four essays back (in No. 86), and who died only +four and twenty years before these essays were written, after a long +contest in prose and verse, against besotting or obnubilating the soul +with 'the foul steam of earthly life.'] + + +[Footnote 2: which] + + +[Footnote 3: Paraphrased from the 'Academe Galante' (Ed. 1708, p. +160).] + + +[Footnote 4: couple] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 91. Thursday, June 14, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'In furias ignemque ruunt, Amor omnibus Idem.' + + Virg. + + +Tho' the Subject I am now going upon would be much more properly the +Foundation of a Comedy, I cannot forbear inserting the Circumstances +which pleased me in the Account a young Lady gave me of the Loves of a +Family in Town, which shall be nameless; or rather for the better Sound +and Elevation of the History, instead of Mr. and Mrs. such-a-one, I +shall call them by feigned Names. Without further Preface, you are to +know, that within the Liberties of the City of _Westminster_ lives the +Lady _Honoria_, a Widow about the Age of Forty, of a healthy +Constitution, gay Temper, and elegant Person. She dresses a little too +much like a Girl, affects a childish Fondness in the Tone of her Voice, +sometimes a pretty Sullenness in the leaning of her Head, and now and +then a Down-cast of her Eyes on her Fan: Neither her Imagination nor her +Health would ever give her to know that she is turned of Twenty; but +that in the midst of these pretty Softnesses, and Airs of Delicacy and +Attraction, she has a tall Daughter within a Fortnight of Fifteen, who +impertinently comes into the Room, and towers so much towards Woman, +that her Mother is always checked by her Presence, and every Charm of +_Honoria_ droops at the Entrance of _Flavia_. The agreeable _Flavia_ +would be what she is not, as well as her Mother _Honoria_; but all their +Beholders are more partial to an Affectation of what a Person is growing +up to, than of what has been already enjoyed, and is gone for ever. It +is therefore allowed to _Flavia_ to look forward, but not to _Honoria_ +to look back. _Flavia_ is no way dependent on her Mother with relation +to her Fortune, for which Reason they live almost upon an Equality in +Conversation; and as _Honoria_ has given _Flavia_ to understand, that it +is ill-bred to be always calling Mother, _Flavia_ is as well pleased +never to be called Child. It happens by this means, that these Ladies +are generally Rivals in all Places where they appear; and the Words +Mother and Daughter never pass between them but out of Spite. _Flavia_ +one Night at a Play observing _Honoria_ draw the Eyes of several in the +Pit, called to a Lady who sat by her, and bid her ask her Mother to lend +her her Snuff-Box for one Moment. Another Time, when a Lover of +_Honoria_ was on his Knees beseeching the Favour to kiss her Hand, +_Flavia_ rushing into the Room, kneeled down by him and asked Blessing. +Several of these contradictory Acts of Duty have raised between them +such a Coldness that they generally converse when they are in mixed +Company by way of talking at one another, and not to one another. +_Honoria_ is ever complaining of a certain Sufficiency in the young +Women of this Age, who assume to themselves an Authority of carrying all +things before them, as if they were Possessors of the Esteem of Mankind, +and all, who were but a Year before them in the World, were neglected or +deceased. _Flavia_, upon such a Provocation, is sure to observe, that +there are People who can resign nothing, and know not how to give up +what they know they cannot hold; that there are those who will not allow +Youth their Follies, not because they are themselves past them, but +because they love to continue in them. These Beauties Rival each other +on all Occasions, not that they have always had the same Lovers but each +has kept up a Vanity to shew the other the Charms of her Lover. _Dick +Crastin_ and _Tom Tulip_, among many others, have of late been +Pretenders in this Family: _Dick_ to _Honoria_, _Tom_ to _Flavia_. +_Dick_ is the only surviving Beau of the last Age, and _Tom_ almost the +only one that keeps up that Order of Men in this. + +I wish I could repeat the little Circumstances of a Conversation of the +four Lovers with the Spirit in which the young Lady, I had my Account +from, represented it at a Visit where I had the Honour to be present; +but it seems _Dick Crastin_, the admirer of _Honoria_, and _Tom Tulip_, +the Pretender to _Flavia_, were purposely admitted together by the +Ladies, that each might shew the other that her Lover had the +Superiority in the Accomplishments of that sort of Creature whom the +sillier Part of Women call a fine Gentleman. As this Age has a much more +gross Taste in Courtship, as well as in every thing else, than the last +had, these Gentlemen are Instances of it in their different Manner of +Application. _Tulip_ is ever making Allusions to the Vigour of his +Person, the sinewy Force of his Make; while _Crastin_ professes a wary +Observation of the Turns of his Mistress's Mind. _Tulip_ gives himself +the Air of a restless Ravisher, _Crastin_ practises that of a skilful +Lover. Poetry is the inseparable Property of every Man in Love; and as +Men of Wit write Verses on those Occasions, the rest of the World repeat +the Verses of others. These Servants of the Ladies were used to imitate +their Manner of Conversation, and allude to one another, rather than +interchange Discourse in what they said when they met. _Tulip_ the other +Day seized his Mistress's Hand, and repeated out of _Ovid's Art of +Love_, + + _'Tis I can in soft Battles pass the Night, } + Yet rise next Morning vigorous for the Fight, } + Fresh as the Day, and active as the Light._ } + +Upon hearing this, _Crastin_, with an Air of Deference, played +_Honoria_'s Fan, and repeated, + + Sedley _has that prevailing gentle Art, } + That can with a resistless Charm impart } + The loosest Wishes to the chastest Heart: } + Raise such a Conflict, kindle such a Fire, + Between declining Virtue and Desire, + Till the poor vanquish'd Maid dissolves away + In Dreams all Night, in Sighs and Tears all Day._ [1] + +When _Crastin_ had uttered these Verses with a Tenderness which at once +spoke Passion and Respect, _Honoria_ cast a triumphant Glance at +_Flavia_, as exulting in the Elegance of _Crastin's_ Courtship, and +upbraiding her with the Homeliness of _Tulip's_. _Tulip_ understood the +Reproach, and in Return began to applaud the Wisdom of old amorous +Gentlemen, who turned their Mistress's Imagination as far as possible +from what they had long themselves forgot, and ended his Discourse with +a sly Commendation of the Doctrine of _Platonick_ Love; at the same time +he ran over, with a laughing Eye, _Crastin's_ thin Legs, meagre Looks, +and spare Body. The old Gentleman immediately left the Room with some +Disorder, and the Conversation fell upon untimely Passion, After-Love, +and unseasonable Youth. _Tulip_ sung, danced, moved before the Glass, +led his Mistress half a Minuet, hummed + + Celia _the Fair, in the bloom of Fifteen_; + +when there came a Servant with a Letter to him, which was as follows. + + + SIR, + + 'I understand very well what you meant by your Mention of _Platonick_ + Love. I shall be glad to meet you immediately in _Hide-Park_, or + behind _Montague-House_, or attend you to Barn-Elms, [2] or any other + fashionable Place that's fit for a Gentleman to die in, that you shall + appoint for, + + _Sir, Your most Humble Servant_, + Richard Crastin. + +_Tulip's_ Colour changed at the reading of this Epistle; for which +Reason his Mistress snatched it to read the Contents. While she was +doing so _Tulip_ went away, and the Ladies now agreeing in a Common +Calamity, bewailed together the Danger of their Lovers. They immediately +undressed to go out, and took Hackneys to prevent Mischief: but, after +alarming all Parts of the Town, _Crastin_ was found by his Widow in his +Pumps at _Hide-Park_, which Appointment _Tulip_ never kept, but made his +Escape into the Country. _Flavia_ tears her Hair for his inglorious +Safety, curses and despises her Charmer, is fallen in Love with +_Crastin_: Which is the first Part of the History of the _Rival Mother_. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Rochester's 'Imitations of Horace', Sat. I. 10.] + + +[Footnote 2: A famous duelling place under elm trees, in a meadow half +surrounded by the Thames.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 92. Friday, June 15, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Convivæ prope dissentire videntur, + Poscentes vario multum diversa palato; + Quid dem? Quid non dem?' + + Hor. + + +Looking over the late Packets of Letters which have been sent to me, I +found the following one. [1] + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Your Paper is a Part of my Tea-Equipage; and my Servant knows my + Humour so well, that calling for my Breakfast this Morning (it being + past my usual Hour) she answer'd, the SPECTATOR was not yet come in; + but that the Tea-Kettle boiled, and she expected it every Moment. + Having thus in part signified to you the Esteem and Veneration which I + have for you, I must put you in mind of the Catalogue of Books which + you have promised to recommend to our Sex; for I have deferred + furnishing my Closet with Authors, 'till I receive your Advice in this + Particular, being your daily Disciple and humble Servant, + + LEONORA. + + +In Answer to my fair Disciple, whom I am very proud of, I must acquaint +her and the rest of my Readers, that since I have called out for Help in +my Catalogue of a Lady's Library, I have received many Letters upon that +Head, some of which I shall give an Account of. + +In the first Class I shall take notice of those which come to me from +eminent Booksellers, who every one of them mention with Respect the +Authors they have printed, and consequently have an Eye to their own +Advantage more than to that of the Ladies. One tells me, that he thinks +it absolutely necessary for Women to have true Notions of Right and +Equity, and that therefore they cannot peruse a better Book than +_Dalton's Country Justice_: Another thinks they cannot be without _The +Compleat Jockey_. A third observing the Curiosity and Desire of prying +into Secrets, which he tells me is natural to the fair Sex, is of +Opinion this female Inclination, if well directed, might turn very much +to their Advantage, and therefore recommends to me _Mr_. Mede _upon the +Revelations_. A fourth lays it down as an unquestioned Truth, that a +Lady cannot be thoroughly accomplished who has not read _The Secret +Treaties and Negotiations of Marshal_ D'Estrades. Mr. _Jacob Tonson +Jun._ is of Opinion, that _Bayle's Dictionary_ might be of very great +use to the Ladies, in order to make them general Scholars. Another whose +Name I have forgotten, thinks it highly proper that every Woman with +Child should read _Mr._ Wall's _History of Infant Baptism_: As another +is very importunate with me to recommend to all my female Readers _The +finishing Stroke: Being a Vindication of the Patriarchal Scheme_, &c. + +In the second Class I shall mention Books which are recommended by +Husbands, if I may believe the Writers of them. Whether or no they are +real Husbands or personated ones I cannot tell, but the Books they +recommend are as follow. _A Paraphrase on the History of_ Susanna. +_Rules to keep_ Lent. _The Christian's Overthrow prevented. A Dissuasive +from the Play-house. The Virtues of Camphire, with Directions to make +Camphire Tea. The Pleasures of a Country Life. The Government of the +Tongue_. A Letter dated from _Cheapside_ desires me that I would advise +all young Wives to make themselves Mistresses of _Wingate's +Arithmetick_, and concludes with a Postscript, that he hopes I will not +forget _The Countess of_ Kent's _Receipts_. + +I may reckon the Ladies themselves as a third Class among these my +Correspondents and Privy-Counsellors. In a Letter from one of them, I am +advised to place _Pharamond_ at the Head of my Catalogue, and, if I +think proper, to give the second place to _Cassandra_. _Coquetilla_ begs +me not to think of nailing Women upon their Knees with Manuals of +Devotion, nor of scorching their Faces with Books of Housewifry. +_Florella_ desires to know if there are any Books written against +Prudes, and intreats me, if there are, to give them a Place in my +Library. Plays of all Sorts have their several Advocates: _All for Love_ +is mentioned in above fifteen Letters; _Sophonisba_, or _Hannibal's +Overthrow_, in a Dozen; _The Innocent Adultery_ is likewise highly +approved of; _Mithridates King of Pontus_ has many Friends; _Alexander +the Great_ and _Aurengzebe_ have the same Number of Voices; but +_Theodosius_, or _The Force of Love_. carries it from all the rest. [2] + +I should, in the last Place, mention such Books as have been proposed by +Men of Learning, and those who appear competent Judges of this Matter; +and must here take Occasion to thank _A. B_. whoever it is that conceals +himself under those two Letters, for his Advice upon this Subject: But +as I find the Work I have undertaken to be very difficult, I shall defer +the executing of it till I am further acquainted with the Thoughts of my +judicious Contemporaries, and have time to examine the several Books +they offer to me; being resolved, in an Affair of this Moment, to +proceed with the greatest Caution. + +In the mean while, as I have taken the Ladies under my particular Care, +I shall make it my Business to find out in the best Authors ancient and +modern such Passages as may be for their use, and endeavour to +accommodate them as well as I can to their Taste; not questioning but +the valuable Part of the Sex will easily pardon me, if from Time to Time +I laugh at those little Vanities and Follies which appear in the +Behaviour of some of them, and which are more proper for Ridicule than a +serious Censure. Most Books being calculated for Male Readers, and +generally written with an Eye to Men of Learning, makes a Work of this +Nature the more necessary; besides, I am the more encouraged, because I +flatter myself that I see the Sex daily improving by these my +Speculations. My fair Readers are already deeper Scholars than the +Beaus. I could name some of them who could talk much better than several +Gentlemen that make a Figure at _Will's_; and as I frequently receive +Letters from the _fine Ladies_ and _pretty Fellows_, I cannot but +observe that the former are superior to the others not only in the Sense +but in the Spelling. This cannot but have a good Effect upon the Female +World, and keep them from being charmed by those empty Coxcombs that +have hitherto been admired among the Women, tho' laugh'd at among the +Men. + +I am credibly informed that _Tom Tattle_ passes for an impertinent +Fellow, that _Will Trippet_ begins to be smoaked, and that _Frank +Smoothly_ himself is within a Month of a Coxcomb, in case I think fit to +continue this Paper. For my part, as it is my Business in some measure +to detect such as would lead astray weak Minds by their false Pretences +to Wit and Judgment, Humour and Gallantry, I shall not fail to lend the +best Lights I am able to the fair Sex for the Continuation of these +their Discoveries. + + + +[Footnote 1: By Mrs. Perry, whose sister, Miss Shepheard, has letters in +two later numbers, 140 and 163. These ladies were descended from Sir +Fleetwood Shepheard.] + + +[Footnote 2: Michael Dalton's 'Country Justice' was first published in +1618. Joseph Mede's 'Clavis Apocalyptica,' published in 1627, and +translated by Richard More in 1643, was as popular in the Pulpit as 'The +Country Justice' on the Bench. The negotiations of Count d'Estrades were +from 1637 to 1662. The translation of Bayle's Dictionary had been +published by Tonson in 1610. Dr. William Wall's 'History of Infant +Baptism,' published in 1705, was in its third edition. 'Aurungzebe' was +by Dryden. 'Mithridates' and 'Theodosius' were by Lee.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 93. Saturday, June 16, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Spatio brevi + Spem longam reseces: dum loquimur, fugerit Invida + Ætas: carpe Diem, quam minimum credula postero.' + + Hor. + + +We all of us complain of the Shortness of Time, saith _Seneca_ [1] and +yet have much more than we know what to do with. Our Lives, says he, are +spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the +Purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do: We are always +complaining our Days are few, and acting as though there would be no End +of them. That noble Philosopher has described our Inconsistency with our +selves in this Particular, by all those various Turns of Expression and +Thought which are peculiar to his Writings. + +I often consider Mankind as wholly inconsistent with itself in a Point +that bears some Affinity to the former. Though we seem grieved at the +Shortness of Life in general, we are wishing every Period of it at an +end. The Minor longs to be at Age, then to be a Man of Business, then to +make up an Estate, then to arrive at Honours, then to retire. Thus +although the whole of Life is allowed by every one to be short, the +several Divisions of it appear long and tedious. We are for lengthening +our Span in general, but would fain contract the Parts of which it is +composed. The Usurer would be very well satisfied to have all the Time +annihilated that lies between the present Moment and next Quarter-day. +The Politician would be contented to lose three Years in his Life, could +he place things in the Posture which he fancies they will stand in after +such a Revolution of Time. The Lover would be glad to strike out of his +Existence all the Moments that are to pass away before the happy +Meeting. Thus, as fast as our Time runs, we should be very glad in most +Parts of our Lives that it ran much faster than it does. Several Hours +of the Day hang upon our Hands, nay we wish away whole Years: and travel +through Time as through a Country filled with many wild and empty +Wastes, which we would fain hurry over, that we may arrive at those +several little Settlements or imaginary Points of Rest which are +dispersed up and down in it. + +If we divide the Life of most Men into twenty Parts, we shall find that +at least nineteen of them are meer Gaps and Chasms, which are neither +filled with Pleasure nor Business. I do not however include in this +Calculation the Life of those Men who are in a perpetual Hurry of +Affairs, but of those only who are not always engaged in Scenes of +Action; and I hope I shall not do an unacceptable Piece of Service to +these Persons, if I point out to them certain Methods for the filling up +their empty Spaces of Life. The Methods I shall propose to them are as +follow. + +The first is the Exercise of Virtue, in the most general Acceptation of +the Word. That particular Scheme which comprehends the Social Virtues, +may give Employment to the most industrious Temper, and find a Man in +Business more than the most active Station of Life. To advise the +Ignorant, relieve the Needy, comfort the Afflicted, are Duties that fall +in our way almost every Day of our Lives. A Man has frequent +Opportunities of mitigating the Fierceness of a Party; of doing Justice +to the Character of a deserving Man; of softning the Envious, quieting +the Angry, and rectifying the Prejudiced; which are all of them +Employments suited to a reasonable Nature, and bring great Satisfaction +to the Person who can busy himself in them with Discretion. + +There is another kind of Virtue that may find Employment for those +Retired Hours in which we are altogether left to our selves, and +destitute of Company and Conversation; I mean that Intercourse and +Communication which every reasonable Creature ought to maintain with the +great Author of his Being. The Man who lives under an habitual Sense of +the Divine Presence keeps up a perpetual Chearfulness of Temper, and +enjoys every Moment the Satisfaction of thinking himself in Company with +his dearest and best of Friends. The Time never lies heavy upon him: It +is impossible for him to be alone. His Thoughts and Passions are the +most busied at such Hours when those of other Men are the most unactive: +He no sooner steps out of the World but his Heart burns with Devotion, +swells with Hope, and triumphs in the Consciousness of that Presence +which every where surrounds him; or, on the contrary, pours out its +Fears, its Sorrows, its Apprehensions, to the great Supporter of its +Existence. + +I have here only considered the Necessity of a Man's being Virtuous, +that he may have something to do; but if we consider further, that the +Exercise of Virtue is not only an Amusement for the time it lasts, but +that its Influence extends to those Parts of our Existence which lie +beyond the Grave, and that our whole Eternity is to take its Colour from +those Hours which we here employ in Virtue or in Vice, the Argument +redoubles upon us, for putting in Practice this Method of passing away +our Time. + +When a Man has but a little Stock to improve, and has opportunities of +turning it all to good Account, what shall we think of him if he suffers +nineteen Parts of it to lie dead, and perhaps employs even the twentieth +to his Ruin or Disadvantage? But because the Mind cannot be always in +its Fervours, nor strained up to a Pitch of Virtue, it is necessary to +find out proper Employments for it in its Relaxations. + +The next Method therefore that I would propose to fill up our Time, +should be useful and innocent Diversions. I must confess I think it is +below reasonable Creatures to be altogether conversant in such +Diversions as are meerly innocent, and have nothing else to recommend +them, but that there is no Hurt in them. Whether any kind of Gaming has +even thus much to say for it self, I shall not determine; but I think it +is very wonderful to see Persons of the best Sense passing away a dozen +Hours together in shuffling and dividing a Pack of Cards, with no other +Conversation but what is made up of a few Game Phrases, and no other +Ideas but those of black or red Spots ranged together in different +Figures. Would not a man laugh to hear any one of this Species +complaining that Life is short. + +The _Stage_ might be made a perpetual Source of the most noble and +useful Entertainments, were it under proper Regulations. + +But the Mind never unbends itself so agreeably as in the Conversation of +a well chosen Friend. There is indeed no Blessing of Life that is any +way comparable to the Enjoyment of a discreet and virtuous Friend. It +eases and unloads the Mind, clears and improves the Understanding, +engenders Thoughts and Knowledge, animates Virtue and good Resolution, +sooths and allays the Passions, and finds Employment for most of the +vacant Hours of Life. + +Next to such an Intimacy with a particular Person, one would endeavour +after a more general Conversation with such as are able to entertain and +improve those with whom they converse, which are Qualifications that +seldom go asunder. + +There are many other useful Amusements of Life, which one would +endeavour to multiply, that one might on all Occasions have Recourse to +something rather than suffer the mind to lie idle, or run adrift with +any Passion that chances to rise in it. + +A Man that has a Taste of Musick, Painting, or Architecture, is like one +that has another Sense when compared with such as have no Relish of +those Arts. The Florist, the Planter, the Gardiner, the Husbandman, when +they are only as Accomplishments to the Man of Fortune, are great +Reliefs to a Country Life, and many ways useful to those who are +possessed of them. + +But of all the Diversions of Life, there is none so proper to fill up +its empty Spaces as the reading of useful and entertaining Authors. But +this I shall only touch upon, because it in some Measure interferes with +the third Method, which I shall propose in another Paper, for the +Employment of our dead unactive Hours, and which I shall only mention in +general to be the Pursuit of Knowledge. + + + +[Footnote 1: Epist. 49, and in his De Brevitate Vita.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + + +No. 94 Monday, June 18, 1711 Addison. + + + + '... Hoc est + Vivere bis, vita posse priore frui.' + + Mart. + + +The last Method which I proposed in my _Saturday's Paper_, for filling +up those empty Spaces of Life which are so tedious and burdensome to +idle People, is the employing ourselves in the Pursuit of Knowledge. I +remember _Mr. Boyle_ [1] speaking of a certain Mineral, tells us, That +a Man may consume his whole Life in the Study of it, without arriving at +the Knowledge of all its Qualities. The Truth of it is, there is not a +single Science, or any Branch of it, that might not furnish a Man with +Business for Life, though it were much longer than it is. + +I shall not here engage on those beaten Subjects of the Usefulness of +Knowledge, nor of the Pleasure and Perfection it gives the Mind, nor on +the Methods of attaining it, nor recommend any particular Branch of it, +all which have been the Topicks of many other Writers; but shall indulge +my self in a Speculation that is more uncommon, and may therefore +perhaps be more entertaining. + +I have before shewn how the unemployed Parts of Life appear long and +tedious, and shall here endeavour to shew how those Parts of Life which +are exercised in Study, Reading, and the Pursuits of Knowledge, are long +but not tedious, and by that means discover a Method of lengthening our +Lives, and at the same time of turning all the Parts of them to our +Advantage. + +Mr. _Lock_ observes, [2] + + 'That we get the Idea of Time, or Duration, by reflecting on that + Train of Ideas which succeed one another in our Minds: That for this + Reason, when we sleep soundly without dreaming, we have no Perception + of Time, or the Length of it whilst we sleep; and that the Moment + wherein we leave off to think, till the Moment we begin to think + again, seems to have no distance.' + +To which the Author adds, + + 'And so I doubt not but it would be to a waking Man, if it were + possible for him to keep only one _Idea_ in his Mind, without + Variation, and the Succession of others: And we see, that one who + fixes his Thoughts very intently on one thing, so as to take but + little notice of the Succession of _Ideas_ that pass in his Mind + whilst he is taken up with that earnest Contemplation, lets slip out + of his Account a good Part of that Duration, and thinks that Time + shorter than it is.' + +We might carry this Thought further, and consider a Man as, on one Side, +shortening his Time by thinking on nothing, or but a few things; so, on +the other, as lengthening it, by employing his Thoughts on many +Subjects, or by entertaining a quick and constant Succession of Ideas. +Accordingly Monsieur _Mallebranche_, in his _Enquiry after Truth_, [3] +(which was published several Years before Mr. _Lock's Essay on Human +Understanding_) tells us, That it is possible some Creatures may think +Half an Hour as long as we do a thousand Years; or look upon that Space +of Duration which we call a Minute, as an Hour, a Week, a Month, or an +whole Age. + +This Notion of Monsieur _Mallebranche_ is capable of some little +Explanation from what I have quoted out of Mr. _Lock_; for if our Notion +of Time is produced by our reflecting on the Succession of Ideas in our +Mind, and this Succession may be infinitely accelerated or retarded, it +will follow, that different Beings may have different Notions of the +same Parts of Duration, according as their Ideas, which we suppose are +equally distinct in each of them, follow one another in a greater or +less Degree of Rapidity. + +There is a famous Passage in the _Alcoran_, which looks as if _Mahomet_ +had been possessed of the Notion we are now speaking of. It is there +said, [4] That the Angel _Gabriel_ took _Mahomet_ Out of his Bed one +Morning to give him a Sight of all things in the Seven Heavens, in +Paradise, and in Hell, which the Prophet took a distinct View of; and +after having held ninety thousand Conferences with God, was brought back +again to his Bed. All this, says the _Alcoran_, was transacted in so +small a space of Time, that _Mahomet_ at his Return found his Bed still +warm, and took up an Earthen Pitcher, (which was thrown down at the very +Instant that the Angel _Gabriel_ carried him away) before the Water was +all spilt. + +There is a very pretty Story in the _Turkish_ Tales which relates to +this Passage of that famous Impostor, and bears some Affinity to the +Subject we are now upon. A Sultan of _Egypt_, who was an Infidel, used +to laugh at this Circumstance in _Mahomet's_ Life, as what was +altogether impossible and absurd: But conversing one Day with a great +Doctor in the Law, who had the Gift of working Miracles, the Doctor told +him he would quickly convince him of the Truth of this Passage in the +History of Mahomet, if he would consent to do what he should desire of +him. Upon this the Sultan was directed to place himself by an huge Tub +of Water, which he did accordingly; and as he stood by the Tub amidst a +Circle of his great Men, the holy Man bid him plunge his Head into the +Water, and draw it up again: The King accordingly thrust his Head into +the Water, and at the same time found himself at the Foot of a Mountain +on a Sea-shore. The King immediately began to rage against his Doctor +for this Piece of Treachery and Witchcraft; but at length, knowing it +was in vain to be angry, he set himself to think on proper Methods for +getting a Livelihood in this strange Country: Accordingly he applied +himself to some People whom he saw at work in a Neighbouring Wood: these +People conducted him to a Town that stood at a little Distance from the +Wood, where, after some Adventures, he married a Woman of great Beauty +and Fortune. He lived with this Woman so long till he had by her seven +Sons and seven Daughters: He was afterwards reduced to great Want, and +forced to think of plying in the Streets as a Porter for his Livelihood. +One Day as he was walking alone by the Sea-side, being seized with many +melancholy Reflections upon his former and his present State of Life, +which had raised a Fit of Devotion in him, he threw off his Clothes with +a Design to wash himself, according to the Custom of the _Mahometans_, +before he said his Prayers. + +After his first Plunge into the Sea, he no sooner raised his Head above +the Water but he found himself standing by the Side of the Tub, with the +great Men of his Court about him, and the holy Man at his Side. He +immediately upbraided his Teacher for having sent him on such a Course +of Adventures, and betrayed him into so long a State of Misery and +Servitude; but was wonderfully surprised when he heard that the State he +talked of was only a Dream and Delusion; that he had not stirred from +the Place where he then stood; and that he had only dipped his Head into +the Water, and immediately taken it out again. + +The _Mahometan_ Doctor took this Occasion of instructing the Sultan, +that nothing was impossible with God; and that _He_, with whom a +Thousand Years are but as one Day, can, if he pleases, make a single +Day, nay a single Moment, appear to any of his Creatures as a Thousand +Years. + +I shall leave my Reader to compare these Eastern Fables with the Notions +of those two great Philosophers whom I have quoted in this Paper; and +shall only, by way of Application, desire him to consider how we may +extend Life beyond its natural Dimensions, by applying our selves +diligently to the Pursuits of Knowledge. + +The Hours of a wise Man are lengthened by his Ideas, as those of a Fool +are by his Passions: The Time of the one is long, because he does not +know what to do with it; so is that of the other, because he +distinguishes every Moment of it with useful or amusing Thought; or in +other Words, because the one is always wishing it away, and the other +always enjoying it. + +How different is the View of past Life, in the Man who is grown old in +Knowledge and Wisdom, from that of him who is grown old in Ignorance and +Folly? The latter is like the Owner of a barren Country that fills his +Eye with the Prospect of naked Hills and Plains, which produce nothing +either profitable or ornamental; the other beholds a beautiful and +spacious Landskip divided into delightful Gardens, green Meadows, +fruitful Fields, and can scarce cast his Eye on a single Spot of his +Possessions, that is not covered with some beautiful Plant or Flower. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Not of himself, but in 'The Usefulness of Natural +Philosophy' ('Works', ed. 1772, vol. ii. p. 11), Boyle quotes from the +old Alchemist, Basil Valentine, who said in his 'Currus Trimnphalis +Antimonii' + + 'That the shortness of life makes it impossible for one man thoroughly + to learn Antimony, in which every day something of new is + discovered.'] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Essay on the Human Understanding', Bk II. ch. 14.] + + +[Footnote 3: Two English Translations of Malebranche's 'Search after +Truth' were published in 1694, one by T. Taylor of Magdalen College, +Oxford. Malebranche sets out with the argument that man has no innate +perception of Duration.] + + +[Footnote 4: The Night Journey of Mahomet gives its Title to the 17th +Sura of the Koran, which assumes the believer's knowledge of the Visions +of Gabriel seen at the outset of the prophet's career, when he was +carried by night from Mecca to Jerusalem and thence through the seven +heavens to the throne of God on the back of Borak, accompanied by +Gabriel according to some traditions, and according to some in a vision. +Details of the origin of this story will be found in Muir, ii. 219, +Nöld, p. 102. Addison took it from the 'Turkish Tales.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No 95. Tuesday, June 19, 1711. Steele. + + + + Curæ Leves loquuntur, Ingentes Stupent. [1] + + +Having read the two following Letters with much Pleasure, I cannot but +think the good Sense of them will be as agreeable to the Town as any +thing I could say either on the Topicks they treat of, or any other. +They both allude to former Papers of mine, and I do not question but the +first, which is upon inward Mourning, will be thought the Production of +a Man who is well acquainted with the generous Earnings of Distress in a +manly Temper, which is above the Relief of Tears. A Speculation of my +own on that Subject I shall defer till another Occasion. + +The second Letter is from a Lady of a Mind as great as her +Understanding. There is perhaps something in the Beginning of it which I +ought in Modesty to conceal; but I have so much Esteem for this +Correspondent, that I will not alter a Tittle of what she writes, tho' I +am thus scrupulous at the Price of being Ridiculous. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I was very well pleased with your Discourse upon General Mourning, + and should be obliged to you if you would enter into the Matter more + deeply, and give us your Thoughts upon the common Sense the ordinary + People have of the Demonstrations of Grief, who prescribe Rules and + Fashions to the most solemn Affliction; such as the Loss of the + nearest Relations and dearest Friends. You cannot go to visit a sick + Friend, but some impertinent Waiter about him observes the Muscles of + your Face, as strictly as if they were Prognosticks of his Death or + Recovery. If he happens to be taken from you, you are immediately + surrounded with Numbers of these Spectators, who expect a melancholy + Shrug of your Shoulders, a Pathetical shake of your Head, and an + Expressive Distortion of your Face, to measure your Affection and + Value for the Deceased: But there is nothing, on these Occasions, so + much in their Favour as immoderate Weeping. As all their passions are + superficial, they imagine the Seat of Love and Friendship to be placed + visibly in the Eyes: They judge what Stock of Kindness you had for the + Living, by the Quantity of Tears you pour out for the Dead; so that if + one Body wants that Quantity of Salt-water another abounds with, he is + in great Danger of being thought insensible or ill-natured: They are + Strangers to Friendship, whose Grief happens not to be moist enough to + wet such a Parcel of Handkerchiefs. But Experience has told us, + nothing is so fallacious as this outward Sign of Sorrow; and the + natural History of our Bodies will teach us that this Flux of the + Eyes, this Faculty of Weeping, is peculiar only to some Constitutions. + We observe in the tender Bodies of Children, when crossed in their + little Wills and Expectations, how dissolvable they are into Tears. If + this were what Grief is in Men, Nature would not be able to support + them in the Excess of it for one Moment. Add to this Observation, how + quick is their Transition from this Passion to that of their Joy. I + won't say we see often, in the next tender Things to Children, Tears + shed without much Grieving. Thus it is common to shed Tears without + much Sorrow, and as common to suffer much Sorrow without shedding + Tears. Grief and Weeping are indeed frequent Companions, but, I + believe, never in their highest Excesses. As Laughter does not proceed + from profound Joy, so neither does Weeping from profound Sorrow. The + Sorrow which appears so easily at the Eyes, cannot have pierced deeply + into the Heart. The Heart distended with Grief, stops all the Passages + for Tears or Lamentations. + + 'Now, Sir, what I would incline you to in all this, is, that you would + inform the shallow Criticks and Observers upon Sorrow, that true + Affliction labours to be invisible, that it is a Stranger to Ceremony, + and that it bears in its own Nature a Dignity much above the little + Circumstances which are affected under the Notion of Decency. You must + know, Sir, I have lately lost a dear Friend, for whom I have not yet + shed a Tear, and for that Reason your Animadversions on that Subject + would be the more acceptable to', + SIR, + _Your most humble Servant_, + B.D. + + + + June _the_ 15_th_. + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'As I hope there are but few who have so little Gratitude as not to + acknowledge the Usefulness of your Pen, and to esteem it a Publick + Benefit; so I am sensible, be that as it will, you must nevertheless + find the Secret and Incomparable Pleasure of doing Good, and be a + great Sharer in the Entertainment you give. I acknowledge our Sex to + be much obliged, and I hope improved, by your Labours, and even your + Intentions more particularly for our Service. If it be true, as 'tis + sometimes said, that our Sex have an Influence on the other, your + Paper may be a yet more general Good. Your directing us to Reading is + certainly the best Means to our Instruction; but I think, with you, + Caution in that Particular very useful, since the Improvement of our + Understandings may, or may not, be of Service to us, according as it + is managed. It has been thought we are not generally so Ignorant as + Ill-taught, or that our Sex does so often want Wit, Judgment, or + Knowledge, as the right Application of them: You are so well-bred, as + to say your fair Readers are already deeper Scholars than the Beaus, + and that you could name some of them that talk much better than + several Gentlemen that make a Figure at _Will's_: This may possibly + be, and no great Compliment, in my Opinion, even supposing your + Comparison to reach _Tom's_ and the _Grecian_: Surely you are too wise + to think That a Real Commendation of a Woman. Were it not rather to be + wished we improved in our own Sphere, and approved our selves better + Daughters, Wives, Mothers, and Friends? + + I can't but agree with the Judicious Trader in _Cheapside_ (though I + am not at all prejudiced in his Favour) in recommending the Study of + Arithmetick; and must dissent even from the Authority which you + mention, when it advises the making our Sex Scholars. Indeed a little + more Philosophy, in order to the Subduing our Passions to our Reason, + might be sometimes serviceable, and a Treatise of that Nature I should + approve of, even in exchange for _Theodosius_, or _The Force of Love_; + but as I well know you want not Hints, I will proceed no further than + to recommend the Bishop of _Cambray's Education of a Daughter, as 'tis + translated into the only Language I have any Knowledge of, [2] tho' + perhaps very much to its Disadvantage. I have heard it objected + against that Piece, that its Instructions are not of general Use, but + only fitted for a great Lady; but I confess I am not of that Opinion; + for I don't remember that there are any Rules laid down for the + Expences of a Woman, in which Particular only I think a Gentlewoman + ought to differ from a Lady of the best Fortune, or highest Quality, + and not in their Principles of Justice, Gratitude, Sincerity, + Prudence, or Modesty. I ought perhaps to make an Apology for this long + Epistle; but as I rather believe you a Friend to Sincerity, than + Ceremony, shall only assure you I am, + T. SIR, + _Your most humble Servant_, + Annabella. + + + +[Footnote 1: Seneca, Citation omitted also in the early reprints.] + + +[Footnote 2: Fenelon was then living. He died in 1715, aged 63.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 96 Wednesday, June 20, 1711. Steele. + + + + ... Amicum + Mancipium domino, et frugi ... + + Hor. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + I have frequently read your Discourse upon Servants, and, as I am one + my self, have been much offended that in that Variety of Forms wherein + you considered the Bad, you found no Place to mention the Good. There + is however one Observation of yours I approve, which is, That there + are Men of Wit and good Sense among all Orders of Men; and that + Servants report most of the Good or Ill which is spoken of their + Masters. That there are Men of Sense who live in Servitude, I have the + Vanity to say I have felt to my woful Experience. You attribute very + justly the Source of our general Iniquity to Board-Wages, and the + Manner of living out of a domestick Way: But I cannot give you my + Thoughts on this Subject any way so well, as by a short account of my + own Life to this the Forty fifth Year of my Age; that is to say, from + my being first a Foot-boy at Fourteen, to my present Station of a + Nobleman's Porter in the Year of my Age above-mentioned. Know then, + that my Father was a poor Tenant to the Family of Sir _Stephen + Rackrent:_ Sir _Stephen_ put me to School, or rather made me follow + his Son _Harry_ to School, from my Ninth Year; and there, tho' Sir + _Stephen_ paid something for my Learning, I was used like a Servant, + and was forced to get what Scraps of Learning I could by my own + Industry, for the Schoolmaster took very little Notice of me. My young + Master was a Lad of very sprightly Parts; and my being constantly + about him, and loving him, was no small Advantage to me. My Master + loved me extreamly, and has often been whipped for not keeping me at a + Distance. He used always to say, That when he came to his Estate I + should have a Lease of my Father's Tenement for nothing. I came up to + Town with him to _Westminster_ School; at which time he taught me at + Night all he learnt; and put me to find out Words in the Dictionary + when he was about his Exercise. It was the Will of Providence that + Master _Harry_ was taken very ill of a Fever, of which he died within + Ten Days after his first falling sick. Here was the first Sorrow I + ever knew; and I assure you, Mr. SPECTATOR, I remember the beautiful + Action of the sweet Youth in his Fever, as fresh as if it were + Yesterday. If he wanted any thing, it must be given him by _Tom:_ When + I let any thing fall through the Grief I was under, he would cry, Do + not beat the poor Boy: Give him some more Julep for me, no Body else + shall give it me. He would strive to hide his being so bad, when he + saw I could not bear his being in so much Danger, and comforted me, + saying, _Tom, Tom,_ have a good Heart. When I was holding a Cup at his + Mouth, he fell into Convulsions; and at this very Time I hear my dear + Master's last Groan. I was quickly turned out of the Room, and left to + sob and beat my Head against the Wall at my Leisure. The Grief I was + in was inexpressible; and every Body thought it would have cost me my + Life. In a few Days my old Lady, who was one of the Housewives of the + World, thought of turning me out of Doors, because I put her in mind + of her Son. Sir _Stephen_ proposed putting me to Prentice; but my + Lady being an excellent Manager, would not let her Husband throw away + his Money in Acts of Charity. I had sense enough to be under the + utmost Indignation, to see her discard with so little Concern, one her + Son had loved so much; and went out of the House to ramble wherever my + Feet would carry me. + + The third Day after I left Sir _Stephen's_ Family, I was strolling up + and down the Walks in the _Temple_. A young Gentleman of the House, + who (as I heard him say afterwards) seeing me half-starved and + well-dressed, thought me an Equipage ready to his Hand, after very + little Inquiry more than _Did I want a Master?,_ bid me follow him; + I did so, and in a very little while thought myself the happiest + Creature in this World. My Time was taken up in carrying Letters to + Wenches, or Messages to young Ladies of my Master's Acquaintance. We + rambled from Tavern to Tavern, to the Play-house, the + Mulberry-Garden,[1] and all places of Resort; where my Master engaged + every Night in some new Amour, in which and Drinking he spent all his + Time when he had Money. During these Extravagancies I had the Pleasure + of lying on the Stairs of a Tavern half a Night, playing at Dice with + other Servants, and the like Idleness. When my Master was moneyless, + I was generally employ'd in transcribing amorous Pieces of Poetry, old + Songs, and new Lampoons. This Life held till my Master married, and he + had then the Prudence to turn me off, because I was in the Secret of + his Intreagues. + + I was utterly at a loss what Course to take next; when at last I + applied my self to a Fellow-sufferer, one of his Mistresses, a Woman + of the Town. She happening at that time to be pretty full of Money, + cloathed me from Head to Foot, and knowing me to be a sharp Fellow, + employed me accordingly. Sometimes I was to go abroad with her, and + when she had pitched upon a young Fellow she thought for her Turn, I + was to be dropped as one she could not trust. She would often cheapen + Goods at the _New Exchange_[1] and when she had a mind to be + attacked, she would send me away on an Errand. When an humble Servant + and she were beginning a Parley, I came immediately, and told her Sir + _John_ was come home; then she would order another Coach to prevent + being dogged. The Lover makes Signs to me as I get behind the Coach, I + shake my Head it was impossible: I leave my Lady at the next Turning, + and follow the Cully to know how to fall in his Way on another + Occasion. Besides good Offices of this Nature, I writ all my + Mistress's Love-Letters; some from a Lady that saw such a Gentleman at + such a Place in such a coloured Coat, some shewing the Terrour she was + in of a jealous old Husband, others explaining that the Severity of + her Parents was such (tho' her Fortune was settled) that she was + willing to run away with such a one, tho' she knew he was but a + younger Brother. In a Word, my half Education and Love of idle Books, + made me outwrite all that made Love to her by way of Epistle; and as + she was extremely cunning, she did well enough in Company by a skilful + Affectation of the greatest Modesty. In the midst of all this I was + surprised with a Letter from her and a Ten Pound Note. + + _Honest_ Tom, + + You will never see me more. I am married to a very cunning Country + Gentleman, who might possibly guess something if I kept you still; + therefore farewell. + + When this Place was lost also in Marriage, I was resolved to go among + quite another People, for the future; and got in Butler to one of + those Families where there is a Coach kept, three or four Servants, a + clean House, and a good general Outside upon a small Estate. Here I + lived very comfortably for some Time,'till I unfortunately found my + Master, the very gravest Man alive, in the Garret with the + Chambermaid. I knew the World too well to think of staying there; and + the next Day pretended to have received a Letter out of the Country + that my Father was dying, and got my Discharge with a Bounty for my + Discretion. + + The next I lived with was a peevish single man, whom I stayed with for + a Year and a Half. Most part of the Time I passed very easily; for + when I began to know him, I minded no more than he meant what he said; + so that one Day in a good Humour he said _I was the best man he ever + had, by my want of respect to him_. + + These, Sir, are the chief Occurrences of my Life; and I will not dwell + upon very many other Places I have been in, where I have been the + strangest Fellow in the World, where no Body in the World had such + Servants as they, where sure they were the unluckiest People in the + World in Servants; and so forth. All I mean by this Representation, + is, to shew you that we poor Servants are not (what you called us too + generally) all Rogues; but that we are what we are, according to the + Example of our Superiors. In the Family I am now in, I am guilty of no + one Sin but Lying; which I do with a grave Face in my Gown and Staff + every Day I live, and almost all Day long, in denying my Lord to + impertinent Suitors, and my Lady to unwelcome Visitants. But, Sir, I + am to let you know that I am, when I get abroad, a Leader of the + Servants: I am he that keep Time with beating my Cudgel against the + Boards in the Gallery at an Opera; I am he that am touched so properly + at a Tragedy, when the People of Quality are staring at one another + during the most important Incidents: When you hear in a Crowd a Cry in + the right Place, an Humm where the Point is touched in a Speech, or an + Hussa set up where it is the Voice of the People; you may conclude it + is begun or joined by, + T. _SIR, + Your more than Humble Servant,_ + Thomas Trusty + + + +[Footnote 1: A place of open-air entertainment near Buckingham House. +Sir Charles Sedley named one of his plays after it.] + + +[Footnote 2: In the Strand, between Durham Yard and York Buildings; in +the 'Spectator's' time the fashionable mart for milliners. It was taken +down in 1737.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 97. Thursday, June 21, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Projecere animas.' + + Virg. + + +Among the loose Papers which I have frequently spoken of heretofore, I +find a Conversation between _Pharamond_ and _Eucrate_ upon the Subject +of Duels, and the Copy of an Edict issued in Consequence of that +Discourse. + +_Eucrate_ argued, that nothing but the most severe and vindictive +Punishments, such as placing the Bodies of the Offenders in Chains, and +putting them to Death by the most exquisite Torments, would be +sufficient to extirpate a Crime which had so long prevailed and was so +firmly fixed in the Opinion of the World as great and laudable; but the +King answered, That indeed Instances of Ignominy were necessary in the +Cure of this Evil; but considering that it prevailed only among such as +had a Nicety in their Sense of Honour, and that it often happened that a +Duel was fought to save Appearances to the World, when both Parties were +in their Hearts in Amity and Reconciliation to each other; it was +evident that turning the Mode another way would effectually put a Stop +to what had Being only as a Mode. That to such Persons, Poverty and +Shame were Torments sufficient, That he would not go further in +punishing in others Crimes which he was satisfied he himself was most +Guilty of, in that he might have prevented them by speaking his +Displeasure sooner. Besides which the King said, he was in general +averse to Tortures, which was putting Human Nature it self, rather than +the Criminal, to Disgrace; and that he would be sure not to use this +Means where the Crime was but an ill Effect arising from a laudable +Cause, the Fear of Shame. The King, at the same time, spoke with much +Grace upon the Subject of Mercy; and repented of many Acts of that kind +which had a magnificent Aspect in the doing, but dreadful Consequences +in the Example. Mercy to Particulars, he observed, was Cruelty in the +General: That though a Prince could not revive a Dead Man by taking the +Life of him who killed him, neither could he make Reparation to the next +that should die by the evil Example; or answer to himself for the +Partiality, in not pardoning the next as well as the former Offender. + + 'As for me, says _Pharamond_, I have conquer'd _France_, and yet have + given Laws to my People: The Laws are my Methods of Life; they are not + a Diminution but a Direction to my Power. I am still absolute to + distinguish the Innocent and the Virtuous, to give Honours to the + Brave and Generous: I am absolute in my Good-will: none can oppose my + Bounty, or prescribe Rules for my Favour. While I can, as I please, + reward the Good, I am under no Pain that I cannot pardon the Wicked: + For which Reason, continued _Pharamond_, I will effectually put a stop + to this Evil, by exposing no more the Tenderness of my Nature to the + Importunity of having the same Respect to those who are miserable by + their Fault, and those who are so by their Misfortune. Flatterers + (concluded the King smiling) repeat to us Princes, that we are + Heaven's Vice-regents; Let us be so, and let the only thing out of our + Power be _to do Ill_.' + +'Soon after the Evening wherein _Pharamond_ and _Eucrate_ had this +Conversation, the following Edict was Published. + + + _Pharamond's_ Edict against Duels. + + Pharamond, _King of the_ Gauls, _to all his loving Subjects sendeth + Greeting_. + + Whereas it has come to our Royal Notice and Observation, that in + contempt of all Laws Divine and Human, it is of late become a Custom + among the Nobility and Gentry of this our Kingdom, upon slight and + trivial, as well as great and urgent Provocations, to invite each + other into the Field, there by their own Hands, and of their own + Authority, to decide their Controversies by Combat; We have thought + fit to take the said Custom into our Royal Consideration, and find, + upon Enquiry into the usual Causes whereon such fatal Decisions have + arisen, that by this wicked Custom, maugre all the Precepts of our + Holy Religion, and the Rules of right Reason, the greatest Act of the + human Mind, _Forgiveness of Injuries_, is become vile and shameful; + that the Rules of Good Society and Virtuous Conversation are hereby + inverted; that the Loose, the Vain, and the Impudent, insult the + Careful, the Discreet, and the Modest; that all Virtue is suppressed, + and all Vice supported, in the one Act of being capable to dare to the + Death. We have also further, with great Sorrow of Mind, observed that + this Dreadful Action, by long Impunity, (our Royal Attention being + employed upon Matters of more general Concern) is become Honourable, + and the Refusal to engage in it Ignominious. In these our Royal Cares + and Enquiries We are yet farther made to understand, that the Persons + of most Eminent Worth, and most hopeful Abilities, accompanied with + the strongest Passion for true Glory, are such as are most liable to + be involved in the Dangers arising from this Licence. Now taking the + said Premises into our serious Consideration, and well weighing that + all such Emergencies (wherein the Mind is incapable of commanding it + self, and where the Injury is too sudden or too exquisite to be born) + are particularly provided for by Laws heretofore enacted; and that the + Qualities of less Injuries, like those of Ingratitude, are too nice + and delicate to come under General Rules; We do resolve to blot this + Fashion, or Wantonness of Anger, out of the Minds of Our Subjects, by + Our Royal Resolutions declared in this Edict, as follow. + + No Person who either Sends or Accepts a Challenge, or the Posterity of + either, tho' no Death ensues thereupon, shall be, after the + Publication of this our Edict, capable of bearing Office in these our + Dominions. + + The Person who shall prove the sending or receiving a Challenge, shall + receive to his own Use and Property, the whole Personal Estate of both + Parties: and their Real Estate shall be immediately vested in the next + Heir of the Offenders in as ample Manner as if the said Offenders were + actually Deceased. + + In Cases where the Laws (which we have already granted to our + Subjects) admit of an Appeal for Blood; when the Criminal is condemned + by the said Appeal, He shall not only suffer Death, but his whole + Estate, Real, Mixed, and Personal, shall from the Hour of his Death be + vested in the next Heir of the Person whose Blood he spilt. + + That it shall not hereafter be in our Royal Power, or that of our + Successors, to pardon the said Offences, or restore [the Offenders + [1]] in their Estates, Honour, or Blood for ever. + + _Given at our Court at_ Blois, _the 8th of_ February, 420. _In the + Second Year of our Reign_. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: them] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 98. Friday, June 22, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Tanta est quarendi cura decoris.' + + Juv. + + +There is not so variable a thing in Nature as a Lady's Head-dress: +Within my own Memory I have known it rise and fall above thirty Degrees. +About ten Years ago it shot up to a very great Height, [1] insomuch that +the Female Part of our Species were much taller than the Men. The Women +were of such an enormous Stature, that _we appeared as Grasshoppers +before them_. [2] At present the whole Sex is in a manner dwarfed and +shrunk into a race of Beauties that seems almost another Species. I +remember several Ladies, who were once very near seven Foot high, that +at present want some inches of five: How they came to be thus curtailed +I cannot learn; whether the whole Sex be at present under any Penance +which we know nothing of, or whether they have cast their Head-dresses +in order to surprize us with something in that kind which shall be +entirely new; or whether some of the tallest of the Sex, being too +cunning for the rest, have contrived this Method to make themselves +appear sizeable, is still a Secret; tho' I find most are of Opinion, +they are at present like Trees new lopped and pruned, that will +certainly sprout up and flourish with greater Heads than before. For my +own part, as I do not love to be insulted by Women who are taller than +my self, I admire the Sex much more in their present Humiliation, which +has reduced them to their natural Dimensions, than when they had +extended their Persons and lengthened themselves out into formidable and +gigantick Figures. I am not for adding to the beautiful Edifices of +Nature, nor for raising any whimsical Superstructure upon her Plans: I +must therefore repeat it, that I am highly pleased with the Coiffure now +in Fashion, and think it shews the good Sense which at present very much +reigns among the valuable Part of the Sex. One may observe that Women in +all Ages have taken more Pains than Men to adorn the Outside of their +Heads; and indeed I very much admire, that those Female Architects, who +raise such wonderful Structures out of Ribbands, Lace, and Wire, have +not been recorded for their respective Inventions. It is certain there +has been as many Orders in these Kinds of Building, as in those which +have been made of Marble: Sometimes they rise in the Shape of a Pyramid, +sometimes like a Tower, and sometimes like a Steeple. In _Juvenal's_ +time the Building grew by several Orders and Stories, as he has very +humorously described it. + + Tot premit ordinibus, tot adhuc compagibus altum + Ædificat caput: Andromachen a fronte videbis; + Post minor est: Altam credas. + + Juv. + +But I do not remember in any Part of my Reading, that the Head-dress +aspired to so great an Extravagance as in the fourteenth Century; when +it was built up in a couple of Cones or Spires, which stood so +excessively high on each Side of the Head, that a Woman, who was but a +_Pigmie_ without her Head-dress, appear'd like a _Colossus_ upon putting +it on. Monsieur _Paradin_ [3] says, + + 'That these old-fashioned Fontanges rose an Ell above the Head; that + they were pointed like Steeples, and had long loose Pieces of Crape + fastened to the Tops of them, which were curiously fringed and hung + down their Backs like Streamers.' + +The Women might possibly have carried this Gothick Building much higher, +had not a famous Monk, _Thomas Conecte_ [4] by Name, attacked it with +great Zeal and Resolution. + +This holy Man travelled from Place to Place to preach down this +monstrous Commode; and succeeded so well in it, that as the Magicians +sacrificed their Books to the Flames upon the Preaching of an Apostle, +many of the Women threw down their Head-dresses in the Middle of his +Sermon, and made a Bonfire of them within Sight of the Pulpit. He was so +renowned as well for the Sanctity of his Life as his Manner of Preaching +that he had often a Congregation of twenty thousand People; the Men +placing themselves on the one Side of his Pulpit, and the Women on the +other, that appeared (to use the Similitude of an ingenious Writer) like +a Forest of Cedars with their Heads reaching to the Clouds. He so warmed +and animated the People against this monstrous Ornament, that it lay +under a kind of Persecution; and whenever it appeared in publick was +pelted down by the Rabble, who flung Stones at the Persons that wore it. +But notwithstanding this Prodigy vanished, while the Preacher was among +them, it began to appear again some Months after his Departure, or to +tell it in Monsieur _Paradin's_ own Words, + + 'The Women that, like Snails, in a Fright, had drawn in their Horns, + shot them out again as soon as the Danger was over.' + +This Extravagance of the Womens Head-dresses in that Age is taken notice +of by Monsieur _d'Argentré_ [5] in the History of _Bretagne_, and by +other Historians as well as the Person I have here quoted. + +It is usually observed, that a good Reign is the only proper Time for +making of Laws against the Exorbitance of Power; in the same manner an +excessive Head-dress may be attacked the most effectually when the +Fashion is against it. I do therefore recommend this Paper to my Female +Readers by way of Prevention. + +I would desire the Fair Sex to consider how impossible it is for them to +add any thing that can be ornamental to what is already the Master-piece +of Nature. The Head has the most beautiful Appearance, as well as the +highest Station, in a human Figure. Nature has laid out all her Art in +beautifying the Face; she has touched it with Vermilion, planted in it a +double Row of Ivory, made it the Seat of Smiles and Blushes, lighted it +up and enlivened it with the Brightness of the Eyes, hung it on each +Side with curious Organs of Sense, given it Airs and Graces that cannot +be described, and surrounded it with such a flowing Shade of Hair as +sets all its Beauties in the most agreeable Light: In short, she seems +to have designed the Head as the Cupola to the most glorious of her +Works; and when we load it with such a Pile of supernumerary Ornaments, +we destroy the Symmetry of the human Figure, and foolishly contrive to +call off the Eye from great and real Beauties, to childish Gewgaws, +Ribbands, and Bone-lace. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: The Commode, called by the French 'Fontange', worn on their +heads by ladies at the beginning of the 18th century, was a structure of +wire, which bore up the hair and the forepart of the lace cap to a great +height. The 'Spectator' tells how completely and suddenly the fashion +was abandoned in his time.] + + +[Footnote 2: Numbers xiii 33.] + + +[Footnote 3: Guillaume Paradin, a laborious writer of the 16th century, +born at Cuizeau, in the Bresse Chalonnoise, and still living in 1581, +wrote a great many books. The passages quoted by the 'Spectator' are +from his 'Annales de Bourgoigne', published in 1566.] + + +[Footnote 4: Thomas Conecte, of Bretagne, was a Carmelite monk, who +became famous as a preacher in 1428. After reproving the vices of the +age in several parts of Europe, he came to Rome, where he reproved the +vices he saw at the Pope's court, and was, therefore, burnt as a heretic +in 1434.] + + +[Footnote 5: Bertrand d'Argentré was a French lawyer, who died, aged 71, +in 1590. His 'Histoire de Bretagne' was printed at Rennes in 1582.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 99. Saturday, June 23, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Turpi secernis Honestum.' + + Hor. + + +The Club, of which I have often declared my self a Member, were last +Night engaged in a Discourse upon that which passes for the chief Point +of Honour among Men and Women; and started a great many Hints upon the +Subject, which I thought were entirely new: I shall therefore methodize +the several Reflections that arose upon this Occasion, and present my +Reader with them for the Speculation of this Day; after having premised, +that if there is any thing in this Paper which seems to differ with any +Passage of last _Thursday's_, the Reader will consider this as the +Sentiments of the Club, and the other as my own private Thoughts, or +rather those of _Pharamond_. + +The great Point of Honour in Men is Courage, and in Women Chastity. If a +Man loses his Honour in one Rencounter, it is not impossible for him to +regain it in another; a Slip in a Woman's Honour is irrecoverable. I can +give no Reason for fixing the Point of Honour to these two Qualities, +unless it be that each Sex sets the greatest Value on the Qualification +which renders them the most amiable in the Eyes of the contrary Sex. Had +Men chosen for themselves, without Regard to the Opinions of the Fair +Sex, I should believe the Choice would have fallen on Wisdom or Virtue; +or had Women determined their own Point of Honour, it is probable that +Wit or Good-Nature would have carried it against Chastity. + +Nothing recommends a Man more to the Female Sex than Courage; whether it +be that they are pleased to see one who is a Terror to others fall like +a Slave at their Feet, or that this Quality supplies their own principal +Defect, in guarding them from Insults and avenging their Quarrels, or +that Courage is a natural Indication of a strong and sprightly +Constitution. On the other side, nothing makes a Woman more esteemed by +the opposite Sex than Chastity; whether it be that we always prize those +most who are hardest to come at, or that nothing besides Chastity, with +its collateral Attendants, Truth, Fidelity, and Constancy, gives the Man +a Property in the Person he loves, and consequently endears her to him +above all things. + +I am very much pleased with a Passage in the Inscription on a Monument +erected in _Westminster Abbey_ to the late Duke and Dutchess of +_Newcastle:_ 'Her Name was _Margaret Lucas_, youngest Sister to the Lord +_Lucas_ of _Colchester; a noble Family, for all the Brothers were +valiant, and all the Sisters virtuous._ + +In Books of Chivalry, where the Point of Honour is strained to Madness, +the whole Story runs on Chastity and Courage. The Damsel is mounted on a +white Palfrey, as an Emblem of her Innocence; and, to avoid Scandal, +must have a Dwarf for her Page. She is not to think of a Man, 'till some +Misfortune has brought a Knight-Errant to her Relief. The Knight falls +in Love, and did not Gratitude restrain her from murdering her +Deliverer, would die at her Feet by her Disdain. However he must wait +some Years in the Desart, before her Virgin Heart can think of a +Surrender. The Knight goes off, attacks every thing he meets that is +bigger and stronger than himself, seeks all Opportunities of being +knock'd on the Head, and after seven Years Rambling returns to his +Mistress, whose Chastity has been attacked in the mean time by Giants +and Tyrants, and undergone as many Tryals as her Lover's Valour. + +In _Spain_, where there are still great Remains of this Romantick +Humour, it is a transporting Favour for a Lady to cast an accidental +Glance on her Lover from a Window, tho' it be two or three Stories high; +as it is usual for the Lover to assert his Passion for his Mistress, in +single Combat with a mad Bull. + +The great Violation of the Point of Honour from Man to Man, is giving +the Lie. One may tell another he Whores, Drinks, Blasphemes, and it may +pass unresented; but to say he Lies, tho' but in Jest, is an Affront +that nothing but Blood can expiate. The Reason perhaps may be, because +no other Vice implies a want of Courage so much as the making of a Lie; +and therefore telling a man he Lies, is touching him in the most +sensible Part of Honour, and indirectly calling him a Coward. [I cannot +omit under this Head what _Herodotus_ tells us of the ancient +_Persians_, That from the Age of five Years to twenty they instruct +their Sons only in three things, to manage the Horse, to make use of the +Bow, and to speak Truth.] + +The placing the Point of Honour in this false kind of Courage, has given +Occasion to the very Refuse of Mankind, who have neither Virtue nor +common Sense, to set up for Men of Honour. An _English_ Peer, [1] who +has not been long dead, used to tell a pleasant Story of a _French_ +Gentleman that visited him early one Morning at _Paris_, and after great +Professions of Respect, let him know that he had it in his Power to +oblige him; which in short, amounted to this, that he believed he could +tell his Lordship the Person's Name who justled him as he came out from +the Opera, but before he would proceed, he begged his Lordship that he +would not deny him the Honour of making him his Second. The _English_ +Lord, to avoid being drawn into a very foolish Affair, told him, that he +was under Engagements for his two next Duels to a Couple of particular +Friends. Upon which the Gentleman immediately withdrew, hoping his +Lordship would not take it ill if he medled no farther in an Affair from +whence he himself was to receive no Advantage. + +The beating down this false Notion of Honour, in so vain and lively a +People as those of _France_, is deservedly looked upon as one of the +most glorious Parts of their present King's Reign. It is pity but the +Punishment of these mischievous Notions should have in it some +particular Circumstances of Shame and Infamy, that those who are Slaves +to them may see, that instead of advancing their Reputations they lead +them to Ignominy and Dishonour. + +Death is not sufficient to deter Men who make it their Glory to despise +it, but if every one that fought a Duel were to stand in the Pillory, it +would quickly lessen the Number of these imaginary Men of Honour, and +put an end to so absurd a Practice. + +When Honour is a Support to virtuous Principles, and runs parallel with +the Laws of God and our Country, it cannot be too much cherished and +encouraged: But when the Dictates of Honour are contrary to those of +Religion and Equity, they are the greatest Depravations of human Nature, +by giving wrong Ambitions and false Ideas of what is good and laudable; +and should therefore be exploded by all Governments, and driven out as +the Bane and Plague of Human Society. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Percy said he had been told that this was William +Cavendish, first Duke of Devonshire, who died in 1707.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 100. Monday, June 25, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Nil ego contulerim jucundo sanus amico.' + + Hor. + + +A man advanced in Years that thinks fit to look back upon his former +Life, and calls that only Life which was passed with Satisfaction and +Enjoyment, excluding all Parts which were not pleasant to him, will find +himself very young, if not in his Infancy. Sickness, Ill-humour, and +Idleness, will have robbed him of a great Share of that Space we +ordinarily call our Life. It is therefore the Duty of every Man that +would be true to himself, to obtain, if possible, a Disposition to be +pleased, and place himself in a constant Aptitude for the Satisfactions +of his Being. Instead of this, you hardly see a Man who is not uneasy in +proportion to his Advancement in the Arts of Life. An affected Delicacy +is the common Improvement we meet with in those who pretend to be +refined above others: They do not aim at true Pleasures themselves, but +turn their Thoughts upon observing the false Pleasures of other Men. +Such People are Valetudinarians in Society, and they should no more come +into Company than a sick Man should come into the Air: If a Man is too +weak to bear what is a Refreshment to Men in Health, he must still keep +his Chamber. When any one in Sir ROGER'S Company complains he is out of +Order, he immediately calls for some Posset-drink for him; for which +reason that sort of People who are ever bewailing their Constitution in +other Places are the Chearfullest imaginable when he is present. + +It is a wonderful thing that so many, and they not reckoned absurd, +shall entertain those with whom they converse by giving them the History +of their Pains and Aches; and imagine such Narrations their Quota of the +Conversation. This is of all other the meanest Help to Discourse, and a +Man must not think at all, or think himself very insignificant, when he +finds an Account of his Head-ach answer'd by another's asking what News +in the last Mail? Mutual good Humour is a Dress we ought to appear in +whenever we meet, and we should make no mention of what concerns our +selves, without it be of Matters wherein our Friends ought to rejoyce: +But indeed there are Crowds of People who put themselves in no Method of +pleasing themselves or others; such are those whom we usually call +indolent Persons. Indolence is, methinks, an intermediate State between +Pleasure and Pain, and very much unbecoming any Part of our Life after +we are out of the Nurse's Arms. Such an Aversion to Labour creates a +constant Weariness, and one would think should make Existence it self a +Burthen. The indolent Man descends from the Dignity of his Nature, and +makes that Being which was Rational merely Vegetative: His Life consists +only in the meer Encrease and Decay of a Body, which, with relation to +the rest of the World, might as well have been uninformed, as the +Habitation of a reasonable Mind. + +Of this kind is the Life of that extraordinary Couple _Harry Tersett_ +and his Lady. _Harry_ was in the Days of his Celibacy one of those pert +Creatures who have much Vivacity and little Understanding; Mrs. _Rebecca +Quickly_, whom he married, had all that the Fire of Youth and a lively +Manner could do towards making an agreeable Woman. The two People of +seeming Merit fell into each other's Arms; and Passion being sated, and +no Reason or good Sense in either to succeed it, their Life is now at a +Stand; their Meals are insipid, and their Time tedious; their Fortune +has placed them above Care, and their Loss of Taste reduced them below +Diversion. When we talk of these as Instances of Inexistence, we do not +mean, that in order to live it is necessary we should always be in +Jovial Crews, or crowned with Chaplets of Roses, as the merry Fellows +among the Ancients are described; but it is intended by considering +these Contraries to Pleasure, Indolence, and too much Delicacy, to shew +that it is Prudence to preserve a Disposition in our selves to receive a +certain Delight in all we hear and see. + +This portable Quality of good Humour seasons all the Parts and +Occurrences we meet with, in such a manner, that, there are no Moments +lost; but they all pass with so much Satisfaction, that the heaviest of +Loads (when it is a Load) that of Time, is never felt by us. _Varilas_ +has this Quality to the highest Perfection, and communicates it wherever +he appears: The Sad, the Merry, the Severe, the Melancholy, shew a new +Chearfulness when he comes amongst them. At the same time no one can +repeat any thing that _Varilas_ has ever said that deserves Repetition; +but the Man has that innate Goodness of Temper, that he is welcome to +every Body, because every Man thinks he is so to him. He does not seem +to contribute any thing to the Mirth of the Company; and yet upon +Reflection you find it all happened by his being there. I thought it was +whimsically said of a Gentleman, That if _Varilas_ had Wit, it would be +the best Wit in the World. It is certain, when a well-corrected lively +Imagination and good Breeding are added to a sweet Disposition, they +qualify it to be one of the greatest Blessings, as well as Pleasures of +Life. + +Men would come into Company with ten times the Pleasure they do, if they +were sure of hearing nothing which should shock them, as well as +expected what would please them. When we know every Person that is +spoken of is represented by one who has no ill Will, and every thing +that is mentioned described by one that is apt to set it in the best +Light, the Entertainment must be delicate; because the Cook has nothing +brought to his Hand but what is the most excellent in its Kind. +Beautiful Pictures are the Entertainments of pure Minds, and Deformities +of the corrupted. It is a Degree towards the Life of Angels, when we +enjoy Conversation wherein there is nothing presented but in its +Excellence: and a Degree towards that of Daemons, wherein nothing is +shewn but in its Degeneracy. + +T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 101. Tuesday, June 26, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Romulus, et Liber pater, et cum Castore Pollux, + Post ingentia facta, Deorum in templa recepti; + Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, aspera bella + Componunt, agros assignant, oppida condunt; + Ploravere suis non respondere favorem + Speratum meritis: ...' + + Hor. + + +Censure, says a late ingenious Author, _is the Tax a Man pays to the +Publick for being Eminent_. [1] It is a Folly for an eminent Man to +think of escaping it, and a Weakness to be affected with it. All the +illustrious Persons of Antiquity, and indeed of every Age in the World, +have passed through this fiery Persecution. There is no Defence against +Reproach, but Obscurity; it is a kind of Concomitant to Greatness, as +Satyrs and Invectives were an essential Part of a _Roman_ Triumph. + +If Men of Eminence are exposed to Censure on one hand, they are as much +liable to Flattery on the other. If they receive Reproaches which are +not due to them, they likewise receive Praises which they do not +deserve. In a word, the Man in a high Post is never regarded with an +indifferent Eye, but always considered as a Friend or an Enemy. For this +Reason Persons in great Stations have seldom their true Characters drawn +till several Years after their Deaths. Their personal Friendships and +Enmities must cease, and the Parties they were engaged in be at an End, +before their Faults or their Virtues can have Justice done them. When +Writers have the least Opportunities of knowing the Truth they are in +the best Disposition to tell it. + +It is therefore the Privilege of Posterity to adjust the Characters of +illustrious Persons, and to set Matters right between those Antagonists, +who by their Rivalry for Greatness divided a whole Age into Factions. We +can now allow _Cæsar_ to be a great Man, without derogating from +_Pompey_; and celebrate the Virtues of _Cato_, without detracting from +those of _Cæsar_. Every one that has been long dead has a due Proportion +of Praise allotted him, in which whilst he lived his Friends were too +profuse and his Enemies too sparing. + +According to Sir _Isaac Newton's_ Calculations, the last Comet that made +its Appearance in 1680, imbib'd so much Heat by its Approaches to the +Sun, that it would have been two thousand times hotter than red hot +Iron, had it been a Globe of that Metal; and that supposing it as big as +the Earth, and at the same Distance from the Sun, it would be fifty +thousand Years in cooling, before it recovered its natural Temper. [2] +In the like manner, if an _Englishman_ considers the great Ferment into +which our Political World is thrown at present, and how intensely it is +heated in all its Parts, he cannot suppose that it will cool again in +less than three hundred Years. In such a Tract of Time it is possible +that the Heats of the present Age may be extinguished, and our several +Classes of great Men represented under their proper Characters. Some +eminent Historian may then probably arise that will not write +_recentibus odiis_ (as _Tacitus_ expresses it) with the Passions and +Prejudices of a contemporary Author, but make an impartial Distribution +of Fame among the Great Men of the present Age. + +I cannot forbear entertaining my self very often with the Idea of such +an imaginary Historian describing the Reign of _ANNE_ the First, and +introducing it with a Preface to his Reader, that he is now entring upon +the most shining Part of the _English_ Story. The great Rivals in Fame +will then be distinguished according to their respective Merits, and +shine in their proper Points of Light. Such [an [3]] one (says the +Historian) tho' variously represented by the Writers of his own Age, +appears to have been a Man of more than ordinary Abilities, great +Application and uncommon Integrity: Nor was such an one (tho' of an +opposite Party and Interest) inferior to him in any of these Respects. +The several Antagonists who now endeavour to depreciate one another, and +are celebrated or traduced by different Parties, will then have the same +Body of Admirers, and appear Illustrious in the Opinion of the whole +_British_ Nation. The deserving Man, who can now recommend himself to +the Esteem of but half his Countrymen, will then receive the +Approbations and Applauses of a whole Age. + +Among the several Persons that flourish in this Glorious Reign, there is +no question but such a future Historian as the Person of whom I am +speaking, will make mention of the Men of Genius and Learning, who have +now any Figure in the _British_ Nation. For my own part, I often flatter +my self with the honourable Mention which will then be made of me; and +have drawn up a Paragraph in my own Imagination, that I fancy will not +be altogether unlike what will be found in some Page or other of this +imaginary Historian. + + It was under this Reign, says he, that the SPECTATOR publish'd those + little Diurnal Essays which are still extant. We know very little of + the Name or Person of this Author, except only that he was a Man of a + very short Face, extreamly addicted to Silence, and so great a Lover + of Knowledge, that he made a Voyage to _Grand Cairo_ for no other + Reason, but to take the Measure of a Pyramid. His chief Friend was one + Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY, a whimsical Country Knight, and a _Templar_ + whose Name he has not transmitted to us. He lived as a Lodger at the + House of a Widow-Woman, and was a great Humourist in all Parts of his + Life. This is all we can affirm with any Certainty of his Person and + Character. As for his Speculations, notwithstanding the several + obsolete Words and obscure Phrases of the Age in which he lived, we + still understand enough of them to see the Diversions and Characters + of the _English_ Nation in his Time: Not but that we are to make + Allowance for the Mirth and Humour of the Author, who has doubtless + strained many Representations of Things beyond the Truth. For if we + interpret his Words in the literal Meaning, we must suppose that Women + of the first Quality used to pass away whole Mornings at a + Puppet-Show: That they attested their Principles by their _Patches_: + That an Audience would sit out [an [4]] Evening to hear a Dramatical + Performance written in a Language which they did not understand: That + Chairs and Flower-pots were introduced as Actors upon the _British_ + Stage: That a promiscuous Assembly of Men and Women were allowed to + meet at Midnight in Masques within the Verge of the Court; with many + Improbabilities of the like Nature. We must therefore, in these and + the like Cases, suppose that these remote Hints and Allusions aimed at + some certain Follies which were then in Vogue, and which at present we + have not any Notion of. We may guess by several Passages in the + _Speculations_, that there were Writers who endeavoured to detract + from the Works of this Author; but as nothing of this nature is come + down to us, we cannot guess at any Objections that could be made to + his Paper. If we consider his Style with that Indulgence which we must + shew to old _English_ Writers, or if we look into the Variety of his + Subjects, with those several Critical Dissertations, Moral Reflections, + +The following Part of the Paragraph is so much to my Advantage, and +beyond any thing I can pretend to, that I hope my Reader will excuse me +for not inserting it. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Swift.] + + +[Footnote 2: In his 'Principia', published 1687, Newton says this to +show that the nuclei of Comets must consist of solid matter.] + + +[Footnote 3: a] + + +[Footnote 4: a whole] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 102. Wednesday, June 27, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Lusus animo debent aliquando dari, + Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat sibi.' + + Phædr. + + +I do not know whether to call the following Letter a Satyr upon Coquets, +or a Representation of their several fantastical Accomplishments, or +what other Title to give it; but as it is I shall communicate it to the +Publick. It will sufficiently explain its own Intentions, so that I +shall give it my Reader at Length, without either Preface or Postscript. + + + _Mr._ SPECTATOR, + + 'Women are armed with Fans as Men with Swords, and sometimes do more + Execution with them. To the end therefore that Ladies may be entire + Mistresses of the Weapon which they bear, I have erected an Academy + for the training up of young Women in the _Exercise of the Fan_, + according to the most fashionable Airs and Motions that are now + practis'd at Court. The Ladies who _carry_ Fans under me are drawn up + twice a-day in my great Hall, where they are instructed in the Use of + their Arms, and _exercised_ by the following Words of Command, + + _Handle your Fans, + Unfurl your fans. + Discharge your Fans, + Ground your Fans, + Recover your Fans, + Flutter your Fans._ + + By the right Observation of these few plain Words of Command, a Woman + of a tolerable Genius, [who [1]] will apply herself diligently to her + Exercise for the Space of but one half Year, shall be able to give her + Fan all the Graces that can possibly enter into that little modish + Machine. + + But to the end that my Readers may form to themselves a right Notion + of this _Exercise_, I beg leave to explain it to them in all its + Parts. When my Female Regiment is drawn up in Array, with every one + her Weapon in her Hand, upon my giving the Word to _handle their + Fans_, each of them shakes her Fan at me with a Smile, then gives her + Right-hand Woman a Tap upon the Shoulder, then presses her Lips with + the Extremity of her Fan, then lets her Arms fall in an easy Motion, + and stands in a Readiness to receive the next Word of Command. All + this is done with a close Fan, and is generally learned in the first + Week. + + The next Motion is that of _unfurling the Fan_, in which [are [2]] + comprehended several little Flirts and Vibrations, as also gradual and + deliberate Openings, with many voluntary Fallings asunder in the Fan + itself, that are seldom learned under a Month's Practice. This Part of + the _Exercise_ pleases the Spectators more than any other, as it + discovers on a sudden an infinite Number of _Cupids_, [Garlands,] + Altars, Birds, Beasts, Rainbows, and the like agreeable Figures, that + display themselves to View, whilst every one in the Regiment holds a + Picture in her Hand. + + Upon my giving the Word to _discharge their Fans_, they give one + general Crack that may be heard at a considerable distance when the + Wind sits fair. This is one of the most difficult Parts of the + _Exercise_; but I have several Ladies with me, who at their first + Entrance could not give a Pop loud enough to be heard at the further + end of a Room, who can now _discharge a Fan_ in such a manner, that it + shall make a Report like a Pocket-Pistol. I have likewise taken care + (in order to hinder young Women from letting off their Fans in wrong + Places or unsuitable Occasions) to shew upon what Subject the Crack of + a Fan may come in properly: I have likewise invented a Fan, with which + a Girl of Sixteen, by the help of a little Wind which is inclosed + about one of the largest Sticks, can make as loud a Crack as a Woman + of Fifty with an ordinary Fan. + + When the Fans are thus _discharged_, the Word of Command in course is + to _ground their Fans_. This teaches a Lady to quit her Fan gracefully + when she throws it aside in order to take up a Pack of Cards, adjust a + Curl of Hair, replace a falling Pin, or apply her self to any other + Matter of Importance. This Part of the _Exercise_, as it only consists + in tossing a Fan with an Air upon a long Table (which stands by for + that Purpose) may be learned in two Days Time as well as in a + Twelvemonth. + + When my Female Regiment is thus disarmed, I generally let them walk + about the Room for some Time; when on a sudden (like Ladies that look + upon their Watches after a long Visit) they all of them hasten to + their Arms, catch them up in a Hurry, and place themselves in their + proper Stations upon my calling out _Recover your Fans_. This Part of + the _Exercise_ is not difficult, provided a Woman applies her Thoughts + to it. + + The _Fluttering of the Fan_ is the last, and indeed the Master-piece + of the whole _Exercise_; but if a Lady does not mis-spend her Time, + she may make herself Mistress of it in three Months. I generally lay + aside the Dog-days and the hot Time of the Summer for the teaching + this Part of the _Exercise_; for as soon as ever I pronounce _Flutter + your Fans_, the Place is fill'd with so many Zephyrs and gentle + Breezes as are very refreshing in that Season of the Year, tho' they + might be dangerous to Ladies of a tender Constitution in any other. + + There is an infinite Variety of Motions to be made use of in the + _Flutter of a Fan_. There is the angry Flutter, the modest Flutter, + the timorous Flutter, the confused Flutter, the merry Flutter, and the + amorous Flutter. Not to be tedious, there is scarce any Emotion in the + Mind [which [3]] does not produce a suitable Agitation in the Fan; + insomuch, that if I only see the Fan of a disciplin'd Lady, I know + very well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a Fan so + very angry, that it would have been dangerous for the absent Lover + [who [3]] provoked it to have come within the Wind of it; and at other + times so very languishing, that I have been glad for the Lady's sake + the Lover was at a sufficient Distance from it. I need not add, that a + Fan is either a Prude or Coquet according to the Nature of the Person + [who [3]] bears it. To conclude my Letter, I must acquaint you that I + have from my own Observations compiled a little Treatise for the use + of my Scholars, entitled _The Passions of the Fan_; which I will + communicate to you, if you think it may be of use to the Publick. I + shall have a general Review on _Thursday_ next; to which you shall be + very welcome if you will honour it with your Presence. _I am_, &c. + + _P. S._ I teach young Gentlemen the whole Art of Gallanting a Fan.' + + _N. B._ I have several little plain Fans made for this Use, to avoid + Expence.' + + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: is] + + +[Footnotes 3: that] + + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 103. Thursday, June 28, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Sibi quivis + Speret idem frusta sudet frustraque laboret + Ausus idem ...' + + Hor. + + +My Friend the Divine having been used with Words of Complaisance (which +he thinks could be properly applied to no one living, and I think could +be only spoken of him, and that in his Absence) was so extreamly +offended with the excessive way of speaking Civilities among us, that he +made a Discourse against it at the Club; which he concluded with this +Remark, That he had not heard one Compliment made in our Society since +its Commencement. Every one was pleased with his Conclusion; and as each +knew his good Will to the rest, he was convinced that the many +Professions of Kindness and Service, which we ordinarily meet with, are +not natural where the Heart is well inclined; but are a Prostitution of +Speech, seldom intended to mean Any Part of what they express, never to +mean All they express. Our Reverend Friend, upon this Topick, pointed to +us two or three Paragraphs on this Subject in the first Sermon of the +first Volume of the late Arch-Bishop's Posthumous Works. [1] I do not +know that I ever read any thing that pleased me more, and as it is the +Praise of _Longinus_, that he Speaks of the Sublime in a Style suitable +to it, so one may say of this Author upon Sincerity, that he abhors any +Pomp of Rhetorick on this Occasion, and treats it with a more than +ordinary Simplicity, at once to be a Preacher and an Example. With what +Command of himself does he lay before us, in the Language and Temper of +his Profession, a Fault, which by the least Liberty and Warmth of +Expression would be the most lively Wit and Satyr? But his Heart was +better disposed, and the good Man chastised the great Wit in such a +manner, that he was able to speak as follows. + + '... Amongst too many other Instances of the great Corruption and + Degeneracy of the Age wherein we live, the great and general Want of + Sincerity in Conversation is none of the least. The World is grown so + full of Dissimulation and Compliment, that Mens Words are hardly any + Signification of their Thoughts; and if any Man measure his Words by + his Heart, and speak as he thinks, and do not express more Kindness to + every Man, than Men usually have for any Man, he can hardly escape the + Censure of want of Breeding. The old _English_ Plainness and + Sincerity, that generous Integrity of Nature, and Honesty of + Disposition, which always argues true Greatness of Mind and is usually + accompanied with undaunted Courage and Resolution, is in a great + measure lost amongst us: There hath been a long Endeavour to transform + us into Foreign Manners and Fashions, and to bring us to a servile + Imitation of none of the best of our Neighbours in some of the worst + of their Qualities. The Dialect of Conversation is now-a-days so + swelled with Vanity and Compliment, and so surfeited (as I may say) of + Expressions of Kindness and Respect, that if a Man that lived an Age + or two ago should return into the World again he would really want a + Dictionary to help him to understand his own Language, and to know the + true intrinsick Value of the Phrase in Fashion, and would hardly at + first believe at what a low Rate the highest Strains and Expressions + of Kindness imaginable do commonly pass in current Payment; and when + he should come to understand it, it would be a great while before he + could bring himself with a good Countenance and a good Conscience to + converse with Men upon equal Terms, and in their own way. + + And in truth it is hard to say, whether it should more provoke our + Contempt or our Pity, to hear what solemn Expressions of Respect and + Kindness will pass between Men, almost upon no Occasion; how great + Honour and Esteem they will declare for one whom perhaps they never + saw before, and how entirely they are all on the sudden devoted to his + Service and Interest, for no Reason; how infinitely and eternally + obliged to him, for no Benefit; and how extreamly they will be + concerned for him, yea and afflicted too, for no Cause. I know it is + said, in Justification of this hollow kind of Conversation, that there + is no Harm, no real Deceit in Compliment, but the Matter is well + enough, so long as we understand one another; _et Verba valent ut + Nummi: Words are like Money_; and when the current Value of them is + generally understood, no Man is cheated by them. This is something, if + such Words were any thing; but being brought into the Account, they + are meer Cyphers. However, it is still a just Matter of Complaint, + that Sincerity and Plainness are out of Fashion, and that our Language + is running into a Lie; that Men have almost quite perverted the use of + Speech, and made Words to signifie nothing, that the greatest part of + the Conversation of Mankind is little else but driving a Trade of + Dissimulation; insomuch that it would make a Man heartily sick and + weary of the World, to see the little Sincerity that is in Use and + Practice among Men. + + When the Vice is placed in this contemptible Light, he argues + unanswerably against it, in Words and Thoughts so natural, that any + Man who reads them would imagine he himself could have been the Author + of them. + + If the Show of any thing be good for any thing, I am sure Sincerity is + better: for why does any Man dissemble, or seem to be that which he is + not, but because he thinks it good to have such a Quality as he + pretends to? For to counterfeit and dissemble, is to put on the + Appearance of some real Excellency. Now the best way in the World to + seem to be any thing, is really to be what he would seem to be. + Besides, that it is many times as troublesome to make good the + Pretence of a good Quality, as to have it; and if a Man have it not, + it is ten to one but he is discovered to want it; and then all his + Pains and Labour to seem to have it, is lost. + +In another Part of the same Discourse he goes on to shew, that all +Artifice must naturally tend to the Disappointment of him that practises +it. + + 'Whatsoever Convenience may be thought to be in Falshood and + Dissimulation, it is soon over; but the Inconvenience of it is + perpetual, because it brings a Man under an everlasting Jealousie and + Suspicion, so that he is not believed when he speaks Truth, nor + trusted when perhaps he means honestly. When a Man hath once forfeited + the Reputation of his Integrity, he is set fast, and nothing will then + serve his Turn, neither Truth nor Falshood.' + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: This sermon 'on Sincerity,' from John i. 47, is the last +Tillotson preached. He preached it in 1694, on the 29th of July, and +died, in that year, on the 24th of November, at the age of 64. John +Tillotson was the son of a Yorkshire clothier, and was made Archbishop +of Canterbury in 1691, on the deprivation of William Sancroft for his +refusal to take the oaths to William and Mary.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 104. Friday, June 29, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Qualis equos Threissa fatigat + Harpalyce ...' + + Virg. + + +It would be a noble Improvement, or rather a Recovery of what we call +good Breeding, if nothing were to pass amongst us for agreeable which +was the least Transgression against that Rule of Life called Decorum, or +a Regard to Decency. This would command the Respect of Mankind, because +it carries in it Deference to their good Opinion, as Humility lodged in +a worthy Mind is always attended with a certain Homage, which no haughty +Soul, with all the Arts imaginable, will ever be able to purchase. +_Tully_ says, Virtue and Decency are so nearly related, that it is +difficult to separate them from each other but in our Imagination. As +the Beauty of the Body always accompanies the Health of it, so certainly +is Decency concomitant to Virtue: As Beauty of Body, with an agreeable +Carriage, pleases the Eye, and that Pleasure consists in that we observe +all the Parts with a certain Elegance are proportioned to each other; so +does Decency of Behaviour which appears in our Lives obtain the +Approbation of all with whom we converse, from the Order, Consistency, +and Moderation of our Words and Actions. This flows from the Reverence +we bear towards every good Man, and to the World in general; for to be +negligent of what any one thinks of you, does not only shew you arrogant +but abandoned. In all these Considerations we are to distinguish how one +Virtue differs from another; As it is the Part of Justice never to do +Violence, it is of Modesty never to commit Offence. In this last +Particular lies the whole Force of what is called Decency; to this +purpose that excellent Moralist above-mentioned talks of Decency; but +this Quality is more easily comprehended by an ordinary Capacity, than +expressed with all his Eloquence. This Decency of Behaviour is generally +transgressed among all Orders of Men; nay, the very Women, tho' +themselves created as it were for Ornament, are often very much mistaken +in this ornamental Part of Life. It would methinks be a short Rule for +Behaviour, if every young Lady in her Dress, Words, and Actions were +only to recommend her self as a Sister, Daughter, or Wife, and make +herself the more esteemed in one of those Characters. The Care of +themselves, with regard to the Families in which Women are born, is the +best Motive for their being courted to come into the Alliance of other +Houses. Nothing can promote this End more than a strict Preservation of +Decency. I should be glad if a certain Equestrian Order of Ladies, some +of whom one meets in an Evening at every Outlet of the Town, would take +this Subject into their serious Consideration; In order thereunto the +following Letter may not be wholly unworthy their Perusal. [1] + + _Mr._ SPECTATOR, + + 'Going lately to take the Air in one of the most beautiful Evenings + this Season has produced, as I was admiring the Serenity of the Sky, + the lively Colours of the Fields, and the Variety of the Landskip + every Way around me, my Eyes were suddenly called off from these + inanimate Objects by a little party of Horsemen I saw passing the + Road. The greater Part of them escaped my particular Observation, by + reason that my whole Attention was fixed on a very fair Youth who rode + in the midst of them, and seemed to have been dressed by some + Description in a Romance. His Features, Complexion, and Habit had a + remarkable Effeminacy, and a certain languishing Vanity appeared in + his Air: His Hair, well curl'd and powder'd, hung to a considerable + Length on his Shoulders, and was wantonly ty'd, as if by the Hands of + his Mistress, in a Scarlet Ribbon, which played like a Streamer behind + him: He had a Coat and Wastecoat of blue Camlet trimm'd and + embroidered with Silver; a Cravat of the finest Lace; and wore, in a + smart Cock, a little Beaver Hat edged with Silver, and made more + sprightly by a Feather. His Horse too, which was a Pacer, was adorned + after the same airy Manner, and seemed to share in the Vanity of the + Rider. As I was pitying the Luxury of this young Person, who appeared + to me to have been educated only as an Object of Sight, I perceived on + my nearer Approach, and as I turned my Eyes downward, a Part of the + Equipage I had not observed before, which was a Petticoat of the same + with the Coat and Wastecoat. After this Discovery, I looked again on + the Face of the fair _Amazon_ who had thus deceived me, and thought + those Features which had before offended me by their Softness, were + now strengthened into as improper a Boldness; and tho' her Eyes Nose + and Mouth seemed to be formed with perfect Symmetry, I am not certain + whether she, who in Appearance was a very handsome Youth, may not be + in Reality a very indifferent Woman. + + There is an Objection which naturally presents it self against these + occasional Perplexities and Mixtures of Dress, which is, that they + seem to break in upon that Propriety and Distinction of Appearance in + which the Beauty of different Characters is preserved; and if they + should be more frequent than they are at present, would look like + turning our publick Assemblies into a general Masquerade. The Model of + this _Amazonian_ Hunting-Habit for Ladies, was, as I take it, first + imported from _France_, and well enough expresses the Gaiety of a + People who are taught to do any thing so it be with an Assurance; but + I cannot help thinking it sits awkwardly yet on our _English_ Modesty. + The Petticoat is a kind of Incumbrance upon it, and if the _Amazons_ + should think fit to go on in this Plunder of our Sex's Ornaments, they + ought to add to their Spoils, and compleat their Triumph over us, by + wearing the Breeches. + + If it be natural to contract insensibly the Manners of those we + imitate, the Ladies who are pleased with assuming our Dresses will do + us more Honour than we deserve, but they will do it at their own + Expence. Why should the lovely _Camilla_ deceive us in more Shapes + than her own, and affect to be represented in her Picture with a Gun + and a Spaniel, while her elder Brother, the Heir of a worthy Family, + is drawn in Silks like his Sister? The Dress and Air of a Man are not + well to be divided; and those who would not be content with the + Latter, ought never to think of assuming the Former. There is so large + a portion of natural Agreeableness among the Fair Sex of our Island, + that they seem betrayed into these romantick Habits without having the + same Occasion for them with their Inventors: All that needs to be + desired of them is, that they would _be themselves_, that is, what + Nature designed them; and to see their Mistake when they depart from + this, let them look upon a Man who affects the Softness and Effeminacy + of a Woman, to learn how their Sex must appear to us, when approaching + to the Resemblance of a Man. + + _I am_, SIR, + _Your most humble Servant_. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: The letter is by John Hughes.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 105. Saturday, June 30, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Id arbitror + Adprime in vita esse utile, ne quid nimis.' + + Ter. And. + + +My Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB values himself very much upon what he calls +the Knowledge of Mankind, which has cost him many Disasters in his +Youth; for WILL. reckons every Misfortune that he has met with among the +Women, and every Rencounter among the Men, as Parts of his Education, +and fancies he should never have been the Man he is, had not he broke +Windows, knocked down Constables, disturbed honest People with his +Midnight Serenades, and beat up a lewd Woman's Quarters, when he was a +young Fellow. The engaging in Adventures of this Nature WILL. calls the +studying of Mankind; and terms this Knowledge of the Town, the Knowledge +of the World. WILL. ingenuously confesses, that for half his Life his +Head ached every Morning with reading of Men over-night; and at present +comforts himself under certain Pains which he endures from time to time, +that without them he could not have been acquainted with the Gallantries +of the Age. This WILL. looks upon as the Learning of a Gentleman, and +regards all other kinds of Science as the Accomplishments of one whom he +calls a Scholar, a Bookish Man, or a Philosopher. + +For these Reasons WILL. shines in mixt Company, where he has the +Discretion not to go out of his Depth, and has often a certain way of +making his real Ignorance appear a seeming one. Our Club however has +frequently caught him tripping, at which times they never spare him. For +as WILL. often insults us with the Knowledge of the Town, we sometimes +take our Revenge upon him by our Knowledge [of [1]] Books. + +He was last Week producing two or three Letters which he writ in his +Youth to a Coquet Lady. The Raillery of them was natural, and well +enough for a mere Man of the Town; but, very unluckily, several of the +Words were wrong spelt. WILL. laught this off at first as well as he +could; but finding himself pushed on all sides, and especially by the +_Templar_, he told us, with a little Passion, that he never liked +Pedantry in Spelling, and that he spelt like a Gentleman, and not like a +Scholar: Upon this WILL. had recourse to his old Topick of shewing the +narrow-Spiritedness, the Pride, and Ignorance of Pedants; which he +carried so far, that upon my retiring to my Lodgings, I could not +forbear throwing together such Reflections as occurred to me upon that +Subject. + +A Man [who [2]] has been brought up among Books, and is able to talk of +nothing else, is a very indifferent Companion, and what we call a +Pedant. But, methinks, we should enlarge the Title, and give it every +one that does not know how to think out of his Profession and particular +way of Life. + +What is a greater Pedant than a meer Man of the Town? Bar him the +Play-houses, a Catalogue of the reigning Beauties, and an Account of a +few fashionable Distempers that have befallen him, and you strike him +dumb. How many a pretty Gentleman's Knowledge lies all within the Verge +of the Court? He will tell you the Names of the principal Favourites, +repeat the shrewd Sayings of a Man of Quality, whisper an Intreague that +is not yet blown upon by common Fame; or, if the Sphere of his +Observations is a little larger than ordinary, will perhaps enter into +all the Incidents, Turns, and Revolutions in a Game of Ombre. When he +has gone thus far he has shown you the whole Circle of his +Accomplishments, his Parts are drained, and he is disabled from any +further Conversation. What are these but rank Pedants? and yet these are +the Men [who [3]] value themselves most on their Exemption from the +Pedantry of Colleges. + +I might here mention the Military Pedant who always talks in a Camp, and +is storming Towns, making Lodgments and fighting Battles from one end of +the Year to the other. Every thing he speaks smells of Gunpowder; if you +take away his Artillery from him, he has not a Word to say for himself. +I might likewise mention the Law-Pedant, that is perpetually putting +Cases, repeating the Transactions of _Westminster-Hall_, wrangling with +you upon the most indifferent Circumstances of Life, and not to be +convinced of the Distance of a Place, or of the most trivial Point in +Conversation, but by dint of Argument. The State-Pedant is wrapt up in +News, and lost in Politicks. If you mention either of the Kings of +_Spain_ or _Poland_, he talks very notably; but if you go out of the +_Gazette_, you drop him. In short, a meer Courtier, a meer Soldier, a +meer Scholar, a meer any thing, is an insipid Pedantick Character, and +equally ridiculous. + +Of all the Species of Pedants, which I have [mentioned [4]], the +Book-Pedant is much the most supportable; he has at least an exercised +Understanding, and a Head which is full though confused, so that a Man +who converses with him may often receive from him hints of things that +are worth knowing, and what he may possibly turn to his own Advantage, +tho' they are of little Use to the Owner. The worst kind of Pedants +among Learned Men, are such as are naturally endued with a very small +Share of common Sense, and have read a great number of Books without +Taste or Distinction. + +The Truth of it is, Learning, like Travelling, and all other Methods of +Improvement, as it finishes good Sense, so it makes a silly Man ten +thousand times more insufferable, by supplying variety of Matter to his +Impertinence, and giving him an Opportunity of abounding in Absurdities. + +Shallow Pedants cry up one another much more than Men of solid and +useful Learning. To read the Titles they give an Editor, or Collator of +a Manuscript, you would take him for the Glory of the Commonwealth of +Letters, and the Wonder of his Age, when perhaps upon Examination you +find that he has only Rectify'd a _Greek_ Particle, or laid out a whole +Sentence in proper Commas. + +They are obliged indeed to be thus lavish of their Praises, that they +may keep one another in Countenance; and it is no wonder if a great deal +of Knowledge, which is not capable of making a Man wise, has a natural +Tendency to make him Vain and Arrogant. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: in] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: above mentioned] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 106. Monday, July 2, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Hinc tibi Copia + Manabit ad plenum, benigno + Ruris honorum opulenta cornu.' + + Hor. + + +Having often received an Invitation from my Friend Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY +to pass away a Month with him in the Country, I last Week accompanied +him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his Country-house, +where I intend to form several of my ensuing Speculations. Sir ROGER, +who is very well acquainted with my Humour, lets me rise and go to Bed +when I please, dine at his own Table or in my Chamber as I think fit, +sit still and say nothing without bidding me be merry. When the +Gentlemen of the Country come to see him, he only shews me at a +Distance: As I have been walking in his Fields I have observed them +stealing a Sight of me over an Hedge, and have heard the Knight desiring +them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at. + +I am the more at Ease in Sir ROGER'S Family, because it consists of +sober and staid Persons; for as the Knight is the best Master in the +World, he seldom changes his Servants; and as he is beloved by all about +him, his Servants never care for leaving him; by this means his +Domesticks are all in Years, and grown old with their Master. You would +take his Valet de Chambre for his Brother, his Butler is grey-headed, +his Groom is one of the gravest Men that I have ever seen, and his +Coachman has the Looks of a Privy-Counsellor. You see the Goodness of +the Master even in the old House-dog, and in a grey Pad that is kept in +the Stable with great Care and Tenderness out of Regard to his past +Services, tho' he has been useless for several Years. + +I could not but observe with a great deal of Pleasure the Joy that +appeared in the Countenances of these ancient Domesticks upon my +Friend's Arrival at his Country-Seat. Some of them could not refrain +from Tears at the Sight of their old Master; every one of them press'd +forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not +employed. At the same time the good old Knight, with a Mixture of the +Father and the Master of the Family, tempered the Enquiries after his +own Affairs with several kind Questions relating to themselves. This +Humanity and good Nature engages every Body to him, so that when he is +pleasant upon any of them, all his Family are in good Humour, and none +so much as the Person whom he diverts himself with: On the contrary, if +he coughs, or betrays any Infirmity of old Age, it is easy for a +Stander-by to observe a secret Concern in the Looks of all his Servants. +[1] + +My worthy Friend has put me under the particular Care of his Butler, who +is a very prudent Man, and, as well as the rest of his Fellow-Servants, +wonderfully desirous of pleasing me, because they have often heard their +Master talk of me as of his particular Friend. + +My chief Companion, when Sir ROGER is diverting himself in the Woods or +the Fields, is a very venerable Man who is ever with Sir ROGER, and has +lived at his House in the Nature of a Chaplain above thirty Years. This +Gentleman is a Person of good Sense and some Learning, of a very regular +Life and obliging Conversation: He heartily loves Sir ROGER, and knows +that he is very much in the old Knight's Esteem, so that he lives in the +Family rather as a Relation than a Dependant. + +I have observed in several of my Papers, that my Friend Sir ROGER, +amidst all his good Qualities, is something of an Humourist; and that +his Virtues, as well as Imperfections, are as it were tinged by a +certain Extravagance, which makes them particularly _his_, and +distinguishes them from those of other Men. This Cast of Mind, as it is +generally very innocent in it self, so it renders his Conversation +highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same Degree of Sense and +Virtue would appear in their common and ordinary Colours. As I was +walking with him last Night, he asked me how I liked the good Man whom I +have just now mentioned? and without staying for my Answer told me, That +he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at his own Table; +for which Reason he desired a particular Friend of his at the University +to find him out a Clergyman rather of plain Sense than much Learning, of +a good Aspect, a clear Voice, a sociable Temper, and, if possible, a Man +that understood a little of Back-Gammon. + + My Friend, says Sir ROGER, found me out this Gentleman, who, besides + the Endowments [required [2]] of him, is, they tell me, a good + Scholar, tho' he does not shew it. I have given him the Parsonage of + the Parish; and because I know his Value have settled upon him a good + Annuity for Life. If he outlives me, he shall find that he was higher + in my Esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me + thirty Years; and tho' he does not know I have taken Notice of it, has + never in all that time asked anything of me for himself, tho' he is + every Day solliciting me for something in behalf of one or other of my + Tenants his Parishioners. There has not been a Law-suit in the Parish + since he has liv'd among them: If any Dispute arises they apply + themselves to him for the Decision; if they do not acquiesce in his + Judgment, which I think never happened above once or twice at most, + they appeal to me. At his first settling with me, I made him a Present + of all the good Sermons [which [3]] have been printed in + _English_, and only begg'd of him that every _Sunday_ he + would pronounce one of them in the Pulpit. Accordingly, he has + digested them into such a Series, that they follov one another + naturally, and make a continued System of practical Divinity. + +As Sir ROGER was going on in his Story, the Gentleman we were talking of +came up to us; and upon the Knight's asking him who preached to morrow +(for it was _Saturday_ Night) told us, the Bishop of St. _Asaph_ in the +Morning, and Dr. _South_ in the Afternoon. He then shewed us his List of +Preachers for the whole Year, where I saw with a great deal of Pleasure +Archbishop _Tillotson_, Bishop _Saunderson_, Doctor _Barrow_, Doctor +_Calamy_, [4] with several living Authors who have published Discourses +of Practical Divinity. I no sooner saw this venerable Man in the Pulpit, +but I very much approved of my Friend's insisting upon the +Qualifications of a good Aspect and a clear Voice; for I was so charmed +with the Gracefulness of his Figure and Delivery, as well as with the +Discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed any Time more to +my Satisfaction. A Sermon repeated after this Manner, is like the +Composition of a Poet in the Mouth of a graceful Actor. + +I could heartily wish that more of our Country Clergy would follow this +Example; and instead of wasting their Spirits in laborious Compositions +of their own, would endeavour after a handsome Elocution, and all those +other Talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater +Masters. This would not only be more easy to themselves, but more +edifying to the People. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Thomas Tyers in his 'Historical Essay on Mr. Addison' +(1783) first named Sir John Pakington, of Westwood, Worcestershire, as +the original of Sir Roger de Coverley. But there is no real parallel. +Sir John, as Mr. W. H. Wills has pointed out in his delightful annotated +collection of the Sir Roger de Coverley papers, was twice married, a +barrister, Recorder of the City of Worcester, and M. P. for his native +county, in every Parliament but one, from his majority till his death. + +The name of Roger of Coverley applied to a 'contre-danse' (i.e. a dance +in which partners stand in opposite rows) Anglicised Country-Dance, was +ascribed to the house of Calverley in Yorkshire, by an ingenious member +thereof, Ralph Thoresby, who has left a MS. account of the family +written in 1717. Mr. Thoresby has it that Sir Roger of Calverley in the +time of Richard I had a harper who was the composer of this tune; his +evidence being, apparently, that persons of the name of Harper had lands +in the neighbourhood of Calverley. Mr. W. Chappell, who repeats this +statement in his 'Popular Music of the Olden Time,' says that in a MS. +of the beginning of the last century, this tune is called 'Old Roger of +Coverlay for evermore. A Lancashire Hornpipe.' In the 'Dancing Master' +of 1696. it is called 'Roger of Coverly.' Mr. Chappell quotes also, in +illustration of the familiar knowledge of this tune and its name in +Addison's time, from 'the History of Robert Powell, the Puppet Showman +(1715),' that + + "upon the Preludis being ended, each party fell to bawling and calling + for particular tunes. The hobnail'd fellows, whose breeches and lungs + seem'd to be of the same leather, cried out for 'Cheshire Rounds, + Roger of Coverly'," &c.] + + +[Footnote 2: I required] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: Archbishop Tillotson's Sermons appeared in 14 volumes, +small 8vo, published at intervals; the first in 1671; the second in +1678; the third in 1682; the fourth in 1694; and the others after his +death in that year. Robert Sanderson, who died in 1663, was a friend of +Laud and chaplain to Charles I., who made him Regius Professor of +Divinity at Oxford. At the Restoration he was made Bishop of Lincoln. +His fame was high for piety and learning. The best edition of his +Sermons was the eighth, published in 1687: Thirty-six Sermons, with Life +by Izaak Walton. Isaac Barrow, Theologian and Mathematician, Cambridge +Professor and Master of Trinity, died in 1677. His Works were edited by +Archbishop Tillotson, and include Sermons that must have been very much +to the mind of Sir Roger de Coverley, 'Against Evil Speaking.' Edmund +Calamy, who died in 1666, was a Nonconformist, and one of the writers of +the Treatise against Episcopacy called, from the Initials of its +authors, Smeetymnuus, which Bishop Hall attacked and John Milton +defended. Calamy opposed the execution of Charles I. and aided in +bringing about the Restoration. He became chaplain to Charles II., but +the Act of Uniformity again made him a seceder. His name, added to the +other three, gives breadth to the suggestion of Sir Roger's orthodoxy. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 107. Tuesday, July 3, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Æsopo ingentem statuam posuere Attici, + Servumque collocârunt Æterna in Basi, + Patere honoris scirent ut Cuncti viam.' + + Phæd. + + +The Reception, manner of Attendance, undisturbed Freedom and Quiet, +which I meet with here in the Country, has confirm'd me in the Opinion I +always had, that the general Corruption of Manners in Servants is owing +to the Conduct of Masters. The Aspect of every one in the Family carries +so much Satisfaction, that it appears he knows the happy Lot which has +befallen him in being a Member of it. There is one Particular which I +have seldom seen but at Sir ROGER'S; it is usual in all other Places, +that Servants fly from the Parts of the House through which their Master +is passing; on the contrary, here they industriously place themselves in +his way; and it is on both Sides, as it were, understood as a Visit, +when the Servants appear without calling. This proceeds from the humane +and equal Temper of the Man of the House, who also perfectly well knows +how to enjoy a great Estate, with such Oeconomy as ever to be much +beforehand. This makes his own Mind untroubled, and consequently unapt +to vent peevish Expressions, or give passionate or inconsistent Orders +to those about him. Thus Respect and Love go together; and a certain +Chearfulness in Performance of their Duty is the particular Distinction +of the lower Part of this Family. When a Servant is called before his +Master, he does not come with an Expectation to hear himself rated for +some trivial Fault, threatned to be stripped, or used with any other +unbecoming Language, which mean Masters often give to worthy Servants; +but it is often to know, what Road he took that he came so readily back +according to Order; whether he passed by such a Ground, if the old Man +who rents it is in good Health: or whether he gave Sir ROGER'S Love to +him, or the like. + +A Man who preserves a Respect, founded on his Benevolence to his +Dependants, lives rather like a Prince than a Master in his Family; his +Orders are received as Favours, rather than Duties; and the Distinction +of approaching him is Part of the Reward for executing what is commanded +by him. + +There is another Circumstance in which my Friend excells in his +Management, which is the Manner of rewarding his Servants: He has ever +been of Opinion, that giving his cast Cloaths to be worn by Valets has a +very ill Effect upon little Minds, and creates a Silly Sense of Equality +between the Parties, in Persons affected only with outward things. I +have heard him often pleasant on this Occasion, and describe a young +Gentleman abusing his Man in that Coat, which a Month or two before was +the most pleasing Distinction he was conscious of in himself. He would +turn his Discourse still more pleasantly upon the Ladies Bounties of +this kind; and I have heard him say he knew a fine Woman, who +distributed Rewards and punishments in giving becoming or unbecoming +Dresses to her Maids. + +But my good Friend is above these little Instances of Goodwill, in +bestowing only Trifles on his Servants; a good Servant to him is sure of +having it in his Choice very soon of being no Servant at all. As I +before observed, he is so good an Husband, and knows so thoroughly that +the Skill of the Purse is the Cardinal Virtue of this Life; I say, he +knows so well that Frugality is the Support of Generosity, that he can +often spare a large Fine when a Tenement falls, and give that Settlement +to a good Servant who has a Mind to go into the World, or make a +Stranger pay the Fine to that Servant, for his more comfortable +Maintenance, if he stays in his Service. + +A Man of Honour and Generosity considers, it would be miserable to +himself to have no Will but that of another, tho' it were of the best +Person breathing, and for that Reason goes on as fast as he is able to +put his Servants into independent Livelihoods. The greatest Part of Sir +ROGER'S Estate is tenanted by Persons who have served himself or his +Ancestors. It was to me extreamly pleasant to observe the Visitants from +several Parts to welcome his Arrival into the Country: and all the +Difference that I could take notice of between the late Servants who +came to see him, and those who staid in the Family, was that these +latter were looked upon as finer Gentlemen and better Courtiers. + +This Manumission and placing them in a way of Livelihood, I look upon as +only what is due to a good Servant, which Encouragement will make his +Successor be as diligent, as humble, and as ready as he was. There is +something wonderful in the Narrowness of those Minds, which can be +pleased, and be barren of Bounty to those who please them. + +One might, on this Occasion, recount the Sense that Great Persons in all +Ages have had of the Merit of their Dependants, and the Heroick Services +which Men have done their Masters in the Extremity of their Fortunes; +and shewn to their undone Patrons, that Fortune was all the Difference +between them; but as I design this my Speculation only [as a [1]] gentle +Admonition to thankless Masters, I shall not go out of the Occurrences +of Common Life, but assert it as a general Observation, that I never +saw, but in Sir ROGER'S Family, and one or two more, good Servants +treated as they ought to be. Sir ROGER'S Kindness extends to their +Children's Children, and this very Morning he sent his Coachman's +Grandson to Prentice. I shall conclude this Paper with an Account of a +Picture in his Gallery, where there are many which will deserve my +future Observation. + +At the very upper end of this handsome Structure I saw the Portraiture +of two young Men standing in a River, the one naked, the other in a +Livery. The Person supported seemed half dead, but still so much alive +as to shew in his Face exquisite Joy and Love towards the other. I +thought the fainting Figure resembled my Friend Sir ROGER; and looking +at the Butler, who stood by me, for an Account of it, he informed me +that the Person in the Livery was a Servant of Sir ROGER'S, who stood on +the Shore while his Master was swimming, and observing him taken with +some sudden Illness, and sink under Water, jumped in and saved him. He +told me Sir ROGER took off the Dress he was in as soon as he came home, +and by a great Bounty at that time, followed by his Favour ever since, +had made him Master of that pretty Seat which we saw at a distance as we +came to this House. I remember'd indeed Sir ROGER said there lived a +very worthy Gentleman, to whom he was highly obliged, without mentioning +anything further. Upon my looking a little dissatisfy'd at some Part of +the Picture my Attendant informed me that it was against Sir ROGER'S +Will, and at the earnest Request of the Gentleman himself, that he was +drawn in the Habit in which he had saved his Master. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: a] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 108. Wednesday, July 4, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Gratis anhelans, multa agendo nihil agens.' + + Phæd. + + +As I was Yesterday Morning walking with Sir ROGER before his House, a +Country-Fellow brought him a huge Fish, which, he told him, Mr. _William +Wimble_ had caught that very Morning; and that he presented it, with his +Service to him, and intended to come and dine with him. At the same Time +he delivered a Letter, which my Friend read to me as soon as the +Messenger left him. + + _Sir_ ROGER, + + 'I desire you to accept of a Jack, which is the best I have caught + this Season. I intend to come and stay with you a Week, and see how + the Perch bite in the _Black River_. I observed with some Concern, the + last time I saw you upon the Bowling-Green, that your Whip wanted a + Lash to it; I will bring half a dozen with me that I twisted last + Week, which I hope will serve you all the Time you are in the Country. + I have not been out of the Saddle for six Days last past, having been + at _Eaton_ with Sir _John's_ eldest Son. He takes to his Learning + hugely. I am, + SIR, Your Humble Servant, + Will. Wimble. [1]' + +This extraordinary Letter, and Message that accompanied it, made me very +curious to know the Character and Quality of the Gentleman who sent +them; which I found to be as follows. _Will. Wimble_ is younger Brother +to a Baronet, and descended of the ancient Family of the _Wimbles_. He +is now between Forty and Fifty; but being bred to no Business and born +to no Estate, he generally lives with his elder Brother as +Superintendant of his Game. He hunts a Pack of Dogs better than any Man +in the Country, and is very famous for finding out a Hare. He is +extreamly well versed in all the little Handicrafts of an idle Man: He +makes a _May-fly_ to a Miracle; and furnishes the whole Country with +Angle-Rods. As he is a good-natur'd officious Fellow, and very much +esteem'd upon account of his Family, he is a welcome Guest at every +House, and keeps up a good Correspondence among all the Gentlemen about +him. He carries a Tulip-root in his Pocket from one to another, or +exchanges a Poppy between a Couple of Friends that live perhaps in the +opposite Sides of the County. _Will_. is a particular Favourite of all +the young Heirs, whom he frequently obliges with a Net that he has +weaved, or a Setting-dog that he has _made_ himself: He now and then +presents a Pair of Garters of his own knitting to their Mothers or +Sisters; and raises a great deal of Mirth among them, by enquiring as +often as he meets them _how they wear_? These Gentleman-like +Manufactures and obliging little Humours, make _Will_. the Darling of +the Country. + +Sir ROGER was proceeding in the Character of him, when we saw him make +up to us with two or three Hazle-Twigs in his Hand that he had cut in +Sir ROGER'S Woods, as he came through them, in his Way to the House. I +was very much pleased to observe on one Side the hearty and sincere +Welcome with which Sir ROGER received him, and on the other, the secret +Joy which his Guest discover'd at Sight of the good old Knight. After +the first Salutes were over, _Will._ desired Sir ROGER to lend him one +of his Servants to carry a Set of Shuttlecocks he had with him in a +little Box to a Lady that lived about a Mile off, to whom it seems he +had promis'd such a Present for above this half Year. Sir ROGER'S Back +was no sooner turned but honest _Will._ [began [2]] to tell me of a +large Cock-Pheasant that he had sprung in one of the neighbouring Woods, +with two or three other Adventures of the same Nature. Odd and uncommon +Characters are the Game that I look for, and most delight in; for which +Reason I was as much pleased with the Novelty of the Person that talked +to me, as he could be for his Life with the springing of a Pheasant, and +therefore listned to him with more than ordinary Attention. + +In the midst of his Discourse the Bell rung to Dinner, where the +Gentleman I have been speaking of had the Pleasure of seeing the huge +Jack, he had caught, served up for the first Dish in a most sumptuous +Manner. Upon our sitting down to it he gave us a long Account how he had +hooked it, played with it, foiled it, and at length drew it out upon the +Bank, with several other Particulars that lasted all the first Course. A +Dish of Wild-fowl that came afterwards furnished Conversation for the +rest of the Dinner, which concluded with a late Invention of _Will's_ +for improving the Quail-Pipe. + +Upon withdrawing into my Room after Dinner, I was secretly touched with +Compassion towards the honest Gentleman that had dined with us; and +could not but consider with a great deal of Concern, how so good an +Heart and such busy Hands were wholly employed in Trifles; that so much +Humanity should be so little beneficial to others, and so much Industry +so little advantageous to himself. The same Temper of Mind and +Application to Affairs might have recommended him to the publick Esteem, +and have raised his Fortune in another Station of Life. What Good to his +Country or himself might not a Trader or Merchant have done with such +useful tho' ordinary Qualifications? + +_Will. Wimble's_ is the Case of many a younger Brother of a great +Family, who had rather see their Children starve like Gentlemen, than +thrive in a Trade or Profession that is beneath their Quality. This +Humour fills several Parts of _Europe_ with Pride and Beggary. It is the +Happiness of a Trading Nation, like ours, that the younger Sons, tho' +uncapabie of any liberal Art or Profession, may be placed in such a Way +of Life, as may perhaps enable them to vie with the best of their +Family: Accordingly we find several Citizens that were launched into the +World with narrow Fortunes, rising by an honest Industry to greater +Estates than those of their elder Brothers. It is not improbable but +_Will_, was formerly tried at Divinity, Law, or Physick; and that +finding his Genius did not lie that Way, his Parents gave him up at +length to his own Inventions. But certainly, however improper he might +have been for Studies of a higher Nature, he was perfectly well turned +for the Occupations of Trade and Commerce. As I think this is a Point +which cannot be too much inculcated, I shall desire my Reader to compare +what I have here written with what I have said in my Twenty first +Speculation. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Will Wimble has been identified with Mr. Thomas Morecraft, +younger son of a Yorkshire baronet. Mr. Morecraft in his early life +became known to Steele, by whom he was introduced to Addison. He +received help from Addison, and, after his death, went to Dublin, where +he died in 1741 at the house of his friend, the Bishop of Kildare. There +is no ground for this or any other attempt to find living persons in the +creations of the 'Spectator', although, because lifelike, they were, in +the usual way, attributed by readers to this or that individual, and so +gave occasion for the statement of Pudgell in the Preface to his +'Theophrastus' that + + 'most of the characters in the Spectator were conspicuously known.' + +The only original of Will Wimble, as Mr. Wills has pointed out, is Mr. +Thomas Gules of No. 256 in the 'Tatler'.] + + +[Footnote 2: begun] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 109. Thursday, July 5, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Abnormis sapiens ...' + + Hor. + + +I was this Morning walking in the Gallery, when Sir ROGER entered at the +End opposite to me, and advancing towards me, said, he was glad to meet +me among his Relations the DE COVERLEYS, and hoped I liked the +Conversation of so much good Company, who were as silent as myself. I +knew he alluded to the Pictures, and as he is a Gentleman who does not a +little value himself upon his ancient Descent, I expected he would give +me some Account of them. We were now arrived at the upper End of the +Gallery, when the Knight faced towards one of the Pictures, and as we +stood before it, he entered into the Matter, after his blunt way of +saying Things, as they occur to his Imagination, without regular +Introduction, or Care to preserve the Appearance of Chain of Thought. + + 'It is, said he, worth while to consider the Force of Dress; and how + the Persons of one Age differ from those of another, merely by that + only. One may observe also, that the general Fashion of one Age has + been followed by one particular Set of People in another, and by them + preserved from one Generation to another. Thus the vast jetting Coat + and small Bonnet, which was the Habit in _Harry_ the Seventh's Time, + is kept on in the Yeomen of the Guard; not without a good and politick + View, because they look a Foot taller, and a Foot and an half broader: + Besides that the Cap leaves the Face expanded, and consequently more + terrible, and fitter to stand at the Entrance of Palaces. + + This Predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after this manner, and + his Cheeks would be no larger than mine, were he in a Hat as I am. He + was the last Man that won a Prize in the Tilt-Yard (which is now a + Common Street before _Whitehall_. [1]) You see the broken Lance that + lies there by his right Foot; He shivered that Lance of his Adversary + all to Pieces; and bearing himself, look you, Sir, in this manner, at + the same time he came within the Target of the Gentleman who rode + against him, and taking him with incredible Force before him on the + Pommel of his Saddle, he in that manner rid the Turnament over, with + an Air that shewed he did it rather to perform the Rule of the Lists, + than expose his Enemy; however, it appeared he knew how to make use of + a Victory, and with a gentle Trot he marched up to a Gallery where + their Mistress sat (for they were Rivals) and let him down with + laudable Courtesy and pardonable Insolence. I don't know but it might + be exactly where the Coffee-house is now. + + You are to know this my Ancestor was not only of a military Genius, + but fit also for the Arts of Peace, for he played on the Base-Viol as + well as any Gentlemen at Court; you see where his Viol hangs by his + Basket-hilt Sword. The Action at the Tilt-yard you may be sure won the + fair Lady, who was a Maid of Honour, and the greatest Beauty of her + Time; here she stands, the next Picture. You see, Sir, my Great Great + Great Grandmother has on the new-fashioned Petticoat, except that the + Modern is gather'd at the Waste; my Grandmother appears as if she + stood in a large Drum, whereas the Ladies now walk as if they were in + a Go-Cart. For all this Lady was bred at Court, she became an + Excellent Country-Wife, she brought ten Children, and when I shew you + the Library, you shall see in her own Hand (allowing for the + Difference of the Language) the best Receipt now in _England_ both for + an Hasty-pudding and a White-pot.[2] + + If you please to fall back a little, because 'tis necessary to look at + the three next Pictures at one View; these are three Sisters. She on + the right Hand, who is so very beautiful, died a Maid; the next to + her, still handsomer, had the same Fate, against her Will; this homely + thing in the middle had both their Portions added to her own, and was + stolen by a neighbouring Gentleman, a Man of Stratagem and Resolution, + for he poisoned three Mastiffs to come at her, and knocked down two + Deer-stealers in carrying her off. Misfortunes happen in all Families: + The Theft of this Romp and so much Mony, was no great matter to our + Estate. But the next Heir that possessed it was this soft Gentleman, + whom you see there: Observe the small Buttons, the little Boots, the + Laces, the Slashes about his Cloaths, and above all the Posture he is + drawn in, (which to be sure was his own choosing;) you see he sits + with one Hand on a Desk writing, and looking as it were another way, + like an easy Writer, or a Sonneteer: He was one of those that had too + much Wit to know how to live in the World; he was a Man of no Justice, + but great good Manners; he ruined every Body that had any thing to do + with him, but never said a rude thing in his Life; the most indolent + Person in the World, he would sign a Deed that passed away half his + Estate with his Gloves on, but would not put on his Hat before a Lady + if it were to save his Country. He is said to be the first that made + Love by squeezing the Hand. He left the Estate with ten thousand + Pounds Debt upon it, but however by all Hands I have been informed + that he was every way the finest Gentleman in the World. That Debt lay + heavy on our House for one Generation, but it was retrieved by a Gift + from that honest Man you see there, a Citizen of our Name, but nothing + at all a-kin to us. I know Sir ANDREW FREEPORT has said behind my + Back, that this Man was descended from one of the ten Children of the + Maid of Honour I shewed you above; but it was never made out. We + winked at the thing indeed, because Mony was wanting at that time.' + +Here I saw my Friend a little embarrassed, and turned my Face to the +next Portraiture. + +Sir ROGER went on with his Account of the Gallery in the following +Manner. + + 'This Man (pointing to him I looked at) I take to be the Honour of our + House. Sir HUMPHREY DE COVERLEY; he was in his Dealings as punctual as + a Tradesman, and as generous as a Gentleman. He would have thought + himself as much undone by breaking his Word, as if it were to be + followed by Bankruptcy. He served his Country as Knight of this Shire + to his dying Day. He found it no easy matter to maintain an Integrity + in his Words and Actions, even in things that regarded the Offices + which were incumbent upon him, in the Care of his own Affairs and + Relations of Life, and therefore dreaded (tho' he had great Talents) + to go into Employments of State, where he must be exposed to the + Snares of Ambition. Innocence of Life and great Ability were the + distinguishing Parts of his Character; the latter, he had often + observed, had led to the Destruction of the former, and used + frequently to lament that Great and Good had not the same + Signification. He was an excellent Husbandman, but had resolved not to + exceed such a Degree of Wealth; all above it he bestowed in secret + Bounties many Years after the Sum he aimed at for his own Use was + attained. Yet he did not slacken his Industry, but to a decent old Age + spent the Life and Fortune which was superfluous to himself, in the + Service of his Friends and Neighbours.' + +Here we were called to Dinner, and Sir ROGER ended the Discourse of this +Gentleman, by telling me, as we followed the Servant, that this his +Ancestor was a brave Man, and narrowly escaped being killed in the Civil +Wars; + + 'For,' said he, 'he was sent out of the Field upon a private Message, + the Day before the Battel of _Worcester_.' + +The Whim of narrowly escaping by having been within a Day of Danger, +with other Matters above-mentioned, mixed with good Sense, left me at a +Loss whether I was more delighted with my Friend's Wisdom or Simplicity. + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: When Henry VIII drained the site of St. James's Park he +formed, close to the Palace of Whitehall, a large Tilt-yard for noblemen +and others to exercise themselves in jousting, tourneying, and fighting +at the barriers. Houses afterwards were built on its ground, and one of +them became Jenny Man's "Tilt Yard Coffee House." The Paymaster- +General's office now stands on the site of it.] + + +[Footnote 2: A kind of Custard.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 110. Friday, July 6, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent.' + + Virg. + + +At a little distance from Sir ROGER'S House, among the Ruins of an old +Abby, there is a long Walk of aged Elms; which are shot up so very high, +that when one passes under them, the Rooks and Crows that rest upon the +Tops of them seem to be cawing in another Region. I am very much +delighted with this sort of Noise, which I consider as a kind of natural +Prayer to that Being who supplies the Wants of his whole Creation, and +[who], in the beautiful Language of the _Psalms_, feedeth the young +Ravens that call upon him. I like this [Retirement [1]] the better, +because of an ill Report it lies under of being _haunted_; for which +Reason (as I have been told in the Family) no living Creature ever walks +in it besides the Chaplain. My good Friend the Butler desired me with a +very grave Face not to venture my self in it after Sun-set, for that one +of the Footmen had been almost frighted out of his Wits by a Spirit that +appear'd to him in the Shape of a black Horse without an Head; to which +he added, that about a Month ago one of the Maids coming home late that +way with a Pail of Milk upon her Head, heard such a Rustling among the +Bushes that she let it fall. + +I was taking a Walk in this Place last Night between the Hours of Nine +and Ten, and could not but fancy it one of the most proper Scenes in the +World for a Ghost to appear in. The Ruins of the Abby are scattered up +and down on every Side, and half covered with Ivy and Elder-Bushes, the +Harbours of several solitary Birds which seldom make their Appearance +till the Dusk of the Evening. The Place was formerly a Churchyard, and +has still several Marks in it of Graves and Burying-Places. There is +such an Eccho among the old Ruins and Vaults, that if you stamp but a +little louder than ordinary, you hear the Sound repeated. At the same +time the Walk of Elms, with the Croaking of the Ravens which from time +to time are heard from the Tops of them, looks exceeding solemn and +venerable. These Objects naturally raise Seriousness and Attention; and +when Night heightens the Awfulness of the Place, and pours out her +supernumerary Horrors upon every thing in it, I do not at all wonder +that weak Minds fill it with Spectres and Apparitions. + +Mr. Locke, in his Chapter of the Association of Ideas, has very curious +Remarks to shew how by the Prejudice of Education one Idea often +introduces into the Mind a whole Set that bear no Resemblance to one +another in the Nature of things. Among several Examples of this Kind, he +produces the following Instance. _The Ideas of Goblins and Sprights have +really no more to do with Darkness than Light: Yet let but a foolish +Maid inculcate these often on the Mind of a Child, and raise them there +together, possibly he shall never be able to separate them again so long +as he lives; but Darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those +frightful Ideas, and they shall be so joined, that he can no more bear +the one than the other. [2] + +As I was walking in this Solitude, where the Dusk of the Evening +conspired with so many other Occasions of Terrour, I observed a Cow +grazing not far from me, which an Imagination that is apt to _startle_, +might easily have construed into a black Horse without an Head: And I +dare say the poor Footman lost his Wits upon some such trivial Occasion. + +My Friend Sir ROGER has often told me with a great deal of Mirth, that +at his first coming to his Estate he found three Parts of his House +altogether useless; that the best Room in it had the Reputation of being +haunted, and by that means was locked up; that Noises had been heard in +his long Gallery, so that he could not get a Servant to enter it after +eight a Clock at Night; that the Door of one of his Chambers was nailed +up, because there went a Story in the Family that a Butler had formerly +hang'd himself in it; and that his Mother, who lived to a great Age, had +shut up half the Rooms in the House, in which either her Husband, a Son, +or Daughter had died. The Knight seeing his Habitation reduced [to [3]] +so small a Compass, and himself in a manner shut out of his own House, +upon the Death of his Mother ordered [all the Apartments [4]] to be +flung open, and _exorcised_ by his Chaplain, who lay in every Room one +after another, and by that Means dissipated the Fears which had so long +reigned in the Family. + +I should not have been thus particular upon these ridiculous Horrours, +did I not find them so very much prevail in all Parts of the Country. At +the same time I think a Person who is thus terrify'd with the +Imagination of Ghosts and Spectres much more reasonable than one who, +contrary to the Reports of all Historians sacred and prophane, ancient +and modern, and to the Traditions of all Nations, thinks the Appearance +of Spirits fabulous and groundless: Could not I give myself up to this +general Testimony of Mankind, I should to the Relations of particular +Persons who are now living, and whom I cannot distrust in other Matters +of Fact. I might here add, that not only the Historians, to whom we may +join the Poets, but likewise the Philosophers of Antiquity have favoured +this Opinion. _Lucretius_ himself, though by the Course of his +Philosophy he was obliged to maintain that the Soul did not exist +separate from the Body, makes no Doubt of the Reality of Apparitions, +and that Men have often appeared after their Death. This I think very +remarkable; he was so pressed with the Matter of Fact which he could not +have the Confidence to deny, that he was forced to account for it by one +of the most absurd unphilosophical Notions that was ever started. He +tells us, That the Surfaces of all Bodies are perpetually flying off +from their respective Bodies, one after another; and that these Surfaces +or thin Cases that included each other whilst they were joined in the +Body like the Coats of an Onion, are sometimes seen entire when they are +separated from it; by which means we often behold the Shapes and Shadows +of Persons who are either dead or absent. [5] + +I shall dismiss this Paper with a Story out of _Josephus_, not so much +for the sake of the Story it self as for the moral Reflections with +which the Author concludes it, and which I shall here set down in his +own Words. + + '_Glaphyra_ the Daughter of King _Archelaus_, after the Death of her + two first Husbands (being married to a third, who was Brother to her + first Husband, and so passionately in love with her that he turned off + his former Wife to make room for this Marriage) had a very odd kind of + Dream. She fancied that she saw her first Husband coming towards her, + and that she embraced him with great Tenderness; when in the midst of + the Pleasure which she expressed at the Sight of him, he reproached + her after the following manner: _Glaphyra_, says he, thou hast made + good the old Saying, That Women are not to be trusted. Was not I the + Husband of thy Virginity? Have I not Children by thee? How couldst + thou forget our Loves so far as to enter into a second Marriage, and + after that into a third, nay to take for thy Husband a Man who has so + shamelessly crept into the Bed of his Brother? However, for the sake + of our passed Loves, I shall free thee from thy present Reproach, and + make thee mine for ever. _Glaphyra_ told this Dream to several Women + of her Acquaintance, and died soon after. [6] I thought this Story + might not be impertinent in this Place, wherein I speak of those + Kings: Besides that, the Example deserves to be taken notice of as it + contains a most certain Proof of the Immortality of the Soul, and of + Divine Providence. If any Man thinks these Facts incredible, let him + enjoy his own Opinion to himself, but let him not endeavour to disturb + the Belief of others, who by Instances of this Nature are excited to + the Study of Virtue.' + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Walk] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Essay on the Human Understanding', Bk. II., ch. 33.] + + +[Footnote 3: into] + + +[Footnote 4: the Rooms] + + + +[Footnote 5: 'Lucret.' iv. 34, &c.] + + +[Footnote 6: Josephus, 'Antiq. Jud.' lib. xvii. cap. 15, 415.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 111. Saturday, July 7, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Inter Silvas Academi quærere Verum.' + + Hor. + + +The Course of my last Speculation led me insensibly into a Subject upon +which I always meditate with great Delight, I mean the Immortality of +the Soul. I was yesterday walking alone in one of my Friend's Woods, and +lost my self in it very agreeably, as I was running over in my Mind the +several Arguments that establish this great Point, which is the Basis of +Morality, and the Source of all the pleasing Hopes and secret Joys that +can arise in the Heart of a reasonable Creature. I considered those +several Proofs, drawn; + +_First_, From the Nature of the Soul it self, and particularly its +Immateriality; which, tho' not absolutely necessary to the Eternity of +its Duration, has, I think, been evinced to almost a Demonstration. + +_Secondly_, From its Passions and Sentiments, as particularly from its +Love of Existence, its Horrour of Annihilation, and its Hopes of +Immortality, with that secret Satisfaction which it finds in the +Practice of Virtue, and that Uneasiness which follows in it upon the +Commission of Vice. + +_Thirdly_, From the Nature of the Supreme Being, whose Justice, +Goodness, Wisdom and Veracity are all concerned in this great Point. + +But among these and other excellent Arguments for the Immortality of the +Soul, there is one drawn from the perpetual Progress of the Soul to its +Perfection, without a Possibility of ever arriving at it; which is a +Hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved by others +who have written on this Subject, tho' it seems to me to carry a great +Weight with it. How can it enter into the Thoughts of Man, that the +Soul, which is capable of such immense Perfections, and of receiving new +Improvements to all Eternity, shall fall away into nothing almost as +soon as it is created? Are such Abilities made for no Purpose? A Brute +arrives at a Point of Perfection that he can never pass: In a few Years +he has all the Endowments he is capable of; and were he to live ten +thousand more, would be the same thing he is at present. Were a human +Soul thus at a stand in her Accomplishments, were her Faculties to be +full blown, and incapable of further Enlargements, I could imagine it +might fall away insensibly, and drop at once into a State of +Annihilation. But can we believe a thinking Being that is in a perpetual +Progress of Improvements, and travelling on from Perfection to +Perfection, after having just looked abroad into the Works of its +Creator, and made a few Discoveries of his infinite Goodness, Wisdom and +Power, must perish at her first setting out, and in the very beginning +of her Enquiries? + +A Man, considered in his present State, seems only sent into the World +to propagate his Kind[. He provides [1]] himself with a Successor, and +immediately quits his Post to make room for him. + + ... Hares + Hæredem alterius, velut unda, supervenit undam. + +He does not seem born to enjoy Life, but to deliver it down to others. +This is not surprising to consider in Animals, which are formed for our +Use, and can finish their Business in a short Life. The Silk-worm, after +having spun her Task, lays her Eggs and dies. But a Man can never have +taken in his full measure of Knowledge, has not time to subdue his +Passions, establish his Soul in Virtue, and come up to the Perfection of +his Nature, before he is hurried off the Stage. Would an infinitely wise +Being make such glorious Creatures for so mean a Purpose? Can he delight +in the Production of such abortive Intelligences, such short-lived +reasonable Beings? Would he give us Talents that are not to be exerted? +Capacities that are never to be gratified? How can we find that Wisdom +which shines through all his Works, in the Formation of Man, without +looking on this World as only a Nursery for the next, and believing that +the several Generations of rational Creatures, which rise up and +disappear in such quick Successions, are only to receive their first +Rudiments of Existence here, and afterwards to be transplanted into a +more friendly Climate, where they may spread and flourish to all +Eternity. + +There is not, in my Opinion, a more pleasing and triumphant +Consideration in Religion than this of the perpetual Progress which the +Soul makes towards the Perfection of its Nature, without ever arriving +at a Period in it. To look upon the Soul as going on from Strength to +Strength, to consider that she is to shine for ever with new Accessions +of Glory, and brighten to all Eternity; that she will be still adding +Virtue to Virtue, and Knowledge to Knowledge; carries in it something +wonderfully agreeable to that Ambition which is natural to the Mind of +Man. Nay, it must be a Prospect pleasing to God himself, to see his +Creation for ever beautifying in his Eyes, and drawing nearer to him, by +greater Degrees of Resemblance. + +Methinks this single Consideration, of the Progress of a finite Spirit +to Perfection, will be sufficient to extinguish all Envy in inferior +Natures, and all Contempt in superior. That Cherubim which now appears +as a God to a human Soul, knows very well that the Period will come +about in Eternity, when the human Soul shall be as perfect as he himself +now is: Nay, when she shall look down upon that Degree of Perfection, as +much as she now falls short of it. It is true the higher Nature still +advances, and by that means preserves his Distance and Superiority in +the Scale of Being; but he knows how high soever the Station is of which +he stands possessed at present, the inferior Nature will at length mount +up to it, and shine forth in the same Degree of Glory. + +With what Astonishment and Veneration may we look into our own Souls, +where there are such hidden Stores of Virtue and Knowledge, such +inexhausted Sources of Perfection? We know not yet what we shall be, nor +will it ever enter into the Heart of Man to conceive the Glory that will +be always in Reserve for him. The Soul considered with its Creator, is +like one of those Mathematical Lines that may draw nearer to another for +all Eternity without a Possibility of touching it: [2] And can there be +a Thought so transporting, as to consider ourselves in these perpetual +Approaches to him, who is not only the Standard of Perfection but of +Happiness! + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: ",and provide"] + + +[Footnote 2: The Asymptotes of the Hyperbola.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 112. Monday, July 9, 1711. Addison. + + + + [Greek (transliterated): + + Athanátous men pr_õta theoùs, nóm_o h_os diákeitai + Timã + + Pyth.] + + +I am always very well pleased with a Country _Sunday_; and think, if +keeping holy the Seventh Day [were [1]] only a human Institution, it +would be the best Method that could have been thought of for the +polishing and civilizing of Mankind. It is certain the Country-People +would soon degenerate into a kind of Savages and Barbarians, were there +not such frequent Returns of a stated Time, in which the whole Village +meet together with their best Faces, and in their cleanliest [Habits, +[2]] to converse with one another upon indifferent Subjects, hear their +Duties explained to them, and join together in Adoration of the Supreme +Being. _>Sunday_ clears away the Rust of the whole Week, not only as it +refreshes in their Minds the Notions of Religion, but as it puts both +the Sexes upon appearing in their most agreeable Forms, and exerting all +such Qualities as are apt to give them a Figure in the Eye of the +Village. A Country-Fellow distinguishes himself as much in the +_Church-yard_, as a Citizen does upon the _Change_, the whole +Parish-Politicks being generally discussed in that Place either after +Sermon or before the Bell rings. + +My Friend Sir ROGER, being a good Churchman, has beautified the Inside +of his Church with several Texts of his own chusing: He has likewise +given a handsome Pulpit-Cloth, and railed in the Communion-Table at his +own Expence. He has often told me, that at his coming to his Estate he +found [his Parishioners [3]] very irregular; and that in order to make +them kneel and join in the Responses, he gave every one of them a +Hassock and a Common-prayer Book: and at the same time employed an +itinerant Singing-Master, who goes about the Country for that Purpose, +to instruct them rightly in the Tunes of the Psalms; upon which they now +very much value themselves, and indeed out-do most of the Country +Churches that I have ever heard. + +As Sir ROGER is Landlord to the whole Congregation, he keeps them in +very good Order, and will suffer no Body to sleep in it besides himself; +for if by chance he has been surprized into a short Nap at Sermon, upon +recovering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees +any Body else nodding, either wakes them himself, or sends his Servant +to them. Several other of the old Knight's Particularities break out +upon these Occasions: Sometimes he will be lengthening out a Verse in +the Singing-Psalms, half a Minute after the rest of the Congregation +have done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased with the Matter of his +Devotion, he pronounces _Amen_ three or four times to the same Prayer; +and sometimes stands up when every Body else is upon their Knees, to +count the Congregation, or see if any of his Tenants are missing. + +I was Yesterday very much surprised to hear my old Friend, in the Midst +of the Service, calling out to one _John Matthews_ to mind what he was +about, and not disturb the Congregation. This _John Matthews_ it seems +is remarkable for being an idle Fellow, and at that Time was kicking his +Heels for his Diversion. This Authority of the Knight, though exerted in +that odd Manner which accompanies him in all Circumstances of Life, has +a very good Effect upon the Parish, who are not polite enough to see any +thing ridiculous in his Behaviour; besides that the general good Sense +and Worthiness of his Character makes his Friends observe these little +Singularities as Foils that rather set off than blemish his good +Qualities. + +As soon as the Sermon is finished, no Body presumes to stir till Sir +ROGER is gone out of the Church. The Knight walks down from his Seat in +the Chancel between a double Row of his Tenants, that stand bowing to +him on each Side; and every now and then enquires how such an one's +Wife, or Mother, or Son, or Father do, whom he does not see at Church; +which is understood as a secret Reprimand to the Person that is absent. + +The Chaplain has often told me, that upon a Catechising-day, when Sir +ROGER has been pleased with a Boy that answers well, he has ordered a +Bible to be given him next Day for his Encouragement; and sometimes +accompanies it with a Flitch of Bacon to his Mother. Sir ROGER has +likewise added five Pounds a Year to the Clerk's Place; and that he may +encourage the young Fellows to make themselves perfect in the +Church-Service, has promised upon the Death of the present Incumbent, +who is very old, to bestow it according to Merit. + +The fair Understanding between Sir ROGER and his Chaplain, and their +mutual Concurrence in doing Good, is the more remarkable, because the +very next Village is famous for the Differences and Contentions that +rise between the Parson and the 'Squire, who live in a perpetual State +of War. The Parson is always preaching at the 'Squire, and the 'Squire +to be revenged on the Parson never comes to Church. The 'Squire has made +all his Tenants Atheists and Tithe-Stealers; while the Parson instructs +them every _Sunday_ in the Dignity of his Order, and insinuates to them +in almost every Sermon, that he is a better Man than his Patron. In +short, Matters are come to such an Extremity, that the 'Squire has not +said his Prayers either in publick or private this half Year; and that +the Parson threatens him, if he does not mend his Manners, to pray for +him in the Face of the whole Congregation. + +Feuds of this Nature, though too frequent in the Country, are very fatal +to the ordinary People; who are so used to be dazled with Riches, that +they pay as much Deference to the Understanding of a Man of an Estate, +as of a Man of Learning; and are very hardly brought to regard any +Truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached to them, when +they know there are several Men of five hundred a Year who do not +believe it. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: had been] + + +[Footnote 2: Dress] + + +[Footnote 3: the Parish] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 113. Tuesday, July 10, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Harent infixi pectore vultus.' + + Virg. + + +In my first Description of the Company in which I pass most of my Time, +it may be remembered that I mentioned a great Affliction which my Friend +Sir ROGER had met with in his Youth; which was no less than a +Disappointment in Love. It happened this Evening, that we fell into a +very pleasing Walk at a Distance from his House: As soon as we came into +it, + + 'It is, quoth the good Old Man, looking round him with a Smile, very + hard, that any Part of my Land should be settled upon one who has used + me so ill as the perverse Widow [1] did; and yet I am sure I could not + see a Sprig of any Bough of this whole Walk of Trees, but I should + reflect upon her and her Severity. She has certainly the finest Hand + of any Woman in the World. You are to know this was the Place wherein + I used to muse upon her; and by that Custom I can never come into it, + but the same tender Sentiments revive in my Mind, as if I had actually + walked with that Beautiful Creature under these Shades. I have been + Fool enough to carve her Name on the Bark of several of these Trees; + so unhappy is the Condition of Men in Love, to attempt the removing of + their Passion by the Methods which serve only to imprint it deeper. + She has certainly the finest Hand of any Woman in the World.' + +Here followed a profound Silence; and I was not displeased to observe my +Friend falling so naturally into a Discourse, which I had ever before +taken Notice he industriously avoided. After a very long Pause he +entered upon an Account of this great Circumstance in his Life, with an +Air which I thought raised my Idea of him above what I had ever had +before; and gave me the Picture of that chearful Mind of his, before it +received that Stroke which has ever since affected his Words and +Actions. But he went on as follows. + + 'I came to my Estate in my Twenty Second Year, and resolved to follow + the Steps of the most Worthy of my Ancestors who have inhabited this + Spot of Earth before me, in all the Methods of Hospitality and good + Neighbourhood, for the sake of my Fame; and in Country Sports and + Recreations, for the sake of my Health. In my Twenty Third Year I was + obliged to serve as Sheriff of the County; and in my Servants, + Officers and whole Equipage, indulged the Pleasure of a young Man (who + did not think ill of his own Person) in taking that publick Occasion + of shewing my Figure and Behaviour to Advantage. You may easily + imagine to yourself what Appearance I made, who am pretty tall, [rid + [2]] well, and was very well dressed, at the Head of a whole County, + with Musick before me, a Feather in my Hat, and my Horse well Bitted. + I can assure you I was not a little pleased with the kind Looks and + Glances I had from all the Balconies and Windows as I rode to the Hall + where the Assizes were held. But when I came there, a Beautiful + Creature in a Widow's Habit sat in Court to hear the Event of a Cause + concerning her Dower. This commanding Creature (who was born for + Destruction of all who behold her) put on such a Resignation in her + Countenance, and bore the Whispers of all around the Court with such a + pretty Uneasiness, I warrant you, and then recovered her self from one + Eye to another, 'till she was perfectly confused by meeting something + so wistful in all she encountered, that at last, with a Murrain to + her, she cast her bewitching Eye upon me. I no sooner met it, but I + bowed like a great surprized Booby; and knowing her Cause to be the + first which came on, I cried, like a Captivated Calf as I was, Make + way for the Defendant's Witnesses. This sudden Partiality made all the + County immediately see the Sheriff also was become a Slave to the fine + Widow. During the Time her Cause was upon Tryal, she behaved herself, + I warrant you, with such a deep Attention to her Business, took + Opportunities to have little Billets handed to her Council, then would + be in such a pretty Confusion, occasioned, you must know, by acting + before so much Company, that not only I but the whole Court was + prejudiced in her Favour; and all that the next Heir to her Husband + had to urge, was thought so groundless and frivolous, that when it + came to her Council to reply, there was not half so much said as every + one besides in the Court thought he could have urged to her Advantage. + You must understand, Sir, this perverse Woman is one of those + unaccountable Creatures, that secretly rejoice in the Admiration of + Men, but indulge themselves in no further Consequences. Hence it is + that she has ever had a Train of Admirers, and she removes from her + Slaves in Town to those in the Country, according to the Seasons of + the Year. She is a reading Lady, and far gone in the Pleasures of + Friendship; She is always accompanied by a Confident, who is Witness + to her daily Protestations against our Sex, and consequently a Bar to + her first Steps towards Love, upon the Strength of her own Maxims and + Declarations. + + However, I must needs say this accomplished Mistress of mine has + distinguished me above the rest, and has been known to declare Sir + ROGER DE COVERLEY was the Tamest and most Human of all the Brutes in + the Country. I was told she said so, by one who thought he rallied me; + but upon the Strength of this slender Encouragement, of being thought + least detestable, I made new Liveries, new paired my Coach-Horses, + sent them all to Town to be bitted, and taught to throw their Legs + well, and move all together, before I pretended to cross the Country + and wait upon her. As soon as I thought my Retinue suitable to the + Character of my Fortune and Youth, I set out from hence to make my + Addresses. The particular Skill of this Lady has ever been to inflame + your Wishes, and yet command Respect. To make her Mistress of this + Art, she has a greater Share of Knowledge, Wit, and good Sense, than + is usual even among Men of Merit. Then she is beautiful beyond the + Race of Women. If you won't let her go on with a certain Artifice with + her Eyes, and the Skill of Beauty, she will arm her self with her real + Charms, and strike you with Admiration instead of Desire. It is + certain that if you were to behold the whole Woman, there is that + Dignity in her Aspect, that Composure in her Motion, that Complacency + in her Manner, that if her Form makes you hope, her Merit makes you + fear. But then again, she is such a desperate Scholar, that no + Country-Gentleman can approach her without being a Jest. As I was + going to tell you, when I came to her House I was admitted to her + Presence with great Civility; at the same time she placed her self to + be first seen by me in such an Attitude, as I think you call the + Posture of a Picture, that she discovered new Charms, and I at last + came towards her with such an Awe as made me Speechless. This she no + sooner observed but she made her Advantage of it, and began a + Discourse to me concerning Love and Honour, as they both are followed + by Pretenders, and the real Votaries to them. When she [had] discussed + these Points in a Discourse, which I verily believe was as learned as + the best Philosopher in _Europe_ could possibly make, she asked me + whether she was so happy as to fall in with my Sentiments on these + important Particulars. Her Confident sat by her, and upon my being in + the last Confusion and Silence, this malicious Aid of hers, turning to + her, says, I am very glad to observe Sir ROGER pauses upon this + Subject, and seems resolved to deliver all his Sentiments upon the + Matter when he pleases to speak. They both kept their Countenances, + and after I had sat half an Hour meditating how to behave before such + profound Casuists, I rose up and took my Leave. Chance has since that + time thrown me very often in her Way, and she as often has directed a + Discourse to me which I do not understand. This Barbarity has kept me + ever at a Distance from the most beautiful Object my Eyes ever beheld. + It is thus also she deals with all Mankind, and you must make Love to + her, as you would conquer the Sphinx, by posing her. But were she like + other Women, and that there were any talking to her, how constant must + the Pleasure of that Man be, who could converse with a Creature--But, + after all, you may be sure her Heart is fixed on some one or other; + and yet I have been credibly inform'd; but who can believe half that + is said! After she had done speaking to me, she put her Hand to her + Bosom, and adjusted her Tucker. Then she cast her Eyes a little down, + upon my beholding her too earnestly. They say she sings excellently: + her Voice in her ordinary Speech has something in it inexpressibly + sweet. You must know I dined with her at a publick Table the Day after + I first saw her, and she helped me to some Tansy in the Eye of all the + Gentlemen in the Country: She has certainly the finest Hand of any + Woman in the World. I can assure you, Sir, were you to behold her, you + would be in the same Condition; for as her Speech is Musick, her Form + is Angelick. But I find I grow irregular while I am talking of her; + but indeed it would be Stupidity to be unconcerned at such + Perfection. Oh the excellent Creature, she is as inimitable to all + Women, as she is inaccessible to all Men.' + +I found my Friend begin to rave, and insensibly led him towards the +House, that we might be joined by some other Company; and am convinced +that the Widow is the secret Cause of all that Inconsistency which +appears in some Parts of my Friend's Discourse; tho' he has so much +Command of himself as not directly to mention her, yet according to that +of _Martial_, which one knows not how to render in _English, Dum facet +hanc loquitur_. I shall end this Paper with that whole Epigram, [3] +which represents with much Humour my honest Friend's Condition. + + _Quicquid agit Rufus nihil est nisi Nævia Rufo, + Si gaudet, si flet, si tacet, hanc loquitur: + Coenat, propinat, poscit, negat, annuit, una est + Nævia; Si non sit Nævia mutus erit. + Scriberet hesterna Patri cum Luce Salutem, + Nævia lux, inquit, Nævia lumen, ave._ + + Let _Rufus_ weep, rejoice, stand, sit, or walk, + Still he can nothing but of _Nævia_ talk; + Let him eat, drink, ask Questions, or dispute, + Still he must speak of _Nævia_, or be mute. + He writ to his Father, ending with this Line, + I am, my Lovely _Nævia_, ever thine. + + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: Mrs Catherine Boevey, widow of William Boevey, Esq., who +was left a widow at the age of 22, and died in January, 1726, has one of +the three volumes of the Lady's Library dedicated to her by Steele in +terms that have been supposed to imply resemblance between her and the +'perverse widow;' as being both readers, &c. Mrs Boevey is said also to +have had a Confidant (Mary Pope) established in her household. But there +is time misspent in all these endeavours to reduce to tittle-tattle the +creations of a man of genius.] + + +[Footnote 2: ride] + + +[Footnote 3: Bk. I. Ep. 69.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 114. Wednesday, July 11, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Paupertatis pudor et fuga ...' + + Hor. + + +Oeconomy in our Affairs has the same Effect upon our Fortunes which Good +Breeding has upon our Conversations. There is a pretending Behaviour in +both Cases, which, instead of making Men esteemed, renders them both +miserable and contemptible. We had Yesterday at SIR ROGER'S a Set of +Country Gentlemen who dined with him; and after Dinner the Glass was +taken, by those who pleased, pretty plentifully. Among others I observed +a Person of a tolerable good Aspect, who seemed to be more greedy of +Liquor than any of the Company, and yet, methought, he did not taste it +with Delight. As he grew warm, he was suspicious of every thing that was +said; and as he advanced towards being fudled, his Humour grew worse. At +the same time his Bitterness seem'd to be rather an inward +Dissatisfaction in his own Mind, than any Dislike he had taken at the +Company. Upon hearing his Name, I knew him to be a Gentle man of a +considerable Fortune in this County, but greatly in Debt. What gives the +unhappy Man this Peevishness of Spirit is, that his Estate is dipped, +and is eating out with Usury; and yet he has not the Heart to sell any +Part of it. His proud Stomach, at the Cost of restless Nights, constant +Inquietudes, Danger of Affronts, and a thousand nameless Inconveniences, +preserves this Canker in his Fortune, rather than it shall be said he is +a Man of fewer Hundreds a Year than he has been commonly reputed. Thus +he endures the Torment of Poverty, to avoid the Name of being less rich. +If you go to his House you see great Plenty; but served in a Manner that +shews it is all unnatural, and that the Master's Mind is not at home. +There is a certain Waste and Carelessness in the Air of every thing, and +the whole appears but a covered Indigence, a magnificent Poverty. That +Neatness and Chearfulness, which attends the Table of him who lives +within Compass, is wanting, and exchanged for a Libertine Way of Service +in all about him. + +This Gentleman's Conduct, tho' a very common way of Management, is as +ridiculous as that Officer's would be, who had but few Men under his +Command, and should take the Charge of an Extent of Country rather than +of a small Pass. To pay for, personate, and keep in a Man's Hands, a +greater Estate than he really has, is of all others the most +unpardonable Vanity, and must in the End reduce the Man who is guilty of +it to Dishonour. Yet if we look round us in any County of _Great +Britain_, we shall see many in this fatal Error; if that may be called +by so soft a Name, which proceeds from a false Shame of appearing what +they really are, when the contrary Behaviour would in a short Time +advance them to the Condition which they pretend to. + +_Laertes_ has fifteen hundred Pounds a Year; which is mortgaged for six +thousand Pounds; but it is impossible to convince him that if he sold as +much as would pay off that Debt, he would save four Shillings in the +Pound, [1] which he gives for the Vanity of being the reputed Master of +it. [Yet [2]] if _Laertes_ did this, he would, perhaps, be easier in his +own Fortune; but then _Irus_, a Fellow of Yesterday, who has but twelve +hundred a Year, would be his Equal. Rather than this shall be, _Laertes_ +goes on to bring well-born Beggars into the World, and every Twelvemonth +charges, his Estate with at least one Year's Rent more by the Birth of a +Child. + +_Laertes_ and _Irus_ are Neighbours, whose Way of living are an +Abomination to each other. _Irus_ is moved by the Fear of Poverty, and +_Laertes_ by the Shame of it. Though the Motive of Action is of so near +Affinity in both, and may be resolved into this, 'That to each of them +Poverty is the greatest of all Evils,' yet are their Manners very widely +different. Shame of Poverty makes _Laertes_> launch into unnecessary +Equipage, vain Expense, and lavish Entertainments; Fear of Poverty makes +_Irus_ allow himself only plain Necessaries, appear without a Servant, +sell his own Corn, attend his Labourers, and be himself a Labourer. +Shame of Poverty makes _Laertes_ go every Day a step nearer to it; and +Fear of Poverty stirs up _Irus_ to make every Day some further Progress +from it. + +These different Motives produce the Excesses of which Men are guilty of +in the Negligence of and Provision for themselves. Usury, Stock-jobbing, +Extortion and Oppression, have their Seed in the Dread of Want; and +Vanity, Riot and Prodigality, from the Shame of it: But both these +Excesses are infinitely below the Pursuit of a reasonable Creature. +After we have taken Care to command so much as is necessary for +maintaining our selves in the Order of Men suitable to our Character, +the Care of Superfluities is a Vice no less extravagant, than the +Neglect of Necessaries would have been before. + +Certain it is that they are both out of Nature when she is followed with +Reason and good Sense. It is from this Reflection that I always read Mr. +_Cowley_ with the greatest Pleasure: His Magnanimity is as much above +that of other considerable Men as his Understanding; and it is a true +distinguishing Spirit in the elegant Author who published his Works, [3] +to dwell so much upon the Temper of his Mind and the Moderation of his +Desires: By this means he has render'd his Friend as amiable as famous. +That State of Life which bears the Face of Poverty with Mr. _Cowley's +great Vulgar_, is admirably described; and it is no small Satisfaction +to those of the same Turn of Desire, that he produces the Authority of +the wisest Men of the best Age of the World, to strengthen his Opinion +of the ordinary Pursuits of Mankind. + +It would methinks be no ill Maxim of Life, if according to that Ancestor +of Sir ROGER, whom I lately mentioned, every Man would point to himself +what Sum he would resolve not to exceed. He might by this means cheat +himself into a Tranquility on this Side of that Expectation, or convert +what he should get above it to nobler Uses than his own Pleasures or +Necessities. This Temper of Mind would exempt a Man from an ignorant +Envy of restless Men above him, and a more inexcusable Contempt of happy +Men below him. This would be sailing by some Compass, living with some +Design; but to be eternally bewildered in Prospects of Future Gain, and +putting on unnecessary Armour against improbable Blows of Fortune, is a +Mechanick Being which has not good Sense for its Direction, but is +carried on by a sort of acquired Instinct towards things below our +Consideration and unworthy our Esteem. It is possible that the +Tranquility I now enjoy at Sir ROGER'S may have created in me this Way +of Thinking, which is so abstracted from the common Relish of the World: +But as I am now in a pleasing Arbour surrounded with a beautiful +Landskip, I find no Inclination so strong as to continue in these +Mansions, so remote from the ostentatious Scenes of Life; and am at this +present Writing Philosopher enough to conclude with Mr. _Cowley_; + + _If e'er Ambition did my Fancy cheat, + With any Wish so mean as to be Great; + Continue, Heav'n, still from me to remove + The humble Blessings of that Life I love._ [4] + + + +[Footnote 1: The Land Tax.] + + +[Footnote 2: But] + + +[Footnote 3: Dr. Thomas Sprat, Bishop of Rochester, in his Life of +Cowley prefixed to an edition of the Poet's works. The temper of Cowley +here referred to is especially shown in his Essays, as in the opening +one 'Of Liberty,' and in that 'Of Greatness,' which is followed by the +paraphrase from Horace's Odes, Bk. III. Od. i, beginning with the +expression above quoted: + + _Hence, ye profane; I hate ye all; + Both the Great Vulgar and the Small._] + + +[Footnote 4: From the Essay 'Of Greatness.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 115. Thursday, July 12, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Ut sit Mens sana in Corpore sano.' + + Juv. + + +Bodily Labour is of two Kinds, either that which a Man submits to for +his Livelihood, or that which he undergoes for his Pleasure. The latter +of them generally changes the Name of Labour for that of Exercise, but +differs only from ordinary Labour as it rises from another Motive. + +A Country Life abounds in both these kinds of Labour, and for that +Reason gives a Man a greater Stock of Health, and consequently a more +perfect Enjoyment of himself, than any other Way of Life. I consider the +Body as a System of Tubes and Glands, or to use a more Rustick Phrase, a +Bundle of Pipes and Strainers, fitted to one another after so wonderful +a Manner as to make a proper Engine for the Soul to work with. This +Description does not only comprehend the Bowels, Bones, Tendons, Veins, +Nerves and Arteries, but every Muscle and every Ligature, which is a +Composition of Fibres, that are so many imperceptible Tubes or Pipes +interwoven on all sides with invisible Glands or Strainers. + +This general Idea of a Human Body, without considering it in its +Niceties of Anatomy, lets us see how absolutely necessary Labour is for +the right Preservation of it. There must be frequent Motions and +Agitations, to mix, digest, and separate the Juices contained in it, as +well as to clear and cleanse that Infinitude of Pipes and Strainers of +which it is composed, and to give their solid Parts a more firm and +lasting Tone. Labour or Exercise ferments the Humours, casts them into +their proper Channels, throws off Redundancies, and helps Nature in +those secret Distributions, without which the Body cannot subsist in its +Vigour, nor the Soul act with Chearfulness. + +I might here mention the Effects which this has upon all the Faculties +of the Mind, by keeping the Understanding clear, the Imagination +untroubled, and refining those Spirits that are necessary for the proper +Exertion of our intellectual Faculties, during the present Laws of Union +between Soul and Body. It is to a Neglect in this Particular that we +must ascribe the Spleen, which is so frequent in Men of studious and +sedentary Tempers, as well as the Vapours to which those of the other +Sex are so often subject. + +Had not Exercise been absolutely necessary for our Well-being, Nature +would not have made the Body so proper for it, by giving such an +Activity to the Limbs, and such a Pliancy to every Part as necessarily +produce those Compressions, Extentions, Contortions, Dilatations, and +all other kinds of [Motions [1]] that are necessary for the Preservation +of such a System of Tubes and Glands as has been before mentioned. And +that we might not want Inducements to engage us in such an Exercise of +the Body as is proper for its Welfare, it is so ordered that nothing +valuable can be procured without it. Not to mention Riches and Honour, +even Food and Raiment are not to be come at without the Toil of the +Hands and Sweat of the Brows. Providence furnishes Materials, but +expects that we should work them up our selves. The Earth must be +laboured before it gives its Encrease, and when it is forced into its +several Products, how many Hands must they pass through before they are +fit for Use? Manufactures, Trade, and Agriculture, naturally employ more +than nineteen Parts of the Species in twenty; and as for those who are +not obliged to Labour, by the Condition in which they are born, they are +more miserable than the rest of Mankind, unless they indulge themselves +in that voluntary Labour which goes by the Name of Exercise. + +My Friend Sir ROGER has been an indefatigable Man in Business of this +kind, and has hung several Parts of his House with the Trophies of his +former Labours. The Walls of his great Hall are covered with the Horns +of several kinds of Deer that he has killed in the Chace, which he +thinks the most valuable Furniture of his House, as they afford him +frequent Topicks of Discourse, and shew that he has not been Idle. At +the lower End of the Hall, is a large Otter's Skin stuffed with Hay, +which his Mother ordered to be hung up in that manner, and the Knight +looks upon with great Satisfaction, because it seems he was but nine +Years old when his Dog killed him. A little Room adjoining to the Hall +is a kind of Arsenal filled with Guns of several Sizes and Inventions, +with which the Knight has made great Havock in the Woods, and destroyed +many thousands of Pheasants, Partridges and Wood-cocks. His Stable Doors +are patched with Noses that belonged to Foxes of the Knight's own +hunting down. Sir ROGER shewed me one of them that for Distinction sake +has a Brass Nail struck through it, which cost him about fifteen Hours +riding, carried him through half a dozen Counties, killed him a Brace of +Geldings, and lost above half his Dogs. This the Knight looks upon as +one of the greatest Exploits of his Life. The perverse Widow, whom I +have given some Account of, was the Death of several Foxes; for Sir +ROGER has told me that in the Course of his Amours he patched the +Western Door of his Stable. Whenever the Widow was cruel, the Foxes were +sure to pay for it. In proportion as his Passion for the Widow abated +and old Age came on, he left off Fox-hunting; but a Hare is not yet safe +that Sits within ten Miles of his House. + +There is no kind of Exercise which I would so recommend to my Readers of +both Sexes as this of Riding, as there is none which so much conduces to +Health, and is every way accommodated to the Body, according to the +_Idea_ which I have given of it. Doctor _Sydenham_ is very lavish in its +Praises; and if the _English_ Reader will see the Mechanical Effects of +it describ'd at length, he may find them in a Book published not many +Years since, under the Title of _Medicina Gymnastica_ [2]. For my own +part, when I am in Town, for want of these Opportunities, I exercise +myself an Hour every Morning upon a dumb Bell that is placed in a Corner +of my Room, and pleases me the more because it does every thing I +require of it in the most profound Silence. My Landlady and her +Daughters are so well acquainted with my Hours of Exercise, that they +never come into my Room to disturb me whilst I am ringing. + +When I was some Years younger than I am at present, I used to employ +myself in a more laborious Diversion, which I learned from a _Latin_ +Treatise of Exercises that is written with great Erudition: [3] It is +there called the _skiomachia_, or the fighting with a Man's own Shadow, +and consists in the brandishing of two short Sticks grasped in each +Hand, and loaden with Plugs of Lead at either End. This opens the Chest, +exercises the Limbs, and gives a Man all the Pleasure of Boxing, without +the Blows. I could wish that several Learned Men would lay out that Time +which they employ in Controversies and Disputes about nothing, in this +Method of fighting with their own Shadows. It might conduce very much to +evaporate the Spleen, which makes them uneasy to the Publick as well as +to themselves. + +To conclude, As I am a Compound of Soul and Body, I consider myself as +obliged to a double Scheme of Duties; and I think I have not fulfilled +the Business of the Day when I do not thus employ the one in Labour and +Exercise, as well as the other in Study and Contemplation. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Motion] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Medicina Gymnastica, or, a Treatise concerning the Power +of Exercise'. By Francis Fuller, M.A.] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Artis Gymnasticæ apud Antiquos ...' Libri VI. (Venice, +1569). By Hieronymus Mercurialis, who died at Forli, in 1606. He speaks +of the shadow-fighting in Lib. iv. cap. 5, and Lib. v. cap. 2.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 116. Friday, July 13, 1711. Budgell. + + + + '... Vocat ingenti clamore Cithoeron, + Taygetique canes ...' + + Virg. + + +Those who have searched into human Nature observe that nothing so much +shews the Nobleness of the Soul, as that its Felicity consists in +Action. Every Man has such an active Principle in him, that he will find +out something to employ himself upon in whatever Place or State of Life +he is posted. I have heard of a Gentleman who was under close +Confinement in the _Bastile_ seven Years; during which Time he amused +himself in scattering a few small Pins about his Chamber, gathering them +up again, and placing them in different Figures on the Arm of a great +Chair. He often told his Friends afterwards, that unless he had found +out this Piece of Exercise, he verily believed he should have lost his +Senses. + +After what has been said, I need not inform my Readers, that Sir ROGER, +with whose Character I hope they are at present pretty well acquainted, +has in his Youth gone through the whole Course of those rural Diversions +which the Country abounds in; and which seem to be extreamly well suited +to that laborious Industry a Man may observe here in a far greater +Degree than in Towns and Cities. I have before hinted at some of my +Friend's Exploits: He has in his youthful Days taken forty Coveys of +Partridges in a Season; and tired many a Salmon with a Line consisting +but of a single Hair. The constant Thanks and good Wishes of the +Neighbourhood always attended him, on account of his remarkable Enmity +towards Foxes; having destroyed more of those Vermin in one Year, than +it was thought the whole Country could have produced. Indeed the Knight +does not scruple to own among his most intimate Friends that in order to +establish his Reputation this Way, he has secretly sent for great +Numbers of them out of other Counties, which he used to turn loose about +the Country by Night, that he might the better signalize himself in +their Destruction the next Day. His Hunting-Horses were the finest and +best managed in all these Parts: His Tenants are still full of the +Praises of a grey Stone-horse that unhappily staked himself several +Years since, and was buried with great Solemnity in the Orchard. + +Sir _Roger_, being at present too old for Fox-hunting, to keep himself +in Action, has disposed of his Beagles and got a Pack of _Stop-Hounds_. +What these want in Speed, he endeavours to make amends for by the +Deepness of their Mouths and the Variety of their Notes, which are +suited in such manner to each other, that the whole Cry makes up a +compleat Consort. [1] He is so nice in this Particular that a Gentleman +having made him a Present of a very fine Hound the other Day, the Knight +returned it by the Servant with a great many Expressions of Civility; +but desired him to tell his Master, that the Dog he had sent was indeed +a most excellent _Base_, but that at present he only wanted a +_Counter-Tenor_. Could I believe my Friend had ever read _Shakespear_, I +should certainly conclude he had taken the Hint from _Theseus_ in the +_Midsummer Night's Dream_. [2] + + _My Hounds are bred out of the_ Spartan _Kind, + So flu'd, so sanded; and their Heads are hung + With Ears that sweep away the Morning Dew. + Crook-knee'd and dew-lap'd like_ Thessalian _Bulls; + Slow in Pursuit, but match'd in Mouths like Bells, + Each under each: A Cry more tuneable + Was never hallowed to, nor chear'd with Horn._ + +Sir _Roger_ is so keen at this Sport, that he has been out almost every +Day since I came down; and upon the Chaplain's offering to lend me his +easy Pad, I was prevailed on Yesterday Morning to make one of the +Company. I was extremely pleased, as we rid along, to observe the +general Benevolence of all the Neighbourhood towards my Friend. The +Farmers Sons thought themselves happy if they could open a Gate for the +good old Knight as he passed by; which he generally requited with a Nod +or a Smile, and a kind Enquiry after their Fathers and Uncles. + +After we had rid about a Mile from Home, we came upon a large Heath, and +the Sports-men began to beat. They had done so for some time, when, as I +was at a little Distance from the rest of the Company, I saw a Hare pop +out from a small Furze-brake almost under my Horse's Feet. I marked the +Way she took, which I endeavoured to make the Company sensible of by +extending my Arm; but to no purpose, 'till Sir ROGER, who knows that +none of my extraordinary Motions are insignificant, rode up to me, and +asked me _if Puss was gone that Way?_ Upon my answering _Yes_, he +immediately called in the Dogs, and put them upon the Scent. As they +were going off, I heard one of the Country-Fellows muttering to his +Companion, _That 'twas a Wonder they had not lost all their Sport, for +want of the silent Gentleman's crying STOLE AWAY._ + +This, with my Aversion to leaping Hedges, made me withdraw to a rising +Ground, from whence I could have the Picture of the whole Chace, without +the Fatigue of keeping in with the Hounds. The Hare immediately threw +them above a Mile behind her; but I was pleased to find, that instead of +running straight forwards, or in Hunter's Language, _Flying the +Country_, as I was afraid she might have done, she wheel'd about, and +described a sort of Circle round the Hill where I had taken my Station, +in such manner as gave me a very distinct View of the Sport. I could see +her first pass by, and the Dogs some time afterwards unravelling the +whole Track she had made, and following her thro' all her Doubles. I was +at the same time delighted in observing that Deference which the rest of +the Pack paid to each particular Hound, according to the Character he +had acquired amongst them: If they were at Fault, and an old Hound of +Reputation opened but once, he was immediately followed by the whole +Cry; while a raw Dog or one who was a noted _Liar_, might have yelped +his Heart out, without being taken Notice of. + +The Hare now, after having squatted two or three Times, and been put up +again as often, came still nearer to the Place where she was at first +started. The Dogs pursued her, and these were followed by the jolly +Knight, who rode upon a white Gelding, encompassed by his Tenants and +Servants, and chearing his Hounds with all the Gaiety of Five and +Twenty. One of the Sportsmen rode up to me, and told me, that he was +sure the Chace was almost at an End, because the old Dogs, which had +hitherto lain behind, now headed the Pack. The Fellow was in the right. +Our Hare took a large Field just under us, followed by the full Cry _in +View_. I must confess the Brightness of the Weather, the Chearfulness of +everything around me, the _Chiding_ of the Hounds, which was returned +upon us in a double Eccho, from two neighbouring Hills, with the +Hallowing of the Sportsmen, and the Sounding of the Horn, lifted my +Spirits into a most lively Pleasure, which I freely indulged because I +was sure it was _innocent_. If I was under any Concern, it was on the +Account of the poor Hare, that was now quite spent, and almost within +the Reach of her Enemies; when the Huntsman getting forward threw down +his Pole before the Dogs. They were now within eight Yards of that Game +which they had been pursuing for almost as many Hours; yet on the Signal +before-mentioned they all made a sudden Stand, and tho' they continued +opening as much as before, durst not once attempt to pass beyond the +Pole. At the same time Sir ROGER rode forward, and alighting, took up +the Hare in his Arms; which he soon delivered up to one of his Servants +with an Order, if she could be kept alive, to let her go in his great +Orchard; where it seems he has several of these Prisoners of War, who +live together in a very comfortable Captivity. I was highly pleased to +see the Discipline of the Pack, and the Good-nature of the Knight, who +could not find in his heart to murther a Creature that had given him so +much Diversion. + +As we were returning home, I remembred that Monsieur _Paschal_ in his +most excellent Discourse on _the Misery of Man_, tells us, That _all our +Endeavours after Greatness proceed from nothing but a Desire of being +surrounded by a Multitude of Persons and Affairs that may hinder us from +looking into our selves, which is a View we cannot bear_. He afterwards +goes on to shew that our Love of Sports comes from the same Reason, and +is particularly severe upon HUNTING, _What_, says he, _unless it be to +drown Thought, can make Men throw away so much Time and Pains upon a +silly Animal, which they might buy cheaper in the Market_? The foregoing +Reflection is certainly just, when a Man suffers his whole Mind to be +drawn into his Sports, and altogether loses himself in the Woods; but +does not affect those who propose a far more laudable End from this +Exercise, I mean, _The Preservation of Health, and keeping all the +Organs of the Soul in a Condition to execute her Orders_. Had that +incomparable Person, whom I last quoted, been a little more indulgent to +himself in this Point, the World might probably have enjoyed him much +longer; whereas thro' too great an Application to his Studies in his +Youth, he contracted that ill Habit of Body, which, after a tedious +Sickness, carried him oft in the fortieth Year of his Age; [3] and the +whole History we have of his Life till that Time, is but one continued +Account of the behaviour of a noble Soul struggling under innumerable +Pains and Distempers. + +For my own part I intend to Hunt twice a Week during my Stay with Sir +ROGER; and shall prescribe the moderate use of this Exercise to all my +Country Friends, as the best kind of Physick for mending a bad +Constitution, and preserving a good one. + +I cannot do this better, than in the following Lines out of Mr. +_Dryden_ [4]. + + _The first Physicians by Debauch were made; + Excess began, and Sloth sustains the Trade. + By Chace our long-liv'd Fathers earn'd their Food; + Toil strung the Nerves, and purify'd the Blood; + But we their Sons, a pamper'd Race of Men, + Are dwindled down to threescore Years and ten. + Better to hunt in Fields for Health unbought, + Than fee the Doctor for a nauseous Draught. + The Wise for Cure on Exercise depend: + God never made his Work for Man to mend._ + + + +[Footnote 1: As to dogs, the difference is great between a hunt now and +a hunt in the 'Spectator's' time. Since the early years of the last +century the modern foxhound has come into existence, while the beagle +and the deep-flewed southern hare-hound, nearly resembling the +bloodhound, with its sonorous note, has become almost extinct. +Absolutely extinct also is the old care to attune the voices of a pack. +Henry II, in his breeding of hounds, is said to have been careful not +only that they should be fleet, but also 'well-tongued and consonous;' +the same care in Elizabeth's time is, in the passage quoted by the +'Spectator', attributed by Shakespeare to Duke Theseus; and the paper +itself shows that care was taken to match the voices of a pack in the +reign also of Queen Anne. This has now been for some time absolutely +disregarded. In many important respects the pattern harrier of the +present day differs even from the harriers used at the beginning of the +present century.] + + +[Footnote 2: Act IV. sc. 1.] + + +[Footnote 3: Pascal, who wrote a treatise on Conic sections at the age +of 16, and had composed most of his mathematical works and made his +chief experiments in science by the age of 26, was in constant +suffering, by disease, from his 18th year until his death, in 1662, at +the age stated in the text. Expectation of an early death caused him to +pass from his scientific studies into the direct service of religion, +and gave, as the fruit of his later years, the Provincial Letters and +the 'Pensées'.] + + +[Footnote 4: Epistle to his kinsman, J. Driden, Esq., of Chesterton.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 117. Saturday, July 14, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Ipsi sibi somnia fingunt.' + + Virg. + + +There are some Opinions in which a Man should stand Neuter, without +engaging his Assent to one side or the other. Such a hovering Faith as +this, which refuses to settle upon any Determination, is absolutely +necessary to a Mind that is careful to avoid Errors and Prepossessions. +When the Arguments press equally on both sides in Matters that are +indifferent to us, the safest Method is to give up our selves to +neither. + +It is with this Temper of Mind that I consider the Subject of +Witchcraft. When I hear the Relations that are made from all Parts of +the World, not only from _Norway_ and _Lapland_, from the _East_ and +_West Indies_, but from every particular Nation in _Europe_, I cannot +forbear thinking that there is such an Intercourse and Commerce with +Evil Spirits, as that which we express by the Name of Witch-craft. But +when I consider that the ignorant and credulous Parts of the World +abound most in these Relations, and that the Persons among us, who are +supposed to engage in such an Infernal Commerce, are People of a weak +Understanding and a crazed Imagination, and at the same time reflect +upon the many Impostures and Delusions of this Nature that have been +detected in all Ages, I endeavour to suspend my Belief till I hear more +certain Accounts than any which have yet come to my Knowledge. In short, +when I consider the Question, whether there are such Persons in the +World as those we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two +opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe in +general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witch-craft; but at +the same time can give no Credit to any particular Instance of it. + +I am engaged in this Speculation, by some Occurrences that I met with +Yesterday, which I shall give my Reader an Account of at large. As I was +walking with my Friend Sir ROGER by the side of one of his Woods, an old +Woman applied herself to me for my Charity. Her Dress and Figure put me +in mind of the following Description in [_Otway_. [1]] + + In a close Lane as I pursued my Journey, + I spy'd a wrinkled Hag, with Age grown double, + Picking dry Sticks, and mumbling to her self. + Her Eyes with scalding Rheum were gall'd and red, + Cold Palsy shook her Head; her Hands seem'd wither'd; + And on her crooked Shoulders had she wrap'd + The tatter'd Remnants of an old striped Hanging, + Which served to keep her Carcase from the Cold: + So there was nothing of a Piece about her. + Her lower Weeds were all o'er coarsly patch'd + With diff'rent-colour'd Rags, black, red, white, yellow, + And seem'd to speak Variety of Wretchedness. [2] + +[As I was musing on this Description, and comparing it with the Object +before me, the Knight told me, [3]] that this very old Woman had the +Reputation of a Witch all over the Country, that her Lips were observed +to be always in Motion, and that there was not a Switch about her House +which her Neighbours did not believe had carried her several hundreds of +Miles. If she chanced to stumble, they always found Sticks or Straws +that lay in the Figure of a Cross before her. If she made any Mistake at +Church, and cryed _Amen_ in a wrong Place, they never failed to conclude +that she was saying her Prayers backwards. There was not a Maid in the +Parish that would take a Pin of her, though she would offer a Bag of +Mony with it. She goes by the Name of _Moll White_, and has made the +Country ring with several imaginary Exploits which are palmed upon her. +If the Dairy Maid does not make her Butter come so soon as she should +have it, _Moll White_ is at the Bottom of the Churn. If a Horse sweats +in the Stable, _Moll White_ has been upon his Back. If a Hare makes an +unexpected escape from the Hounds, the Huntsman curses _Moll White_. +Nay, (says Sir ROGER) I have known the Master of the Pack, upon such an +Occasion, send one of his Servants to see if _Moll White_ had been out +that Morning. + +This Account raised my Curiosity so far, that I begged my Friend Sir +ROGER to go with me into her Hovel, which stood in a solitary Corner +under the side of the Wood. Upon our first entering Sir ROGER winked to +me, and pointed at something that stood behind the Door, which, upon +looking that Way, I found to be an old Broom-staff. At the same time he +whispered me in the Ear to take notice of a Tabby Cat that sat in the +Chimney-Corner, which, as the old Knight told me, lay under as bad a +Report as _Moll White_ her self; for besides that _Moll_ is said often +to accompany her in the same Shape, the Cat is reported to have spoken +twice or thrice in her Life, and to have played several Pranks above the +Capacity of an ordinary Cat. + +I was secretly concerned to see Human Nature in so much Wretchedness and +Disgrace, but at the same time could not forbear smiling to hear Sir +ROGER, who is a little puzzled about the old Woman, advising her as a +Justice of Peace to avoid all Communication with the Devil, and never to +hurt any of her Neighbours' Cattle. We concluded our Visit with a +Bounty, which was very acceptable. + +In our Return home, Sir ROGER told me, that old _Moll_ had been often +brought before him for making Children spit Pins, and giving Maids the +Night-Mare; and that the Country People would be tossing her into a Pond +and trying Experiments with her every Day, if it was not for him and his +Chaplain. + +I have since found upon Enquiry, that Sir ROGER was several times +staggered with the Reports that had been brought him concerning this old +Woman, and would frequently have bound her over to the County Sessions, +had not his Chaplain with much ado perswaded him to the contrary. [4] + +I have been the more particular in this Account, because I hear there is +scarce a Village in _England_ that has not a _Moll White_ in it. When an +old Woman begins to doat, and grow chargeable to a Parish, she is +generally turned into a Witch, and fills the whole Country with +extravagant Fancies, imaginary Distempers and terrifying Dreams. In the +mean time, the poor Wretch that is the innocent Occasion of so many +Evils begins to be frighted at her self, and sometimes confesses secret +Commerce and Familiarities that her Imagination forms in a delirious old +Age. This frequently cuts off Charity from the greatest Objects of +Compassion, and inspires People with a Malevolence towards those poor +decrepid Parts of our Species, in whom Human Nature is defaced by +Infirmity and Dotage. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: _Ottway_, which I could not forbear repeating on this +occasion.] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Orphan', Act II. Chamont to Monimia.] + + +[Footnote 3: The knight told me, upon hearing the Description,] + + +[Footnote 4: When this essay was written, charges were being laid +against one old woman, Jane Wenham, of Walkerne, a little village north +of Hertford, which led to her trial for witchcraft at assizes held in +the following year, 1712, when she was found guilty; and became +memorable as the last person who, in this country, was condemned to +capital punishment for that impossible offence. The judge got first a +reprieve and then a pardon. The lawyers had refused to draw up any +indictment against the poor old creature, except, in mockery, for +'conversing familiarly with the devil in form of a cat.' But of that +offence she was found guilty upon the testimony of sixteen witnesses, +three of whom were clergymen. One witness, Anne Thorne, testified that +every night the pins went from her pincushion into her mouth. Others +gave evidence that they had seen pins come jumping through the air into +Anne Thorne's mouth. Two swore that they had heard the prisoner, in the +shape of a cat, converse with the devil, he being also in form of a cat. +Anne Thorne swore that she was tormented exceedingly with cats, and that +all the cats had the face and voice of the witch. The vicar of Ardeley +had tested the poor ignorant creature with the Lord's Prayer, and +finding that she could not repeat it, had terrified her with his moral +tortures into some sort of confession. Such things, then, were said and +done, and such credulity was abetted even by educated men at the time +when this essay was written. Upon charges like those ridiculed in the +text, a woman actually was, a few months later, not only committed by +justices with a less judicious spiritual counsellor than Sir Roger's +chaplain, but actually found guilty at the assizes, and condemned to +death.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 118. Monday, July 16, 1711. Steele. + + + '... Haret lateri lethalis arundo.' + + Virg. + + +This agreeable Seat is surrounded with so many pleasing Walks, which are +struck out of a Wood, in the midst of which the House stands, that one +can hardly ever be weary of rambling from one Labyrinth of Delight to +another. To one used to live in a City the Charms of the Country are so +exquisite, that the Mind is lost in a certain Transport which raises us +above ordinary Life, and is yet not strong enough to be inconsistent +with Tranquility. This State of Mind was I in, ravished with the Murmur +of Waters, the Whisper of Breezes, the Singing of Birds; and whether I +looked up to the Heavens, down on the Earth, or turned to the Prospects +around me, still struck with new Sense of Pleasure; when I found by the +Voice of my Friend, who walked by me, that we had insensibly stroled +into the Grove sacred to the Widow. + + This Woman, says he, is of all others the most unintelligible: she + either designs to marry, or she does not. What is the most perplexing + of all, is, that she doth not either say to her Lovers she has any + Resolution against that Condition of Life in general, or that she + banishes them; but conscious of her own Merit, she permits their + Addresses, without Fear of any ill Consequence, or want of Respect, + from their Rage or Despair. She has that in her Aspect, against which + it is impossible to offend. A Man whose Thoughts are constantly bent + upon so agreeable an Object, must be excused if the ordinary + Occurrences in Conversation are below his Attention. I call her indeed + perverse, but, alas! why do I call her so? Because her superior Merit + is such, that I cannot approach her without Awe, that my Heart is + checked by too much Esteem: I am angry that her Charms are not more + accessible, that I am more inclined to worship than salute her: How + often have I wished her unhappy that I might have an Opportunity of + serving her? and how often troubled in that very Imagination, at + giving her the Pain of being obliged? Well, I have led a miserable + Life in secret upon her Account; but fancy she would have condescended + to have some regard for me, if it had not been for that watchful + Animal her Confident. + + Of all Persons under the Sun (continued he, calling me by my Name) be + sure to set a Mark upon Confidents: they are of all People the most + impertinent. What is most pleasant to observe in them, is, that they + assume to themselves the Merit of the Persons whom they have in their + Custody. _Orestilla_ is a great Fortune, and in wonderful Danger of + Surprizes, therefore full of Suspicions of the least indifferent + thing, particularly careful of new Acquaintance, and of growing too + familiar with the old. _Themista_, her Favourite-Woman, is every whit + as careful of whom she speaks to, and what she says. Let the Ward be a + Beauty, her Confident shall treat you with an Air of Distance; let her + be a Fortune, and she assumes the suspicious Behaviour of her Friend + and Patroness. Thus it is that very many of our unmarried Women of + Distinction, are to all Intents and Purposes married, except the + Consideration of different Sexes. They are directly under the Conduct + of their Whisperer; and think they are in a State of Freedom, while + they can prate with one of these Attendants of all Men in general, and + still avoid the Man they most like. You do not see one Heiress in a + hundred whose Fate does not turn upon this Circumstance of choosing a + Confident. Thus it is that the Lady is addressed to, presented and + flattered, only by Proxy, in her Woman. In my Case, how is it possible + that ... + +Sir RODGER was proceeding in his Harangue, when we heard the Voice of +one speaking very importunately, and repeating these Words, 'What, not +one Smile?' We followed the Sound till we came to a close Thicket, on +the other side of which we saw a young Woman sitting as it were in a +personated Sullenness just over a transparent Fountain. Opposite to her +stood Mr. _William_, Sir Roger's Master of the Game. The Knight +whispered me, 'Hist, these are Lovers.' The Huntsman looking earnestly +at the Shadow of the young Maiden in the Stream, + + 'Oh thou dear Picture, if thou couldst remain there in the Absence of + that fair Creature whom you represent in the Water, how willingly + could I stand here satisfied for ever, without troubling my dear + _Betty_ herself with any Mention of her unfortunate _William_, whom + she is angry with: But alas! when she pleases to be gone, thou wilt + also vanish--Yet let me talk to thee while thou dost stay. Tell my + dearest _Betty_ thou dost not more depend upon her, than does her + _William_? Her Absence will make away with me as well as thee. If she + offers to remove thee, I'll jump into these Waves to lay hold on thee; + her self, her own dear Person, I must never embrace again--Still do + you hear me without one Smile--It is too much to bear--' + +He had no sooner spoke these Words, but he made an Offer of throwing +himself into the Water: At which his Mistress started up, and at the +next Instant he jumped across the Fountain and met her in an Embrace. +She half recovering from her Fright, said in the most charming Voice +imaginable, and with a Tone of Complaint, + + 'I thought how well you would drown yourself. No, no, you won't drown + yourself till you have taken your leave of _Susan Holliday_.' + +The Huntsman, with a Tenderness that spoke the most passionate Love, and +with his Cheek close to hers, whispered the softest Vows of Fidelity in +her Ear, and cried, + + 'Don't, my Dear, believe a Word _Kate Willow_ says; she is spiteful + and makes Stories, because she loves to hear me talk to her self for + your sake.' + + Look you there, quoth Sir Roger, do you see there, all Mischief comes + from Confidents! But let us not interrupt them; the Maid is honest, + and the Man dares not be otherwise, for he knows I loved her Father: I + will interpose in this matter, and hasten the Wedding. _Kate Willow_ + is a witty mischievous Wench in the Neighbourhood, who was a Beauty; + and makes me hope I shall see the perverse Widow in her Condition. She + was so flippant with her Answers to all the honest Fellows that came + near her, and so very vain of her Beauty, that she has valued herself + upon her Charms till they are ceased. She therefore now makes it her + Business to prevent other young Women from being more Discreet than + she was herself: However, the saucy Thing said the other Day well + enough, 'Sir ROGER and I must make a Match, for we are 'both despised + by those we loved:' The Hussy has a great deal of Power wherever she + comes, and has her Share of Cunning. + + However, when I reflect upon this Woman, I do not know whether in the + main I am the worse for having loved her: Whenever she is recalled to + my Imagination my Youth returns, and I feel a forgotten Warmth in my + Veins. This Affliction in my Life has streaked all my Conduct with a + Softness, of which I should otherwise have been incapable. It is, + perhaps, to this dear Image in my Heart owing, that I am apt to + relent, that I easily forgive, and that many desirable things are + grown into my Temper, which I should not have arrived at by better + Motives than the Thought of being one Day hers. I am pretty well + satisfied such a Passion as I have had is never well cured; and + between you and me, I am often apt to imagine it has had some + whimsical Effect upon my Brain: For I frequently find, that in my most + serious Discourse I let fall some comical Familiarity of Speech or odd + Phrase that makes the Company laugh; However, I cannot but allow she + is a most excellent Woman. When she is in the Country I warrant she + does not run into Dairies, but reads upon the Nature of Plants; but + has a Glass Hive, and comes into the Garden out of Books to see them + work, and observe the Policies of their Commonwealth. She understands + every thing. I'd give ten Pounds to hear her argue with my Friend Sir + ANDREW FREEPORT about Trade. No, no, for all she looks so innocent as + it were, take my Word for it she is no Fool. + +T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 119. Tuesday, July 17, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Urbem quam dicunt Romam, Melibæe, putavi + Stultus ego huic nostræ similem ...' + + Virg. + + +The first and most obvious Reflections which arise in a Man who changes +the City for the Country, are upon the different Manners of the People +whom he meets with in those two different Scenes of Life. By Manners I +do not mean Morals, but Behaviour and Good Breeding, as they shew +themselves in the Town and in the Country. + +And here, in the first place, I must observe a very great Revolution +that has happen'd in this Article of Good Breeding. Several obliging +Deferences, Condescensions and Submissions, with many outward Forms and +Ceremonies that accompany them, were first of all brought up among the +politer Part of Mankind, who lived in Courts and Cities, and +distinguished themselves from the Rustick part of the Species (who on +all Occasions acted bluntly and naturally) by such a mutual Complaisance +and Intercourse of Civilities. These Forms of Conversation by degrees +multiplied and grew troublesome; the Modish World found too great a +Constraint in them, and have therefore thrown most of them aside. +Conversation, like the _Romish_ Religion, was so encumbered with Show +and Ceremony, that it stood in need of a Reformation to retrench its +Superfluities, and restore it to its natural good Sense and Beauty. At +present therefore an unconstrained Carriage, and a certain Openness of +Behaviour, are the Height of Good Breeding. The Fashionable World is +grown free and easie; our Manners sit more loose upon us: Nothing is so +modish as an agreeable Negligence. In a word, Good Breeding shews it +self most, where to an ordinary Eye it appears the least. + +If after this we look on the People of Mode in the Country, we find in +them the Manners of the last Age. They have no sooner fetched themselves +up to the Fashion of the polite World, but the Town has dropped them, +and are nearer to the first State of Nature than to those Refinements +which formerly reign'd in the Court, and still prevail in the Country. +One may now know a Man that never conversed in the World, by his Excess +of Good Breeding. A polite Country 'Squire shall make you as many Bows +in half an Hour, as would serve a Courtier for a Week. There is +infinitely more to do about Place and Precedency in a Meeting of +Justices Wives, than in an Assembly of Dutchesses. + +This Rural Politeness is very troublesome to a Man of my Temper, who +generally take the Chair that is next me, and walk first or last, in the +Front or in the Rear, as Chance directs. I have known my Friend Sir +Roger's Dinner almost cold before the Company could adjust the +Ceremonial, and be prevailed upon to sit down; and have heartily pitied +my old Friend, when I have seen him forced to pick and cull his Guests, +as they sat at the several Parts of his Table, that he might drink their +Healths according to their respective Ranks and Qualities. Honest _Will. +Wimble_, who I should have thought had been altogether uninfected with +Ceremony, gives me abundance of Trouble in this Particular. Though he +has been fishing all the Morning, he will not help himself at Dinner +'till I am served. When we are going out of the Hall, he runs behind me; +and last Night, as we were walking in the Fields, stopped short at a +Stile till I came up to it, and upon my making Signs to him to get over, +told me, with a serious Smile, that sure I believed they had no Manners +in the Country. + +There has happened another Revolution in the Point of Good Breeding, +which relates to the Conversation among Men of Mode, and which I cannot +but look upon as very extraordinary. It was certainly one of the first +Distinctions of a well-bred Man, to express every thing that had the +most remote Appearance of being obscene, in modest Terms and distant +Phrases; whilst the Clown, who had no such Delicacy of Conception and +Expression, clothed his _Ideas_ in those plain homely Terms that are the +most obvious and natural. This kind of Good Manners was perhaps carried +to an Excess, so as to make Conversation too stiff, formal and precise: +for which Reason (as Hypocrisy in one Age is generally succeeded by +Atheism in another) Conversation is in a great measure relapsed into the +first Extream; so that at present several of our Men of the Town, and +particularly those who have been polished in _France_, make use of the +most coarse uncivilized Words in our Language, and utter themselves +often in such a manner as a Clown would blush to hear. + +This infamous Piece of Good Breeding, which reigns among the Coxcombs of +the Town, has not yet made its way into the Country; and as it is +impossible for such an irrational way of Conversation to last long among +a People that make any Profession of Religion, or Show of Modesty, if +the Country Gentlemen get into it they will certainly be left in the +Lurch. Their Good-breeding will come too late to them, and they will be +thought a Parcel of lewd Clowns, while they fancy themselves talking +together like Men of Wit and Pleasure. + +As the two Points of Good Breeding, which I have hitherto insisted upon, +regard Behaviour and Conversation, there is a third which turns upon +Dress. In this too the Country are very much behind-hand. The Rural +Beaus are not yet got out of the Fashion that took place at the time of +the Revolution, but ride about the Country in red Coats and laced Hats, +while the Women in many Parts are still trying to outvie one another in +the Height of their Head-dresses. + +But a Friend of mine, who is now upon the Western Circuit, having +promised to give me an Account of the several Modes and Fashions that +prevail in the different Parts of the Nation through which he passes, I +shall defer the enlarging upon this last Topick till I have received a +Letter from him, which I expect every Post. + +L. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 120. Wednesday, July 18, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Equidem credo, quia sit Divinitus illis + Ingenium ...' + + Virg. + + +My Friend Sir Roger is very often merry with me upon my passing so much +of my Time among his Poultry: He has caught me twice or thrice looking +after a Bird's Nest, and several times sitting an Hour or two together +near an Hen and Chickens. He tells me he believes I am personally +acquainted with every Fowl about his House; calls such a particular Cock +my Favourite, and frequently complains that his Ducks and Geese have +more of my Company than himself. + +I must confess I am infinitely delighted with those Speculations of +Nature which are to be made in a Country-Life; and as my Reading has +very much lain among Books of natural History, I cannot forbear +recollecting upon this Occasion the several Remarks which I have met +with in Authors, and comparing them with what falls under my own +Observation: The Arguments for Providence drawn from the natural History +of Animals being in my Opinion demonstrative. + +The Make of every Kind of Animal is different from that of every other +Kind; and yet there is not the least Turn in the Muscles or Twist in the +Fibres of any one, which does not render them more proper for that +particular Animal's Way of Life than any other Cast or Texture of them +would have been. + +The most violent Appetites in all Creatures are _Lust_ and _Hunger_: The +first is a perpetual Call upon them to propagate their Kind; the latter +to preserve themselves. + +It is astonishing to consider the different Degrees of Care that descend +from the Parent to the Young, so far as is absolutely necessary for the +leaving a Posterity. Some Creatures cast their Eggs as Chance directs +them, and think of them no farther, as Insects and several Kinds of +Fish: Others, of a nicer Frame, find out proper Beds to [deposite [1]] +them in, and there leave them; as the Serpent, the Crocodile, and +Ostrich: Others hatch their Eggs and tend the Birth, 'till it is able to +shift for it self. + +What can we call the Principle which directs every different Kind of +Bird to observe a particular Plan in the Structure of its Nest, and +directs all of the same Species to work after the same Model? It cannot +be Imitation; for though you hatch a Crow under a Hen, and never let it +see any of the Works of its own Kind, the Nest it makes shall be the +same, to the laying of a Stick, with all the other Nests of the same +Species. It cannot be _Reason_; for were Animals indued with it to as +great a Degree as Man, their Buildings would be as different as ours, +according to the different Conveniences that they would propose to +themselves. + +Is it not remarkable, that the same Temper of Weather, which raises this +genial Warmth in Animals, should cover the Trees with Leaves and the +Fields with Grass for their Security and Concealment, and produce such +infinite Swarms of Insects for the Support and Sustenance of their +respective Broods? + +Is it not wonderful, that the Love of the Parent should be so violent +while it lasts; and that it should last no longer than is necessary for +the Preservation of the Young? + +The Violence of this natural Love is exemplify'd by a very barbarous +Experiment; which I shall quote at Length, as I find it in an excellent +Author, and hope my Readers will pardon the mentioning such an Instance +of Cruelty, because there is nothing can so effectually shew the +Strength of that Principle in Animals of which I am here speaking. 'A +Person who was well skilled in Dissection opened a Bitch, and as she lay +in the most exquisite Tortures, offered her one of her young Puppies, +which she immediately fell a licking; and for the Time seemed insensible +of her own Pain: On the Removal, she kept her Eye fixt on it, and began +a wailing sort of Cry, which seemed rather to proceed from the Loss of +her young one, than the Sense of her own Torments. + +But notwithstanding this natural Love in Brutes is much more violent and +intense than in rational Creatures, Providence has taken care that it +should be no longer troublesome to the Parent than it is useful to the +Young: for so soon as the Wants of the latter cease, the Mother +withdraws her Fondness, and leaves them to provide for themselves: and +what is a very remarkable Circumstance in this part of Instinct, we find +that the Love of the Parent may be lengthened out beyond its usual time, +if the Preservation of the Species requires it; as we may see in Birds +that drive away their Young as soon as they are able to get their +Livelihood, but continue to feed them if they are tied to the Nest, or +confined within a Cage, or by any other Means appear to be out of a +Condition of supplying their own Necessities. + +This natural Love is not observed in animals to ascend from the Young to +the Parent, which is not at all necessary for the Continuance of the +Species: Nor indeed in reasonable Creatures does it rise in any +Proportion, as it spreads it self downwards; for in all Family +Affection, we find Protection granted and Favours bestowed, are greater +Motives to Love and Tenderness, than Safety, Benefits, or Life received. + +One would wonder to hear Sceptical Men disputing for the Reason of +Animals, and telling us it is only our Pride and Prejudices that will +not allow them the Use of that Faculty. + +Reason shews it self in all Occurrences of Life; whereas the Brute makes +no Discovery of such a Talent, but in what immediately regards his own +Preservation, or the Continuance of his Species. Animals in their +Generation are wiser than the Sons of Men; but their Wisdom is confined +to a few Particulars, and lies in a very narrow Compass. Take a Brute +out of his Instinct, and you find him wholly deprived of Understanding. +To use an Instance that comes often under Observation. + +With what Caution does the Hen provide herself a Nest in Places +unfrequented, and free from Noise and Disturbance! When she has laid her +Eggs in such a Manner that she can cover them, what Care does she take +in turning them frequently, that all Parts may partake of the vital +Warmth? When she leaves them, to provide for her necessary Sustenance, +how punctually does she return before they have time to cool, and become +incapable of producing an Animal? In the Summer you see her giving her +self greater Freedoms, and quitting her Care for above two Hours +together; but in Winter, when the Rigour of the Season would chill the +Principles of Life, and destroy the young one, she grows more assiduous +in her Attendance, and stays away but half the Time. When the Birth +approaches, with how much Nicety and Attention does she help the Chick +to break its Prison? Not to take notice of her covering it from the +Injuries of the Weather, providing it proper Nourishment, and teaching +it to help it self; nor to mention her forsaking the Nest, if after the +usual Time of reckoning the young one does not make its Appearance. A +Chymical Operation could not be followed with greater Art or Diligence, +than is seen in the hatching of a Chick; tho' there are many other Birds +that shew an infinitely greater Sagacity in all the forementioned +Particulars. + +But at the same time the Hen, that has all this seeming Ingenuity, +(which is indeed absolutely necessary for the Propagation of the +Species) considered in other respects, is without the least Glimmerings +of Thought or common Sense. She mistakes a Piece of Chalk for an Egg, +and sits upon it in the same manner: She is insensible of any Increase +or Diminution in the Number of those she lays: She does not distinguish +between her own and those of another Species; and when the Birth appears +of never so different a Bird, will cherish it for her own. In all these +Circumstances which do not carry an immediate Regard to the Subsistence +of her self or her Species, she is a very Ideot. + +There is not, in my Opinion, any thing more mysterious in Nature than +this Instinct in Animals, which thus rises above Reason, and falls +infinitely short of it. It cannot be accounted for by any Properties in +Matter, and at the same time works after so odd a manner, that one +cannot think it the Faculty of an intellectual Being. For my own part, I +look upon it as upon the Principle of Gravitation in Bodies, which is +not to be explained by any known Qualities inherent in the Bodies +themselves, nor from any Laws of Mechanism, but, according to the best +Notions of the greatest Philosophers, is an immediate Impression from +the first Mover, and the Divine Energy acting in the Creatures. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: depose] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 121. Thursday, July 19, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Jovis omnia plena.' + + Virg. + + +As I was walking this Morning in the great Yard that belongs to my +Friend's Country House, I was wonderfully pleased to see the different +Workings of Instinct in a Hen followed by a Brood of Ducks. The Young, +upon the sight of a Pond, immediately ran into it; while the Stepmother, +with all imaginable Anxiety, hovered about the Borders of it, to call +them out of an Element that appeared to her so dangerous and +destructive. As the different Principle which acted in these different +Animals cannot be termed Reason, so when we call it _Instinct_, we mean +something we have no Knowledge of. To me, as I hinted in my last Paper, +it seems the immediate Direction of Providence, and such an Operation of +the Supreme Being, as that which determines all the Portions of Matter +to their proper Centres. A modern Philosopher, quoted by Monsieur +_Bayle_ [1] in his learned Dissertation on the Souls of Brutes, delivers +the same Opinion, tho' in a bolder Form of Words, where he says, _Deus +est Anima Brutorum_, God himself is the Soul of Brutes. Who can tell +what to call that seeming Sagacity in Animals, which directs them to +such Food as is proper for them, and makes them naturally avoid whatever +is noxious or unwholesome? _Tully_ has observed that a Lamb no sooner +falls from its Mother, but immediately and of his own accord applies +itself to the Teat. _Dampier_, in his Travels, [2] tells us, that when +Seamen are thrown upon any of the unknown Coasts of _America_, they +never venture upon the Fruit of any Tree, how tempting soever it may +appear, unless they observe that it is marked with the Pecking of Birds; +but fall on without any Fear or Apprehension where the Birds have been +before them. + +But notwithstanding Animals have nothing like the use of Reason, we find +in them all the lower Parts of our Nature, the Passions and Senses in +their greatest Strength and Perfection. And here it is worth our +Observation, that all Beasts and Birds of Prey are wonderfully subject +to Anger, Malice, Revenge, and all the other violent Passions that may +animate them in search of their proper Food; as those that are incapable +of defending themselves, or annoying others, or whose Safety lies +chiefly in their Flight, are suspicious, fearful and apprehensive of +every thing they see or hear; whilst others that are of Assistance and +Use to Man, have their Natures softened with something mild and +tractable, and by that means are qualified for a Domestick Life. In this +Case the Passions generally correspond with the Make of the Body. We do +not find the Fury of a Lion in so weak and defenceless an Animal as a +Lamb, nor the Meekness of a Lamb in a Creature so armed for Battel and +Assault as the Lion. In the same manner, we find that particular Animals +have a more or less exquisite Sharpness and Sagacity in those particular +Senses which most turn to their Advantage, and in which their Safety and +Welfare is the most concerned. + +Nor must we here omit that great Variety of Arms with which Nature has +differently fortified the Bodies of several kind of Animals, such as +Claws, Hoofs, and Horns, Teeth, and Tusks, a Tail, a Sting, a Trunk, or +a _Proboscis_. It is likewise observed by Naturalists, that it must be +some hidden Principle distinct from what we call Reason, which instructs +Animals in the Use of these their Arms, and teaches them to manage them +to the best Advantage; because they naturally defend themselves with +that Part in which their Strength lies, before the Weapon be formed in +it; as is remarkable in Lambs, which tho' they are bred within Doors, +and never saw the Actions of their own Species, push at those who +approach them with their Foreheads, before the first budding of a Horn +appears. + +I shall add to these general Observations, an Instance which Mr. _Lock_ +has given us of Providence even in the Imperfections of a Creature which +seems the meanest and most despicable in the whole animal World. _We +may_, says he, _from the Make of an Oyster, or Cockle, conclude, that it +has not so many nor so quick Senses as a Man, or several other Animals: +Nor if it had, would it, in that State and Incapacity of transferring it +self from one Place to another, be bettered by them. What good would +Sight and Hearing do to a Creature, that cannot move it self to, or from +the Object, wherein at a distance it perceives Good or Evil? And would +not Quickness of Sensation be an Inconvenience to an Animal, that must +be still where Chance has once placed it; and there receive the Afflux +of colder or warmer, clean or foul Water, as it happens to come to it_. +[3] + +I shall add to this Instance out of Mr. _Lock_ another out of the +learned Dr. _Moor_, [4] who cites it from _Cardan_, in relation to +another Animal which Providence has left Defective, but at the same time +has shewn its Wisdom in the Formation of that Organ in which it seems +chiefly to have failed. _What is more obvious and ordinary than a Mole? +and yet what more palpable Argument of Providence than she? The Members +of her Body are so exactly fitted to her Nature and Manner of Life: For +her Dwelling being under Ground where nothing is to be seen, Nature has +so obscurely fitted her with Eyes, that Naturalists can hardly agree +whether she have any Sight at all or no. But for Amends, what she is +capable of for her Defence and Warning of Danger, she has very eminently +conferred upon her; for she is exceeding quick of hearing. And then her +short Tail and short Legs, but broad Fore-feet armed with sharp Claws, +we see by the Event to what Purpose they are, she so swiftly working her +self under Ground, and making her way so fast in the Earth as they that +behold it cannot but admire it. Her Legs therefore are short, that she +need dig no more than will serve the mere Thickness of her Body; and her +Fore-feet are broad that she may scoop away much Earth at a time; and +little or no Tail she has, because she courses it not on the Ground, +like the Rat or Mouse, of whose Kindred she is, but lives under the +Earth, and is fain to dig her self a Dwelling there. And she making her +way through so thick an Element, which will not yield easily, as the Air +or _the Wafer, it had been dangerous to have drawn so long a Train +behind her; for her Enemy might fall upon her Rear, and fetch her out, +before she had compleated or got full Possession of her Works_. + +I cannot forbear mentioning Mr. _Boyle's_ Remark upon this last +Creature, who I remember somewhere in his Works observes, [5] that +though the Mole be not totally blind (as it is commonly thought) she has +not Sight enough to distinguish particular Objects. Her Eye is said to +have but one Humour in it, which is supposed to give her the Idea of +Light, but of nothing else, and is so formed that this Idea is probably +painful to the Animal. Whenever she comes up into broad Day she might be +in Danger of being taken, unless she were thus affected by a Light +striking upon her Eye, and immediately warning her to bury herself in +her proper Element. More Sight would be useless to her, as none at all +might be fatal. + +I have only instanced such Animals as seem the most imperfect Works of +Nature; and if Providence shews it self even in the Blemishes of these +Creatures, how much more does it discover it self in the several +Endowments which it has variously bestowed upon such Creatures as are +more or less finished and compleated in their several Faculties, +according to the condition of Life in which they are posted. + +I could wish our Royal Society would compile a Body of Natural History, +the best that could be gather'd together from Books and Observations. If +the several Writers among them took each his particular Species, and +gave us a distinct Account of its Original, Birth and Education; its +Policies, Hostilities and Alliances, with the Frame and Texture of its +inward and outward Parts, and particularly those that distinguish it +from all other Animals, with their peculiar Aptitudes for the State of +Being in which Providence has placed them, it would be one of the best +Services their Studies could do Mankind, and not a little redound to the +Glory of the All-wise Contriver. + +It is true, such a Natural History, after all the Disquisitions of the +Learned, would be infinitely Short and Defective. Seas and Desarts hide +Millions of Animals from our Observation. Innumerable Artifices and +Stratagems are acted in the _Howling Wilderness_ and in the _Great +Deep_, that can never come to our Knowledge. Besides that there are +infinitely more Species of Creatures which are not to be seen without, +nor indeed with the help of the finest Glasses, than of such as are +bulky enough for the naked Eye to take hold of. However from the +Consideration of such Animals as lie within the Compass of our +Knowledge, we might easily form a Conclusion of the rest, that the same +Variety of Wisdom and Goodness runs through the whole Creation, and puts +every Creature in a Condition to provide for its Safety and Subsistence +in its proper Station. + +_Tully_ has given us an admirable Sketch of Natural History, in his +second Book concerning the Nature of the Gods; and then in a Stile so +raised by Metaphors and Descriptions, that it lifts the Subject above +Raillery and Ridicule, which frequently fall on such nice Observations +when they pass through the Hands of an ordinary Writer. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Bayle's Dictionary', here quoted, first appeared in +English in 1710. Pierre Bayle himself had first produced it in two folio +vols. in 1695-6, and was engaged in controversies caused by it until his +death in 1706, at the age of 59. He was born at Carlat, educated at the +universities of Puylaurens and Toulouse, was professor of Philosophy +successively at Sedan and Rotterdam till 1693, when he was deprived for +scepticism. He is said to have worked fourteen hours a day for 40 years, +and has been called 'the Shakespeare of Dictionary Makers.'] + + +[Footnote 2: Captain William Dampier's 'Voyages round the World' +appeared in 3 vols., 1697-1709. The quotation is from vol. i. p. 39 (Ed. +1699, the Fourth). Dampier was born in 1652, and died about 1712.] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Essay on Human Understanding', Bk. II. ch. 9, § 13.] + + +[Footnote 4: 'Antidote against Atheism', Bk. II. ch. 10, § 5.] + + +[Footnote 5: 'Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things', +Sect. 2.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 122. Friday, July 20, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est.' + + Publ. Syr. Frag. + + +A man's first Care should be to avoid the Reproaches of his own Heart; +his next, to escape the Censures of the World: If the last interferes +with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise, there +cannot be a greater Satisfaction to an honest Mind, than to see those +Approbations which it gives it self seconded by the Applauses of the +Publick: A Man is more sure of his Conduct, when the Verdict which he +passes upon his own Behaviour is thus warranted and confirmed by the +Opinion of all that know him. + +My worthy Friend Sir Roger is one of those who is not only at Peace +within himself, but beloved and esteemed by all about him. He receives a +suitable Tribute for his universal Benevolence to Mankind, in the +Returns of Affection and Good-will, which are paid him by every one that +lives within his Neighbourhood. I lately met with two or three odd +Instances of that general Respect which is shown to the good old Knight. +He would needs carry _Will. Wimble_ and myself with him to the +County-Assizes: As we were upon the Road _Will. Wimble_ joined a couple +of plain Men who rid before us, and conversed with them for some Time; +during which my Friend Sir Roger acquainted me with their Characters. + +The first of them, says he, that has a Spaniel by his Side, is a Yeoman +of about an hundred Pounds a Year, an honest Man: He is just within the +Game-Act, and qualified to kill an Hare or a Pheasant: He knocks down a +Dinner with his Gun twice or thrice a Week; and by that means lives much +cheaper than those who have not so good an Estate as himself. He would +be a good Neighbour if he did not destroy so many Partridges: in short, +he is a very sensible Man; shoots flying; and has been several times +Foreman of the Petty-Jury. + +The other that rides along with him is _Tom Touchy_, a Fellow famous for +_taking the Law_ of every Body. There is not one in the Town where he +lives that he has not sued at a Quarter-Sessions. The Rogue had once the +Impudence to go to Law with the _Widow_. His Head is full of Costs, +Damages, and Ejectments: He plagued a couple of honest Gentlemen so long +for a Trespass in breaking one of his Hedges, till he was forced to sell +the Ground it enclosed to defray the Charges of the Prosecution: His +Father left him fourscore Pounds a Year; but he has _cast_ and been cast +so often, that he is not now worth thirty. I suppose he is going upon +the old Business of the Willow-Tree. + +As Sir ROGER was giving me this Account of Tom Touchy, _Will. Wimble_ +and his two Companions stopped short till we came up to them. After +having paid their Respects to Sir ROGER, _Will_. told him that Mr. +_Touchy_ and he must appeal to him upon a Dispute that arose between +them. _Will_. it seems had been giving his Fellow-Traveller an Account +of his Angling one Day in such a Hole; when _Tom Touchy_, instead of +hearing out his Story, told him that Mr. such an One, if he pleased, +might _take the Law of him_ for fishing in that Part of the River. My +Friend Sir ROGER heard them both, upon a round Trot; and after having +paused some time told them, with the Air of a Man who would not give his +Judgment rashly, that _much might be said on both Sides_. They were +neither of them dissatisfied with the Knight's Determination, because +neither of them found himself in the Wrong by it: Upon which we made the +best of our Way to the Assizes. + +The Court was sat before Sir ROGER came; but notwithstanding all the +Justices had taken their Places upon the Bench, they made room for the +old Knight at the Head of them; who for his Reputation in the Country +took occasion to whisper in the Judge's Ear, _That he was glad his +Lordship had met with so much good Weather in his Circuit_. I was +listening to the Proceeding of the Court with much Attention, and +infinitely pleased with that great Appearance and Solemnity which so +properly accompanies such a publick Administration of our Laws; when, +after about an Hour's Sitting, I observed to my great Surprize, in the +Midst of a Trial, that my Friend Sir ROGER was getting up to speak. I +was in some Pain for him, till I found he had acquitted himself of two +or three Sentences, with a Look of much Business and great Intrepidity. + +Upon his first Rising the Court was hushed, and a general Whisper ran +among the Country People that Sir ROGER _was up_. The Speech he made was +so little to the Purpose, that I shall not trouble my Readers with an +Account of it; and I believe was not so much designed by the Knight +himself to inform the Court, as to give him a Figure in my Eye, and keep +up his Credit in the Country. + +I was highly delighted, when the Court rose, to see the Gentlemen of the +Country gathering about my old Friend, and striving who should +compliment him most; at the same time that the ordinary People gazed +upon him at a distance, not a little admiring his Courage, that was not +afraid to speak to the Judge. + +In our Return home we met with a very odd Accident; which I cannot +forbear relating, because it shews how desirous all who know Sir ROGER +are of giving him Marks of their Esteem. When we were arrived upon the +Verge of his Estate, we stopped at a little Inn to rest our selves and +our Horses. The Man of the House had it seems been formerly a Servant in +the Knight's Family; and to do Honour to his old Master, had some time +since, unknown to Sir ROGER, put him up in a Sign-post before the Door; +so that _the Knight's Head_ had hung out upon the Road about a Week +before he himself knew any thing of the Matter. As soon as Sir ROGER was +acquainted with it, finding that his Servant's Indiscretion proceeded +wholly from Affection and Good-will, he only told him that he had made +him too high a Compliment; and when the Fellow seemed to think that +could hardly be, added with a more decisive Look, That it was too great +an Honour for any Man under a Duke; but told him at the same time, that +it might be altered with a very few Touches, and that he himself would +be at the Charge of it. Accordingly they got a Painter by the Knight's +Directions to add a pair of Whiskers to the Face, and by a little +Aggravation to the Features to change it into the _Saracen's Head_. I +should not have known this Story had not the Inn-keeper, upon Sir +ROGER'S alighting, told him in my Hearing, That his Honour's Head was +brought back last Night with the Alterations that he had ordered to be +made in it. Upon this my Friend with his usual Chearfulness related the +Particulars above-mentioned, and ordered the Head to be brought into the +Room. I could not forbear discovering greater Expressions of Mirth than +ordinary upon the Appearance of this monstrous Face, under which, +notwithstanding it was made to frown and stare in a most extraordinary +manner, I could still discover a distant Resemblance of my old Friend. +Sir ROGER, upon seeing me laugh, desired me to tell him truly if I +thought it possible for People to know him in that Disguise. I at first +kept my usual Silence; but upon the Knight's conjuring me to tell him +whether it was not still more like himself than a _Saracen_, I composed +my Countenance in the best manner I could, and replied, _That much might +be said on both Sides_. + +These several Adventures, with the Knight's Behaviour in them, gave me +as pleasant a Day as ever I met with in any of my Travels. + +L. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 123. Saturday, July 21, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam, + Rectique cultus pectora roborant: + Utcunque defecere mores, + Dedecorant bene nata culpæ.' + + Hor. + + +As I was Yesterday taking the Air with my Friend Sir ROGER, we were met +by a fresh-coloured ruddy young Man, who rid by us full speed, with a +couple of Servants behind him. Upon my Enquiry who he was, Sir ROGER +told me that he was a young Gentleman of a considerable Estate, who had +been educated by a tender Mother that lives not many Miles from the +Place where we were. She is a very good Lady, says my Friend, but took +so much care of her Son's Health, that she has made him good for +nothing. She quickly found that Reading was bad for his Eyes, and that +Writing made his Head ache. He was let loose among the Woods as soon as +he was able to ride on Horseback, or to carry a Gun upon his Shoulder. +To be brief, I found, by my Friend's Account of him, that he had got a +great Stock of Health, but nothing else; and that if it were a Man's +Business only to live, there would not be a more accomplished young +Fellow in the whole Country. + +The Truth of it is, since my residing in these Parts I have seen and +heard innumerable Instances of young Heirs and elder Brothers, who +either from their own reflecting upon the Estates they are born to, and +therefore thinking all other Accomplishments unnecessary, or from +hearing these Notions frequently inculcated to them by the Flattery of +their Servants and Domesticks, or from the same foolish Thought +prevailing in those who have the Care of their Education, are of no +manner of use but to keep up their Families, and transmit their Lands +and Houses in a Line to Posterity. + +This makes me often think on a Story I have heard of two Friends, which +I shall give my Reader at large, under feigned Names. The Moral of it +may, I hope, be useful, though there are some Circumstances which make +it rather appear like a Novel, than a true Story. + +_Eudoxus_ and _Leontine_ began the World with small Estates. They were +both of them Men of good Sense and great Virtue. They prosecuted their +Studies together in their earlier Years, and entered into such a +Friendship as lasted to the End of their Lives. _Eudoxus_, at his first +setting out in the World, threw himself into a Court, where by his +natural Endowments and his acquired Abilities he made his way from one +Post to another, till at length he had raised a very considerable +Fortune. _Leontine_ on the contrary sought all Opportunities of +improving his Mind by Study, Conversation, and Travel. He was not only +acquainted with all the Sciences, but with the most eminent Professors +of them throughout _Europe_. He knew perfectly well the Interests of its +Princes, with the Customs and Fashions of their Courts, and could scarce +meet with the Name of an extraordinary Person in the _Gazette_ whom he +had not either talked to or seen. In short, he had so well mixt and +digested his Knowledge of Men and Books, that he made one of the most +accomplished Persons of his Age. During the whole Course of his Studies +and Travels he kept up a punctual Correspondence with _Eudoxus_, who +often made himself acceptable to the principal Men about Court by the +Intelligence which he received from _Leontine_. When they were both +turn'd of Forty (an Age in which, according to Mr. Cowley, there is no +dallying with Life [1]) they determined, pursuant to the Resolution they +had taken in the beginning of their Lives, to retire, and pass the +Remainder of their Days in the Country. In order to this, they both of +them married much about the same time. _Leontine_, with his own and his +Wife's Fortune, bought a Farm of three hundred a Year, which lay within +the Neighbourhood of his Friend _Eudoxus_, who had purchased an Estate +of as many thousands. They were both of them _Fathers_ about the same +time, _Eudoxus_ having a Son born to him, and _Leontine_ a Daughter; but +to the unspeakable Grief of the latter, his young Wife (in whom all his +Happiness was wrapt up) died in a few Days after the Birth of her +Daughter. His Affliction would have been insupportable, had not he been +comforted by the daily Visits and Conversations of his Friend. As they +were one Day talking together with their usual Intimacy, _Leontine_, +considering how incapable he was of giving his Daughter a proper +education in his own House, and _Eudoxus_ reflecting on the ordinary +Behaviour of a Son who knows himself to be the Heir of a great Estate, +they both agreed upon an Exchange of Children, namely that the Boy +should be bred up with _Leontine_ as his Son, and that the Girl should +live with _Eudoxus_ as his Daughter, till they were each of them arrived +at Years of Discretion. The Wife of _Eudoxus_, knowing that her Son +could not be so advantageously brought up as under the Care of +_Leontine_, and considering at the same time that he would be +perpetually under her own Eye, was by degrees prevailed upon to fall in +with the Project. She therefore took _Leonilla_, for that was the Name +of the Girl, and educated her as her own Daughter. The two Friends on +each side had wrought themselves to such an habitual Tenderness for the +Children who were under their Direction, that each of them had the real +Passion of a Father, where the Title was but imaginary. _Florio_, the +Name of the young Heir that lived with _Leontine_, though he had all the +Duty and Affection imaginable for his supposed Parent, was taught to +rejoice at the Sight of _Eudoxus_, who visited his Friend very +frequently, and was dictated by his natural Affection, as well as by the +Rules of Prudence, to make himself esteemed and beloved by _Florio_. The +Boy was now old enough to know his supposed Father's Circumstances, and +that therefore he was to make his way in the World by his own Industry. +This Consideration grew stronger in him every Day, and produced so good +an Effect, that he applied himself with more than ordinary Attention to +the Pursuit of every thing which _Leontine_ recommended to him. His +natural Abilities, which were very good, assisted by the Directions of +so excellent a Counsellor, enabled him to make a quicker Progress than +ordinary through all the Parts of his Education. Before he was twenty +Years of Age, having finished his Studies and Exercises with great +Applause, he was removed from the University to the Inns of Court, where +there are very few that make themselves considerable Proficients in the +Studies of the Place, who know they shall arrive at great Estates +without them. This was not _Florio's_ Case; he found that three hundred +a Year was but a poor Estate for _Leontine_ and himself to live upon, so +that he Studied without Intermission till he gained a very good Insight +into the Constitution and Laws of his Country. + +I should have told my Reader, that whilst _Florio_ lived at the House of +his Foster-father, he was always an acceptable Guest in the Family of +_Eudoxus_, where he became acquainted with _Leonilla_ from her Infancy. +His Acquaintance with her by degrees grew into Love, which in a Mind +trained up in all the Sentiments of Honour and Virtue became a very +uneasy Passion. He despaired of gaining an Heiress of so great a +Fortune, and would rather have died than attempted it by any indirect +Methods. _Leonilla_, who was a Woman of the greatest Beauty joined with +the greatest Modesty, entertained at the same time a secret Passion for +_Florio_, but conducted her self with so much Prudence that she never +gave him the least Intimation of it. _Florio_ was now engaged in all +those Arts and Improvements that are proper to raise a Man's private +Fortune, and give him a Figure in his Country, but secretly tormented +with that Passion which burns with the greatest Fury in a virtuous and +noble Heart, when he received a sudden Summons from _Leontine_ to repair +to him into the Country the next Day. For it seems _Eudoxus_ was so +filled with the Report of his Son's Reputation, that he could no longer +withhold making himself known to him. The Morning after his Arrival at +the House of his supposed Father, _Leontine_ told him that _Eudoxus_ had +something of great Importance to communicate to him; upon which the good +Man embraced him, and wept. _Florio_ was no sooner arrived at the great +House that stood in his Neighbourhood, but _Eudoxus_ took him by the +Hand, after the first Salutes were over, and conducted him into his +Closet. He there opened to him the whole Secret of his Parentage and +Education, concluding after this manner: _I have no other way left of +acknowledging my Gratitude to_ Leontine_, than by marrying you to his +Daughter. He shall not lose the Pleasure of being your Father by the +Discovery I have made to you._ Leonilla _too shall be still my Daughter; +her filial Piety, though misplaced, has been so exemplary that it +deserves the greatest Reward I can confer upon it. You shall have the +Pleasure of seeing a great Estate fall to you, which you would have lost +the Relish of had you known your self born to it. Continue only to +deserve it in the same manner you did before you were possessed of it. I +have left your Mother in the next Room. Her Heart yearns towards you. +She is making the same Discoveries to_ Leonilla _which I have made to +your self. Florio_ was so overwhelmed with this Profusion of Happiness, +that he was not able to make a Reply, but threw himself down at his +Father's Feet, and amidst a Flood of Tears, Kissed and embraced his +Knees, asking his Blessing, and expressing in dumb Show those Sentiments +of Love, Duty, and Gratitude that were too big for Utterance. To +conclude, the happy Pair were married, and half _Eudoxus's_ Estate +settled upon them. _Leontine_ and _Eudoxus_ passed the remainder of +their Lives together; and received in the dutiful and affectionate +Behaviour of _Florio_ and _Leonilla_ the just Recompence, as well as the +natural Effects of that Care which they had bestowed upon them in their +Education. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Essay 'On the Danger of Procrastination:' + + 'There's no fooling with Life when it is once turn'd beyond Forty.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 124. Monday, July 23, 1711. Addison. + + + + [Greek (transliterated): Méga Biblion, méga kakón.] + + +A Man who publishes his Works in a Volume, has an infinite Advantage +over one who communicates his Writings to the World in loose Tracts and +single Pieces. We do not expect to meet with any thing in a bulky +Volume, till after some heavy Preamble, and several Words of Course, to +prepare the Reader for what follows: Nay, Authors have established it as +a kind of Rule, that a Man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most +severe Reader makes Allowances for many Rests and Nodding-places in a +Voluminous Writer. This gave Occasion to the famous Greek Proverb which +I have chosen for my Motto, _That a great Book is a great Evil._ + +On the contrary, those who publish their Thoughts in distinct Sheets, +and as it were by Piece-meal, have none of these Advantages. We must +immediately fall into our Subject, and treat every Part of it in a +lively Manner, or our Papers are thrown by as dull and insipid: Our +Matter must lie close together, and either be wholly new in itself, or +in the Turn it receives from our Expressions. Were the Books of our best +Authors thus to be retailed to the Publick, and every Page submitted to +the Taste of forty or fifty thousand Readers, I am afraid we should +complain of many flat Expressions, trivial Observations, beaten Topicks, +and common Thoughts, which go off very well in the Lump. At the same +Time, notwithstanding some Papers may be made up of broken Hints and +irregular Sketches, it is often expected that every Sheet should be a +kind of Treatise, and make out in Thought what it wants in Bulk: That a +Point of Humour should be worked up in all its Parts; and a Subject +touched upon in its most essential Articles, without the Repetitions, +Tautologies and Enlargements, that are indulged to longer Labours. The +ordinary Writers of Morality prescribe to their Readers after the +Galenick way; their Medicines are made up in large Quantities. An +Essay-Writer must practise in the Chymical Method, and give the Virtue +of a full Draught in a few Drops. Were all Books reduced thus to their +Quintessence, many a bulky Author would make his Appearance in a +Penny-Paper: There would be scarce such a thing in Nature as a Folio. +The Works of an Age would be contained on a few Shelves; not to mention +millions of Volumes that would be utterly annihilated. + +I cannot think that the Difficulty of furnishing out separate Papers of +this Nature, has hindered Authors from communicating their Thoughts to +the World after such a Manner: Though I must confess I am amazed that +the Press should be only made use of in this Way by News-Writers, and +the Zealots of Parties; as if it were not more advantageous to Mankind, +to be instructed in Wisdom and Virtue, than in Politicks; and to be made +good Fathers, Husbands and Sons, than Counsellors and Statesmen. Had the +Philosophers and great Men of Antiquity, who took so much Pains in order +to instruct Mankind, and leave the World wiser and better than they +found it; had they, I say, been possessed of the Art of Printing, there +is no question but they would have made such an Advantage of it, in +dealing out their Lectures to the Publick. Our common Prints would be of +great Use were they thus calculated to diffuse good Sense through the +Bulk of a People, to clear up their Understandings, animate their Minds +with Virtue, dissipate the Sorrows of a heavy Heart, or unbend the Mind +from its more severe Employments with innocent Amusements. When +Knowledge, instead of being bound up in Books and kept in Libraries and +Retirements, is thus obtruded upon the Publick; when it is canvassed in +every Assembly, and exposed upon every Table, I cannot forbear +reflecting upon that Passage in the _Proverbs: Wisdom crieth without, +she uttereth her Voice in the Streets: she crieth in the chief Place of +Concourse, in the Openings of the Gates. In the City she uttereth her +Words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love Simplicity? and +the Scorners delight in their Scorning? and Fools hate Knowledge? [1] + +The many Letters which come to me from Persons of the best Sense in both +Sexes, (for I may pronounce their Characters from their Way of Writing) +do not at a little encourage me in the Prosecution of this my +Undertaking: Besides that my Book-seller tells me, the Demand for these +my Papers increases daily. It is at his Instance that I shall continue +my _rural Speculations_ to the End of this Month; several having made up +separate Sets of them, as they have done before of those relating to +Wit, to Operas, to Points of Morality, or Subjects of Humour. + +I am not at all mortified, when sometimes I see my Works thrown aside by +Men of no Taste nor Learning. There is a kind of Heaviness and Ignorance +that hangs upon the Minds of ordinary Men, which is too thick for +Knowledge to break through. Their Souls are not to be enlightened. + + ... Nox atra cava circumvolat umbra. + +To these I must apply the Fable of the Mole, That after having consulted +many Oculists for the bettering of his Sight, was at last provided with +a good Pair of Spectacles; but upon his endeavouring to make use of +them, his Mother told him very prudently, 'That Spectacles, though they +might help the Eye of a Man, could be of no use to a Mole.' It is not +therefore for the Benefit of Moles that I publish these my daily Essays. + +But besides such as are Moles through Ignorance, there are others who +are Moles through Envy. As it is said in the _Latin_ Proverb, 'That one +Man is a Wolf to another; [2] so generally speaking, one Author is a +Mole to another Author. It is impossible for them to discover Beauties +in one another's Works; they have Eyes only for Spots and Blemishes: +They can indeed see the Light as it is said of the Animals which are +their Namesakes, but the Idea of it is painful to them; they +immediately shut their Eyes upon it, and withdraw themselves into a +wilful Obscurity. I have already caught two or three of these dark +undermining Vermin, and intend to make a String of them, in order to +hang them up in one of my Papers, as an Example to all such voluntary +Moles. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Proverbs i 20-22.] + + +[Footnote 2: Homo homini Lupus. Plautus Asin. Act ii sc. 4.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 125. Tuesday, July 24, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Ne pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella: + Neu patriæ validas in viscera vertite vires.' + + Vir. + + +My worthy Friend Sir ROGER, when we are talking of the Malice of +Parties, very frequently tells us an Accident that happened to him when +he was a School-boy, which was at a time when the Feuds ran high between +the Roundheads and Cavaliers. This worthy Knight, being then but a +Stripling, had occasion to enquire which was the Way to St. _Anne's_ +Lane, upon which the Person whom he spoke to, instead of answering his +Question, call'd him a young Popish Cur, and asked him who had made +_Anne_ a Saint? The Boy, being in some Confusion, enquired of the next +he met, which was the Way to _Anne's_ Lane; but was call'd a prick-eared +Cur for his Pains, and instead of being shewn the Way, was told that she +had been a Saint before he was born, and would be one after he was +hanged. Upon this, says Sir ROGER, I did not think fit to repeat the +former Question, but going into every Lane of the Neighbourhood, asked +what they called the Name of that Lane. By which ingenious Artifice he +found out the place he enquired after, without giving Offence to any +Party. Sir ROGER generally closes this Narrative with Reflections on the +Mischief that Parties do in the Country; how they spoil good +Neighbourhood, and make honest Gentlemen hate one another; besides that +they manifestly tend to the Prejudice of the Land-Tax, and the +Destruction of the Game. + +There cannot a greater Judgment befal a Country than such a dreadful +Spirit of Division as rends a Government into two distinct People, and +makes them greater Strangers and more averse to one another, than if +they were actually two different Nations. The Effects of such a Division +are pernicious to the last degree, not only with regard to those +Advantages which they give the Common Enemy, but to those private Evils +which they produce in the Heart of almost every particular Person. This +Influence is very fatal both to Mens Morals and their Understandings; it +sinks the Virtue of a Nation, and not only so, but destroys even Common +Sense. + +A furious Party Spirit, when it rages in its full Violence, exerts it +self in Civil War and Bloodshed; and when it is under its greatest +Restraints naturally breaks out in Falshood, Detraction, Calumny, and a +partial Administration of Justice. In a Word, it fills a Nation with +Spleen and Rancour, and extinguishes all the Seeds of Good-Nature, +Compassion and Humanity. + +_Plutarch_ says very finely, that a Man should not allow himself to hate +even his Enemies, because, says he, if you indulge this Passion in some +Occasions, it will rise of it self in others; if you hate your Enemies, +you will contract such a vicious Habit of Mind, as by degrees will break +out upon those who are your Friends, or those who are indifferent to +you. [1] I might here observe how admirably this Precept of Morality +(which derives the Malignity of Hatred from the Passion it self, and not +from its Object) answers to that great Rule which was dictated to the +World about an hundred Years before this Philosopher wrote; [2] but +instead of that, I shall only take notice, with a real Grief of Heart, +that the Minds of many good Men among us appear sowered with +Party-Principles, and alienated from one another in such a manner, as +seems to me altogether inconsistent with the Dictates either of Reason +or Religion. Zeal for a Publick Cause is apt to breed Passions in the +Hearts of virtuous Persons, to which the Regard of their own private +Interest would never have betrayed them. + +If this Party-Spirit has so ill an Effect on our Morals, it has likewise +a very great one upon our Judgments. We often hear a poor insipid Paper +or Pamphlet cried up, and sometimes a noble Piece depreciated, by those +who are of a different Principle from the Author. One who is actuated by +this Spirit is almost under an Incapacity of discerning either real +Blemishes or Beauties. A Man of Merit in a different Principle, [is] +like an Object seen in two different Mediums, [that] appears crooked or +broken, however streight and entire it may be in it self. For this +Reason there is scarce a Person of any Figure in _England_, who does not +go by two [contrary Characters, [3]] as opposite to one another as Light +and Darkness. Knowledge and Learning suffer in [a [4]] particular manner +from this strange Prejudice, which at present prevails amongst all Ranks +and Degrees in the _British_ Nation. As Men formerly became eminent in +learned Societies by their Parts and Acquisitions, they now distinguish +themselves by the Warmth and Violence with which they espouse their +respective Parties. Books are valued upon the like Considerations: An +Abusive Scurrilous Style passes for Satyr, and a dull Scheme of Party +Notions is called fine Writing. + +There is one Piece of Sophistry practised by both Sides, and that is the +taking any scandalous Story that has been ever whispered or invented of +a Private Man, for a known undoubted Truth, and raising suitable +Speculations upon it. Calumnies that have been never proved, or have +been often refuted, are the ordinary Postulatums of these infamous +Scriblers, upon which they proceed as upon first Principles granted by +all Men, though in their Hearts they know they are false, or at best +very doubtful. When they have laid these Foundations of Scurrility, it +is no wonder that their Superstructure is every way answerable to them. +If this shameless Practice of the present Age endures much longer, +Praise and Reproach will cease to be Motives of Action in good Men. + +There are certain Periods of Time in all Governments when this inhuman +Spirit prevails. _Italy_ was long torn in Pieces by the _Guelfes_ and +_Gibellines_, and _France_ by those who were for and against the League: +But it is very unhappy for a Man to be born in such a stormy and +tempestuous Season. It is the restless Ambition of artful Men that thus +breaks a People into Factions, and draws several well-meaning [Persons +[5]] to their Interest by a Specious Concern for their Country. How many +honest Minds are filled with uncharitable and barbarous Notions, out of +their Zeal for the Publick Good? What Cruelties and Outrages would they +not commit against Men of an adverse Party, whom they would honour and +esteem, if instead of considering them as they are represented, they +knew them as they are? Thus are Persons of the greatest Probity seduced +into shameful Errors and Prejudices, and made bad Men even by that +noblest of Principles, the Love of their Country. I cannot here forbear +mentioning the famous _Spanish_ Proverb, _If there were neither Fools +nor Knaves in the World, all People would be of one Mind_. + +For my own part, I could heartily wish that all honest Men would enter +into an Association, for the Support of one another against the +Endeavours of those whom they ought to look upon as their Common +Enemies, whatsoever Side they may belong to. Were there such an honest +[Body of Neutral [6]] Forces, we should never see the worst of Men in +great Figures of Life, because they are useful to a Party; nor the best +unregarded, because they are above practising those Methods which would +be grateful to their Faction. We should then single every Criminal out +of the Herd, and hunt him down, however formidable and overgrown he +might appear: On the contrary, we should shelter distressed Innocence, +and defend Virtue, however beset with Contempt or Ridicule, Envy or +Defamation. In short, we should not any longer regard our Fellow +Subjects as Whigs or Tories, but should make the Man of Merit our +Friend, and the Villain our Enemy. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Among his Moral Essays is that showing 'How one shall be +helped by Enemies.' In his 'Lives,' also, Plutarch applauds in Pericles +the noble sentiment which led him to think it his most excellent +attainment never to have given way to envy or anger, notwithstanding the +greatness of his power, nor to have nourished an implacable hatred +against his greatest foe. This, he says, was his only real title to the +name of Olympius.] + + +[Footnote 2: Luke vi. 27--32.] + + +[Footnote 3: Characters altogether different] + + +[Footnote 4: a very] + + +[Footnote 5: People] + + +[Footnote 6: Neutral Body of] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 126. Wednesday, July 25, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Tros Rutulusve fuat, nullo discrimine habebo.' + + Virg. + + +In my Yesterday's Paper I proposed, that the honest Men of all Parties +should enter into a kind of Association for the Defence of one another, +and [the] Confusion of their common Enemies. As it is designed this +neutral Body should act with a Regard to nothing but Truth and Equity, +and divest themselves of the little Heats and Prepossessions that cleave +to Parties of all Kinds, I have prepared for them the following Form of +an Association, which may express their Intentions in the most plain and +simple Manner. + + _We whose Names are hereunto subscribed do solemnly declare, That we + do in our Consciences believe two and two make four; and that we shall + adjudge any Man whatsoever to be our Enemy who endeavours to persuade + us to the contrary. We are likewise ready to maintain, with the Hazard + of all that is near and dear to us, That six is less than seven in all + Times and all Places, and that ten will not be more three Years hence + than it is at present. We do also firmly declare, That it is our + Resolution as long as we live to call Black black, and White white. + And we shall upon all Occasions oppose such Persons that upon any Day + of the Year shall call Black white, or White black, with the utmost + Peril of our Lives and Fortunes._ + +Were there such a Combination of honest Men, who without any Regard to +Places would endeavour to extirpate all such furious Zealots as would +sacrifice one half of their Country to the Passion and Interest of the +other; as also such infamous Hypocrites, that are for promoting their +own Advantage, under Colour of the Publick Good; with all the profligate +immoral Retainers to each Side, that have nothing to recommend them but +an implicit Submission to their Leaders; we should soon see that furious +Party-Spirit extinguished, which may in time expose us to the Derision +and Contempt of all the Nations about us. + +A Member of this Society, that would thus carefully employ himself in +making Room for Merit, by throwing down the worthless and depraved Part +of Mankind from those conspicuous Stations of Life to which they have +been sometimes advanced, and all this without any Regard to his private +Interest, would be no small Benefactor to his Country. + +I remember to have read in _Diodorus Siculus_[1] an Account of a very +active little Animal, which I think he calls the _Ichneumon_, that makes +it the whole Business of his Life to break the Eggs of the Crocodile, +which he is always in search after. This instinct is the more +remarkable, because the _Ichneumon_ never feeds upon the Eggs he has +broken, nor in any other Way finds his Account in them. Were it not for +the incessant Labours of this industrious Animal, _Ægypt_, says the +Historian, would be over-run with Crocodiles: for the _Ægyptians_ are so +far from destroying those pernicious Creatures, that they worship them +as Gods. + +If we look into the Behaviour of ordinary Partizans, we shall find them +far from resembling this disinterested Animal; and rather acting after +the Example of the wild _Tartars_, who are ambitious of destroying a Man +of the most extraordinary Parts and Accomplishments, as thinking that +upon his Decease the same Talents, whatever Post they qualified him for, +enter of course into his Destroyer. + +As in the whole Train of my Speculations, I have endeavoured as much as +I am able to extinguish that pernicious Spirit of Passion and Prejudice, +which rages with the same Violence in all Parties, I am still the more +desirous of doing some Good in this Particular, because I observe that +the Spirit of Party reigns more in the Country than in the Town. It here +contracts a kind of Brutality and rustick Fierceness, to which Men of a +politer Conversation are wholly Strangers. It extends it self even to +the Return of the Bow and the Hat; and at the same time that the Heads +of Parties preserve toward one another an outward Shew of Good-breeding, +and keep up a perpetual Intercourse of Civilities, their Tools that are +dispersed in these outlying Parts will not so much as mingle together at +a Cockmatch. This Humour fills the Country with several periodical +Meetings of Whig Jockies and Tory Fox-hunters; not to mention the +innumerable Curses, Frowns, and Whispers it produces at a +Quarter-Sessions. + +I do not know whether I have observed in any of my former Papers, that +my Friends Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY and Sir ANDREW FREEPORT are of +different Principles, the first of them inclined to the _landed_ and the +other to the _monyed_ Interest. This Humour is so moderate in each of +them, that it proceeds no farther than to an agreeable Raillery, which +very often diverts the rest of the Club. I find however that the Knight +is a much stronger Tory in the Country than in Town, which, as he has +told me in my Ear, is absolutely necessary for the keeping up his +Interest. In all our Journey from _London_ to his House we did not so +much as bait at a Whig Inn; or if by chance the Coachman stopped at a +wrong Place, one of Sir ROGER'S Servants would ride up to his Master +full speed, and whisper to him that the Master of the House was against +such an one in the last Election. This often betray'd us into hard Beds +and bad Chear; for we were not so inquisitive about the Inn as the +Inn-keeper; and, provided our Landlord's Principles were sound, did not +take any Notice of the Staleness of his Provisions. This I found still +the more inconvenient, because the better the Host was, the worse +generally were his Accommodations; the Fellow knowing very well, that +those who were his Friends would take up with coarse Diet and an hard +Lodging. For these Reasons, all the while I was upon the Road I dreaded +entering into an House of any one that Sir Roger had applauded for an +honest Man. + +Since my Stay at Sir ROGER'S in the Country, I daily find more Instances +of this narrow Party-Humour. Being upon a Bowling-green at a +Neighbouring Market-Town the other Day, (for that is the Place where the +Gentlemen of one Side meet once a Week) I observed a Stranger among them +of a better Presence and genteeler Behaviour than ordinary; but was much +surprised, that notwithstanding he was a very fair _Bettor_, no Body +would take him up. But upon Enquiry I found, that he was one who had +given a disagreeable Vote in a former Parliament, for which Reason there +was not a Man upon that Bowling-green who would have so much +Correspondence with him as to Win his Money of him. + +Among other Instances of this Nature, I must not omit one which +[concerns [2]] my self. _Will. Wimble _was the other Day relating +several strange Stories that he had picked up no Body knows where of a +certain great Man; and upon my staring at him, as one that was surprised +to hear such things in the Country [which [3]] had never been so much as +whispered in the Town, _Will_. stopped short in the Thread of his +Discourse, and after Dinner asked my Friend Sir ROGER in his Ear +if he was sure that I was not a Fanatick. + +It gives me a serious Concern to see such a Spirit of Dissention in the +Country; not only as it destroys Virtue and Common Sense, and renders us +in a Manner Barbarians towards one another, but as it perpetuates our +Animosities, widens our Breaches, and transmits our present Passions and +Prejudices to our Posterity. For my own Part, I am sometimes afraid that +I discover the Seeds of a Civil War in these our Divisions; and +therefore cannot but bewail, as in their first Principles, the Miseries +and Calamities of our Children. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: Bibliothecæ Historicæ, Lib. i. § 87.] + + +[Footnote 2: concerns to] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 127. Thursday, July 26, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Quantum est in rebus Inane?' + + Pers. + + +It is our Custom at Sir ROGER'S, upon the coming in of the Post, to sit +about a Pot of Coffee, and hear the old Knight read _Dyer's_ Letter; +which he does with his Spectacles upon his Nose, and in an audible +Voice, smiling very often at those little Strokes of Satyr which are so +frequent in the Writings of that Author. I afterwards communicate to the +Knight such Packets as I receive under the Quality of SPECTATOR. The +following Letter chancing to please him more than ordinary, I shall +publish it at his Request. + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'You have diverted the Town almost a whole Month at the Expence of the + Country, it is now high time that you should give the Country their + Revenge. Since your withdrawing from this Place, the Fair Sex are run + into great Extravagancies. Their Petticoats, which began to heave and + swell before you left us, are now blown up into a most enormous + Concave, and rise every Day more and more: In short, Sir, since our + Women know themselves to be out of the Eye of the SPECTATOR, they will + be kept within no Compass. You praised them a little too soon, for the + Modesty of their Head-Dresses; for as the Humour of a sick Person is + often driven out of one Limb into another, their Superfluity of + Ornaments, instead of being entirely Banished, seems only fallen from + their Heads upon their lower Parts. What they have lost in Height they + make up in Breadth, and contrary to all Rules of Architecture widen + the Foundations at the same time that they shorten the Superstructure. + Were they, like _Spanish_ Jennets, to impregnate by the Wind, they + could not have thought on a more proper Invention. But as we do not + yet hear any particular Use in this Petticoat, or that it contains any + thing more than what was supposed to be in those of Scantier Make, we + are wonderfully at a loss about it. + + The Women give out, in Defence of these wide Bottoms, that they are + Airy, and very proper for the Season; but this I look upon to be only + a Pretence, and a piece of Art, for it is well known we have not had a + more moderate Summer these many Years, so that it is certain the Heat + they complain of cannot be in the Weather: Besides, I would fain ask + these tender constitutioned Ladies, why they should require more + Cooling than their Mothers before them. + + I find several Speculative Persons are of Opinion that our Sex has of + late Years been very sawcy, and that the Hoop Petticoat is made use of + to keep us at a Distance. It is most certain that a Woman's Honour + cannot be better entrenched than after this manner, in Circle within + Circle, amidst such a Variety of Out-works and Lines of + Circumvallation. A Female who is thus invested in Whale-Bone is + sufficiently secured against the Approaches of an ill-bred Fellow, who + might as well think of Sir _George Etherege_'s way of making Love in a + Tub, [1] as in the midst of so many Hoops. + + Among these various Conjectures, there are Men of Superstitious + tempers, who look upon the Hoop Petticoat as a kind of Prodigy. Some + will have it that it portends the Downfal of the _French_ King, and + observe that the Farthingale appeared in _England _a little before the + Ruin of the _Spanish_ Monarchy. Others are of Opinion that it foretels + Battle and Bloodshed, and believe it of the same Prognostication as + the Tail of a Blazing Star. For my part, I am apt to think it is a + Sign that Multitudes are coming into the World rather than going out + of it. + + The first time I saw a Lady dressed in one of these Petticoats, I + could not forbear blaming her in my own Thoughts for walking abroad + when she was _so near her Time_, but soon recovered myself out of my + Error, when I found all the Modish Part of the Sex as _far gone_ as + her self. It is generally thought some crafty Women have thus betrayed + their Companions into Hoops, that they might make them accessory to + their own Concealments, and by that means escape the Censure of the + World; as wary Generals have sometimes dressed two or three Dozen of + their Friends in their own Habit, that they might not draw upon + themselves any particular Attacks of the Enemy. The strutting + Petticoat smooths all Distinctions, levels the Mother with the + Daughter, and sets Maids and Matrons, Wives and Widows, upon the same + Bottom. In the mean while I cannot but be troubled to see so many + well-shaped innocent Virgins bloated up, and waddling up and down like + big-bellied Women. + + Should this Fashion get among the ordinary People our publick Ways + would be so crowded that we should want Street-room. Several + Congregations of the best Fashion find themselves already very much + streightened, and if the Mode encrease I wish it may not drive many + ordinary Women into Meetings and Conventicles. Should our Sex at the + same time take it into their Heads to wear Trunk Breeches (as who + knows what their Indignation at this Female Treatment may drive them + to) a Man and his Wife would fill a whole Pew. + + You know, Sir, it is recorded of Alexander the Great, [2] that in his + _Indian_ Expedition he buried several Suits of Armour, which by his + Direction were made much too big for any of his Soldiers, in order to + give Posterity an extraordinary Idea of him, and make them believe he + had commanded an Army of Giants. I am persuaded that if one of the + present Petticoats happen to be hung up in any Repository of + Curiosities, it will lead into the same Error the Generations that lie + some Removes from us: unless we can believe our Posterity will think + so disrespectfully of their Great Grand-Mothers, that they made + themselves Monstrous to appear Amiable. + + When I survey this new-fashioned _Rotonda_ in all its Parts, I cannot + but think of the old Philosopher, who after having entered into an + _Egyptian_ Temple, and looked about for the Idol of the Place, at + length discovered a little Black Monkey Enshrined in the midst of it, + upon which he could not forbear crying out, (to the great Scandal of + the Worshippers) What a magnificent Palace is here for such a + Ridiculous Inhabitant! + + Though you have taken a Resolution, in one of your Papers, to avoid + descending to Particularities of Dress, I believe you will not think + it below you, on so extraordinary an Occasion, to Unhoop the Fair Sex, + and cure this fashionable Tympany that is got among them. I am apt to + think the Petticoat will shrink of its own accord at your first coming + to Town; at least a Touch of your Pen will make it contract it self, + like the sensitive Plant, and by that means oblige several who are + either terrified or astonished at this portentous Novelty, and among + the rest, + + + _Your humble Servant, &c._ + + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Love in a Tub', Act iv, sc, 6.] + + +[Footnote 2: In Plutarch's 'Life' of him.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 128. Friday, July 27, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Concordia discors.' + + Lucan. + + +Women in their Nature are much more gay and joyous than Men; whether it +be that their Blood is more refined, their Fibres more delicate, and +their animal Spirits more light and volatile; or whether, as some have +imagined, there may not be a kind of Sex in the very Soul, I shall not +pretend to determine. As Vivacity is the Gift of Women, Gravity is that +of Men. They should each of them therefore keep a Watch upon the +particular Biass which Nature has fixed in their Mind, that it may not +_draw_ too much, and lead them out of the Paths of Reason. This will +certainly happen, if the one in every Word and Action affects the +Character of being rigid and severe, and the other of being brisk and +airy. Men should beware of being captivated by a kind of savage +Philosophy, Women by a thoughtless Gallantry. Where these Precautions +are not observed, the Man often degenerates into a Cynick, the Woman +into a Coquet; the Man grows sullen and morose, the Woman impertinent +and fantastical. + +By what I have said, we may conclude, Men and Women were made as +Counterparts to one another, that the Pains and Anxieties of the Husband +might be relieved by the Sprightliness and good Humour of the Wife. When +these are rightly tempered, Care and Chearfulness go Hand in Hand; and +the Family, like a Ship that is duly trimmed, wants neither Sail nor +Ballast. + +Natural Historians observe, (for whilst I am in the Country I must fetch +my Allusions from thence) That only the Male Birds have Voices; That +their Songs begin a little before Breeding-time, and end a little after; +That whilst the Hen is covering her Eggs, the Male generally takes his +Stand upon a Neighbouring Bough within her Hearing; and by that means +amuses and diverts her with his Songs during the whole Time of her +Sitting. + +This Contract among Birds lasts no longer than till a Brood of young +ones arises from it; so that in the feather'd Kind, the Cares and +Fatigues of the married State, if I may so call it, lie principally upon +the Female. On the contrary, as in our Species the Man and [the] Woman +are joined together for Life, and the main Burden rests upon the former, +Nature has given all the little Arts of Soothing and Blandishment to the +Female, that she may chear and animate her Companion in a constant and +assiduous Application to the making a Provision for his Family, and the +educating of their common Children. This however is not to be taken so +strictly, as if the same Duties were not often reciprocal, and incumbent +on both Parties; but only to set forth what seems to have been the +general Intention of Nature, in the different Inclinations and +Endowments which are bestowed on the different Sexes. + +But whatever was the Reason that Man and Woman were made with this +Variety of Temper, if we observe the Conduct of the Fair Sex, we find +that they choose rather to associate themselves with a Person who +resembles them in that light and volatile Humour which is natural to +them, than to such as are qualified to moderate and counter-ballance it. +It has been an old Complaint, That the Coxcomb carries it with them +before the Man of Sense. When we see a Fellow loud and talkative, full +of insipid Life and Laughter, we may venture to pronounce him a female +Favourite: Noise and Flutter are such Accomplishments as they cannot +withstand. To be short, the Passion of an ordinary Woman for a Man is +nothing else but Self-love diverted upon another Object: She would have +the Lover a Woman in every thing but the Sex. I do not know a finer +Piece of Satyr on this Part of Womankind, than those lines of +Mr._Dryden_, + + 'Our thoughtless Sex is caught by outward Form, + And empty Noise, and loves it self in Man.' + +This is a Source of infinite Calamities to the Sex, as it frequently +joins them to Men, who in their own Thoughts are as fine Creatures as +themselves; or if they chance to be good-humoured, serve only to +dissipate their Fortunes, inflame their Follies, and aggravate their +Indiscretions. + +The same female Levity is no less fatal to them after Mariage than +before: It represents to their Imaginations the faithful prudent Husband +as an honest tractable [and] domestick Animal; and turns their Thoughts +upon the fine gay Gentleman that laughs, sings, and dresses so much more +agreeably. + +As this irregular Vivacity of Temper leads astray the Hearts of ordinary +Women in the Choice of their Lovers and the Treatment of their Husbands, +it operates with the same pernicious Influence towards their Children, +who are taught to accomplish themselves in all those sublime Perfections +that appear captivating in the Eye of their Mother. She admires in her +Son what she loved in her Gallant; and by that means contributes all she +can to perpetuate herself in a worthless Progeny. + +The younger _Faustina_ was a lively Instance of this sort of Women. +Notwithstanding she was married to _Marcus Aurelius_, one of the +greatest, wisest, and best of the _Roman_ Emperors, she thought a common +Gladiator much the prettier Gentleman; and had taken such Care to +accomplish her Son _Commodus_ according to her own Notions of a fine +Man, that when he ascended the Throne of his Father, he became the most +foolish and abandoned Tyrant that was ever placed at the Head of the +_Roman_ Empire, signalizing himself in nothing but the fighting of +Prizes, and knocking out Men's Brains. As he had no Taste of true Glory, +we see him in several Medals and Statues [which [1]] are still extant of +him, equipped like an _Hercules_ with a Club and a Lion's Skin. + +I have been led into this Speculation by the Characters I have heard of +a Country Gentleman and his Lady, who do not live many Miles from Sir +ROGER. The Wife is an old Coquet, that is always hankering after the +Diversions of the Town; the Husband a morose Rustick, that frowns and +frets at the Name of it. The Wife is overrun with Affectation, the +Husband sunk into Brutality: The Lady cannot bear the Noise of the Larks +and Nightingales, hates your tedious Summer Days, and is sick at the +Sight of shady Woods and purling Streams; the Husband wonders how any +one can be pleased with the Fooleries of Plays and Operas, and rails +from Morning to Night at essenced Fops and tawdry Courtiers. The +Children are educated in these different Notions of their Parents. The +Sons follow the Father about his Grounds, while the Daughters read +Volumes of Love-Letters and Romances to their Mother. By this means it +comes to pass, that the Girls look upon their Father as a Clown, and the +Boys think their Mother no better than she should be. + +How different are the Lives of _Aristus_ and _Aspasia_? the innocent +Vivacity of the one is tempered and composed by the chearful Gravity of +the other. The Wife grows wise by the Discourses of the Husband, and the +Husband good-humour'd by the Conversations of the Wife. _Aristus_ would +not be so amiable were it not for his _Aspasia_, nor _Aspasia_ so much +[esteemed [2]] were it not for her _Aristus_. Their Virtues are blended +in their Children, and diffuse through the whole Family a perpetual +Spirit of Benevolence, Complacency, and Satisfaction. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: to be esteemed] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 129. Saturday, July 28, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum, + Cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo.' + + Pers. + + +Great Masters in Painting never care for drawing People in the Fashion; +as very well knowing that the Headdress, or Periwig, that now prevails, +and gives a Grace to their Portraitures at present, will make a very odd +Figure, and perhaps look monstrous in the Eyes of Posterity. For this +Reason they often represent an illustrious Person in a _Roman_ +Habit, or in some other Dress that never varies. I could wish, for the +sake of my Country Friends, that there was such a kind of _everlasting +Drapery_ to be made use of by all who live at a certain distance from +the Town, and that they would agree upon such Fashions as should never +be liable to Changes and Innovations. For want of this _standing +Dress_, a Man [who [1]] takes a Journey into the Country is as much +surprised, as one [who [1]] walks in a Gallery of old Family Pictures; +and finds as great a Variety of Garbs and Habits in the Persons he +converses with. Did they keep to one constant Dress they would sometimes +be in the Fashion, which they never are as Matters are managed at +present. If instead of running after the Mode, they would continue fixed +in one certain Habit, the Mode would some time or other overtake them, +as a Clock that stands still is sure to point right once in twelve +Hours: In this Case therefore I would advise them, as a Gentleman did +his Friend who was hunting about the whole Town after a rambling Fellow, +If you follow him you will never find him, but if you plant your self at +the Corner of any one Street, I'll engage it will not be long before you +see him. + +I have already touched upon this Subject in a Speculation [which [1]] +shews how cruelly the Country are led astray in following the Town; and +equipped in a ridiculous Habit, when they fancy themselves in the Height +of the Mode. Since that Speculation I have received a Letter (which I +there hinted at) from a Gentleman who is now in the Western Circuit. + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'Being a Lawyer of the_ Middle-Temple_, [a [2]] _Cornishman_ by Birth, + I generally ride the Western Circuit for my health, and as I am not + interrupted with Clients, have leisure to make many Observations that + escape the Notice of my Fellow-Travellers. + + One of the most fashionable Women I met with in all the Circuit was my + Landlady at _Stains_, where I chanced to be on a Holiday. Her Commode + was not half a Foot high, and her Petticoat within some Yards of a + modish Circumference. In the same Place I observed a young Fellow with + a tolerable Periwig, had it not been covered with a Hat that was + shaped in the _Ramillie_ Cock. [3] As I proceeded in my Journey I + observed the Petticoat grew scantier and scantier, and about + threescore Miles from _London_ was so very unfashionable, that a Woman + might walk in it without any manner of Inconvenience. + + Not far from _Salisbury_ I took notice of a Justice of Peace's Lady + [who [4]] was at least ten Years behindhand in her Dress, but at the + same time as fine as Hands could make her. She was flounced and + furbelowed from Head to Foot; every Ribbon was wrinkled, and every + Part of her Garments in Curl, so that she looked like one of those + Animals which in the Country we call a _Friezeland_ Hen. + + Not many Miles beyond this Place I was informed that one of the last + Year's little Muffs had by some means or other straggled into those + Parts, and that all Women of Fashion were cutting their old Muffs in + two, or retrenching them, according to the little Model [which [5]] + was got among them. I cannot believe the Report they have there, that + it was sent down frank'd by a Parliament-man in a little Packet; but + probably by next Winter this Fashion will be at the Height in the + Country, when it is quite out at _London_. + + The greatest Beau at our next Country Sessions was dressed in a most + monstrous Flaxen Periwig, that was made in King _William's_ Reign. The + Wearer of it goes, it seems, in his own Hair, when he is at home, and + lets his Wig lie in Buckle for a whole half Year, that he may put it + on upon Occasions to meet the Judges in it. + + I must not here omit an Adventure [which [5]] happened to us in a + Country Church upon the Frontiers of _Cornwall_. As we were in the + midst of the Service, a Lady who is the chief Woman of the Place, and + had passed the Winter at _London_ with her Husband, entered the + Congregation in a little Headdress, and a hoop'd Petticoat. The + People, who were wonderfully startled at such a Sight, all of them + rose up. Some stared at the prodigious Bottom, and some at the little + Top of this strange Dress. In the mean time the Lady of the Manor + filled the [_Area_ [6]] of the Church, and walked up to her Pew with + an unspeakable Satisfaction, amidst the Whispers, Conjectures, and + Astonishments of the whole Congregation. + + Upon our Way from hence we saw a young Fellow riding towards us full + Gallop, with a Bob Wig and a black Silken Bag tied to it. He stopt + short at the Coach, to ask us how far the Judges were behind us. His + Stay was so very short, that we had only time to observe his new silk + Waistcoat, [which [7]] was unbutton'd in several Places to let us see + that he had a clean Shirt on, which was ruffled down to his middle. + + From this Place, during our Progress through the most Western Parts of + the Kingdom, we fancied ourselves in King _Charles_ the Second's + Reign, the People having made very little Variations in their Dress + since that time. The smartest of the Country Squires appear still in + the _Monmouth_-Cock [8] and when they go a wooing (whether they have + any Post in the Militia or not) they generally put on a red Coat. We + were, indeed, very much surprized, at the Place we lay at last Night, + to meet with a Gentleman that had accoutered himself in a Night-Cap + Wig, a Coat with long Pockets, and slit Sleeves, and a pair of Shoes + with high Scollop Tops; but we soon found by his Conversation that he + was a Person who laughed at the Ignorance and Rusticity of the Country + People, and was resolved to live and die in the Mode. + + _Sir_, If you think this Account of my Travels may be of any Advantage + to the Publick, I will next Year trouble you with such Occurrences as + I shall meet with in other Parts of _England_. For I am informed there + are greater Curiosities in the Northern Circuit than in the Western; + and that a Fashion makes its Progress much slower into _Cumberland_ + than into _Cornwall_. I have heard in particular, that the Steenkirk + [9] arrived but two Months ago at _Newcastle_, and that there are + several Commodes in those Parts which are worth taking a Journey + thither to see. + + +C. + + + +[Footnotes 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: and a] + + +[Footnote 3: Fashion of 1706] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnotes 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: whole Area] + + +[Footnote 7: that] + + +[Footnote 8: Of 1685.] + + +[Footnote 9: Fashion of 1692-3.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 130. Monday, July 30, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Semperque recentes + Convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto.' + + Virg. + + +As I was Yesterday riding out in the Fields with my Friend Sir ROGER, we +saw at a little Distance from us a Troop of Gypsies. Upon the first +Discovery of them, my Friend was in some doubt whether he should not +exert the Justice of the Peace upon such a Band of Lawless Vagrants; but +not having his Clerk with him, who is a necessary Counsellor on these +Occasions, and fearing that his Poultry might fare the worse for it, he +let the Thought drop: But at the same time gave me a particular Account +of the Mischiefs they do in the Country, in stealing People's Goods and +spoiling their Servants. + + If a stray Piece of Linnen hangs upon an Hedge, says Sir ROGER, they + are sure to have it; if the Hog loses his Way in the Fields, it is ten + to one but he becomes their Prey; our Geese cannot live in Peace for + them; if a Man prosecutes them with Severity, his Hen-roost is sure to + pay for it: They generally straggle into these Parts about this Time + of the Year; and set the Heads of our Servant-Maids so agog for + Husbands, that we do not expect to have any Business done as it should + be whilst they are in the Country. I have an honest Dairy-maid [who + [1]] crosses their Hands with a Piece of Silver every Summer, and + never fails being promised the handsomest young Fellow in the Parish + for her pains. Your Friend the Butler has been Fool enough to be + seduced by them; and, though he is sure to lose a Knife, a Fork, or a + Spoon every time his Fortune is told him, generally shuts himself up + in the Pantry with an old Gypsie for above half an Hour once in a + Twelvemonth. Sweet-hearts are the things they live upon, which they + bestow very plentifully upon all those that apply themselves to them. + You see now and then some handsome young Jades among them: The Sluts + have very often white Teeth and black Eyes. + +Sir ROGER observing that I listned with great Attention to his Account +of a People who were so entirely new to me, told me, That if I would +they should tell us our Fortunes. As I was very well pleased with the +Knight's Proposal, we rid up and communicated our Hands to them. A +_Cassandra_ of the Crew, after having examined my Lines very diligently, +told me, That I loved a pretty Maid in a Corner, that I was a good +Woman's Man, with some other Particulars which I do not think proper to +relate. My Friend Sir ROGER alighted from his Horse, and exposing his +Palm to two or three that stood by him, they crumpled it into all +Shapes, and diligently scanned every Wrinkle that could be made in it; +when one of them, [who [2]] was older and more Sun-burnt than the rest, +told him, That he had a Widow in his Line of Life: Upon which the Knight +cried, Go, go, you are an idle Baggage; and at the same time smiled upon +me. The Gypsie finding he was not displeased in his Heart, told him, +after a farther Enquiry into his Hand, that his True-love was constant, +and that she should dream of him to-night: My old Friend cried Pish, and +bid her go on. The Gypsie told him that he was a Batchelour, but would +not be so long; and that he was dearer to some Body than he thought: The +Knight still repeated, She was an idle Baggage, and bid her go on. Ah +Master, says the Gypsie, that roguish Leer of yours makes a pretty +Woman's Heart ake; you ha'n't that Simper about the Mouth for +Nothing--The uncouth Gibberish with which all this was uttered like the +Darkness of an Oracle, made us the more attentive to it. To be short, +the Knight left the Money with her that he had crossed her Hand with, +and got up again on his Horse. + +As we were riding away, Sir ROGER told me, that he knew several sensible +People who believed these Gypsies now and then foretold very strange +things; and for half an Hour together appeared more jocund than +ordinary. In the Height of his good-Humour, meeting a common Beggar upon +the Road who was no Conjurer, as he went to relieve him he found his +Pocket was picked: That being a Kind of Palmistry at which this Race of +Vermin are very dextrous. + +I might here entertain my Reader with Historical Remarks on this idle +profligate People, [who [3]] infest all the Countries of _Europe_, and +live in the midst of Governments in a kind of Commonwealth by +themselves. But instead of entering into Observations of this Nature, I +shall fill the remaining Part of my Paper with a Story [which [4]] is +still fresh in _Holland_, and was printed in one of our Monthly Accounts +about twenty Years ago. + + 'As the _Trekschuyt_, or Hackney-boat, which carries Passengers from + _Leyden_ to _Amsterdam_, was putting off, a Boy running along the + [Side [5]] of the Canal desired to be taken in; which the Master of + the Boat refused, because the Lad had not quite Money enough to pay + the usual Fare. An eminent Merchant being pleased with the Looks of + the Boy, and secretly touched with Compassion towards him, paid the + Money for him, [6] and ordered him to be taken on board. Upon talking + with him afterwards, he found that he could speak readily in three or + four Languages, and learned upon farther Examination that he had been + stoln away when he was a Child by a Gypsie, and had rambled ever since + with a Gang of those Strollers up and down several Parts of _Europe_. + It happened that the Merchant, whose Heart seems to have inclined + towards the Boy by a secret kind of Instinct, had himself lost a Child + some Years before. The Parents, after a long Search for him, gave him + for drowned in one of the Canals with which that Country abounds; and + the Mother was so afflicted at the Loss of a fine Boy, who was her + only Son, that she died for Grief of it. Upon laying together all + Particulars, and examining the several Moles and Marks [by] which the + Mother used to describe the Child [when [7]] he was first missing, the + Boy proved to be the Son of the Merchant whose Heart had so + unaccountably melted at the Sight of him. The Lad was very well + pleased to find a Father [who [8]] was so rich, and likely to leave + him a good Estate; the Father on the other hand was not a little + delighted to see a Son return to him, whom he had given for lost, with + such a Strength of Constitution, Sharpness of Understanding, and Skill + in Languages.' + +Here the printed Story leaves off; but if I may give credit to Reports, +our Linguist having received such extraordinary Rudiments towards a good +Education, was afterwards trained up in every thing that becomes a +Gentleman; wearing off by little and little all the vicious Habits and +Practises that he had been used to in the Course of his Peregrinations: +Nay, it is said, that he has since been employed in foreign Courts upon +National Business, with great Reputation to himself and Honour to [those +who sent him, [9]] and that he has visited several Countries as a +publick Minister, in which he formerly wander'd as a Gypsie. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnote 5: Sides] + + +[Footnote 6: About three pence.] + + +[Footnote 7: by when] + + +[Footnote 8: that] + + +[Footnote 9: his Country] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 131. Tuesday, July 31, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Ipsæ rursum concedite Sylvæ.' + + Virg. + + +It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in +his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his +Neighbour. My Friend Sir ROGER generally goes two or three Miles from +his House, and gets into the Frontiers of his Estate, before he beats +about in search of [a [1]] Hare or Partridge, on purpose to spare his +own Fields, where he is always sure of finding Diversion, when the worst +comes to the worst. By this Means the Breed about his House has time to +encrease and multiply, besides that the Sport is the more agreeable +where the Game is the harder to come at, and [where it] does not lie so +thick as to produce any Perplexity or Confusion in the Pursuit. For +these Reasons the Country Gentleman, like the Fox, seldom preys near his +own Home. + +In the same manner I have made a Month's Excursion out of the Town, +which is the great Field of Game for Sportsmen of my Species, to try my +Fortune in the Country, where I have started several Subjects, and +hunted them down, with some Pleasure to my self, and I hope to others. I +am here forced to use a great deal of Diligence before I can spring any +thing to my Mind, whereas in Town, whilst I am following one Character, +it is ten to one but I am crossed in my Way by another, and put up such +a Variety of odd Creatures in both Sexes, that they foil the Scent of +one another, and puzzle the Chace. My greatest Difficulty in the Country +is to find Sport, and in Town to chuse it. In the mean time, as I have +given a whole Month's Rest to the Cities of _London_ and _Westminster_, +I promise my self abundance of new Game upon my return thither. + +It is indeed high time for me to leave the Country, since I find the +whole Neighbourhood begin to grow very inquisitive after my Name and +Character. My Love of Solitude, Taciturnity, and particular way of Life, +having raised a great Curiosity in all these Parts. + +The Notions which have been framed of me are various; some look upon me +as very proud, [some as very modest,] and some as very melancholy. +_Will. Wimble_, as my Friend the Butler tells me, observing me very much +alone, and extreamly silent when I am in Company, is afraid I have +killed a Man. The Country People seem to suspect me for a Conjurer; and +some of them hearing of the Visit [which [2]] I made to _Moll White_, +will needs have it that Sir ROGER has brought down a Cunning Man with +him, to cure the old Woman, and free the Country from her Charms. So +that the Character which I go under in part of the Neighbourhood, is +what they here call a _White Witch_. + +A Justice of Peace, who lives about five Miles off, and is not of Sir +ROGER'S Party, has it seems said twice or thrice at his Table, that he +wishes Sir ROGER does not harbour a Jesuit in his House, and that he +thinks the Gentlemen of the Country would do very well to make me give +some Account of my self. + +On the other side, some of Sir ROGER'S Friends are afraid the old Knight +is impos'd upon by a designing Fellow, and as they have heard that he +converses very promiscuously when he is in Town, do not know but he has +brought down with him some discarded Whig, that is sullen, and says +nothing, because he is out of Place. + +Such is the Variety of Opinions [which [2]] are here entertained of me, +so that I pass among some for a disaffected Person, and among others for +a Popish Priest; among some for a Wizard, and among others for a +Murderer; and all this for no other Reason, that I can imagine, but +because I do not hoot and hollow and make a Noise. It is true my Friend +Sir ROGER tells them, _That it is my way_, and that I am only a +Philosopher; but [this [2]] will not satisfy them. They think there is +more in me than he discovers, and that I do not hold my Tongue for +nothing. + +For these and other Reasons I shall set out for _London_ to Morrow, +having found by Experience that the Country is not a Place for a Person +of my Temper, who does not love Jollity, and what they call +Good-Neighbourhood. A Man that is out of Humour when an unexpected Guest +breaks in upon him, and does not care for sacrificing an Afternoon to +every Chance-comer; that will be the Master of his own Time, and the +Pursuer of his own Inclinations makes but a very unsociable Figure in +this kind of Life. I shall therefore retire into the Town, if I may make +use of that Phrase, and get into the Crowd again as fast as I can, in +order to be alone. I can there raise what Speculations I please upon +others without being observed my self, and at the same time enjoy all +the Advantages of Company with all the Privileges of Solitude. In the +mean while, to finish the Month and conclude these my rural +Speculations, I shall here insert a Letter from my Friend WILL. +HONEYCOMB, who has not lived a Month for these forty Years out of the +Smoke of _London_, and rallies me after his way upon my Country Life. + + + _Dear_ SPEC, + + 'I Suppose this Letter will find thee picking of Daisies, or smelling + to a Lock of Hay, or passing away thy time in some innocent Country + Diversion of the like Nature. I have however Orders from the Club to + summon thee up to Town, being all of us cursedly afraid thou wilt not + be able to relish our Company, after thy Conversations with _Moll + White_ and _Will. Wimble_. Pr'ythee don't send us up any more Stories + of a Cock and a Bull, nor frighten the Town with Spirits and Witches. + Thy Speculations begin to smell confoundedly of Woods and Meadows. If + thou dost not come up quickly, we shall conclude [that] thou art in + Love with one of Sir ROGER's Dairy-maids. Service to the Knight. Sir + ANDREW is grown the Cock of the Club since he left us, and if he does + not return quickly will make every Mother's Son of us Commonwealth's + Men. + + _Dear_ SPEC, + + _Thine Eternally_, + + WILL. HONEYCOMB. + + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: an] + + +[Footnotes 2: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 132. Wednesday, August 1, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Qui aut Tempus quid postulet non videt, aut plura loquitur, + aut se ostentat, aut eorum quibuscum est rationem non habet, is + ineptus esse dicitur.' + + Tull. + + +Having notified to my good Friend Sir ROGER that I should set out for +_London_ the next Day, his Horses were ready at the appointed Hour in +the Evening; and attended by one of his Grooms, I arrived at the +County-Town at twilight, in order to be ready for the Stage-Coach the +Day following. As soon as we arrived at the Inn, the Servant who waited +upon me, inquir'd of the Chamberlain in my Hearing what Company he had +for the Coach? The Fellow answered, Mrs. _Betty Arable_, the great +Fortune, and the Widow her Mother; a recruiting Officer (who took a +Place because they were to go;) young Squire _Quickset_ her Cousin (that +her Mother wished her to be married to;) _Ephraim_ the Quaker [1] her +Guardian; and a Gentleman that had studied himself dumb from Sir ROGER +DE COVERLEY'S. I observed by what he said of my self, that according to +his Office he dealt much in Intelligence; and doubted not but there was +some Foundation for his Reports of the rest of the Company, as well as +for the whimsical Account he gave of me. The next Morning at Day-break +we were all called; and I, who know my own natural Shyness, and +endeavour to be as little liable to be disputed with as possible, +dressed immediately, that I might make no one wait. The first +Preparation for our Setting-out was, that the Captain's Half-Pike was +placed near the Coach-man, and a Drum behind the Coach. In the mean Time +the Drummer, the Captain's Equipage, was very loud, that none of the +Captain's things should be placed so as to be spoiled; upon which his +Cloake-bag was fixed in the Seat of the Coach: And the Captain himself, +according to a frequent, tho' invidious Behaviour of Military Men, +ordered his Man to look sharp, that none but one of the Ladies should +have the Place he had taken fronting to the Coach-box. + +We were in some little Time fixed in our Seats, and sat with that +Dislike which People not too good-natured usually conceive of each other +at first Sight. The Coach jumbled us insensibly into some sort of +Familiarity: and we had not moved above two Miles, when the Widow asked +the Captain what Success he had in his Recruiting? The Officer, with a +Frankness he believed very graceful, told her, + + 'That indeed he had but very little Luck, and had suffered much by + Desertion, therefore should be glad to end his Warfare in the Service + of her or her fair Daughter. In a Word, continued he, I am a Soldier, + and to be plain is my Character: You see me, Madam, young, sound, and + impudent; take me your self, Widow, or give me to her, I will be + wholly at your Disposal. I am a Soldier of Fortune, ha!' + +This was followed by a vain Laugh of his own, and a deep Silence of all +the rest of the Company. I had nothing left for it but to fall fast +asleep, which I did with all Speed. + + 'Come, said he, resolve upon it, we will make a Wedding at the next + Town: We will wake this pleasant Companion who is fallen asleep, to be + [the] Brideman, and' (giving the Quaker a Clap on the Knee) he + concluded, 'This sly Saint, who, I'll warrant, understands what's what + as well as you or I, Widow, shall give the Bride as Father.' + +The Quaker, who happened to be a Man of Smartness, answered, + + 'Friend, I take it in good Part that thou hast given me the Authority + of a Father over this comely and virtuous Child; and I must assure + thee, that if I have the giving her, I shall not bestow her on thee. + Thy Mirth, Friend, savoureth of Folly: Thou art a Person of a light + Mind; thy Drum is a Type of thee, it soundeth because it is empty. + Verily, it is not from thy Fullness, but thy Emptiness that thou hast + spoken this Day. Friend, Friend, we have hired this Coach in + Partnership with thee, to carry us to the great City; we cannot go any + other Way. This worthy Mother must hear thee if thou wilt needs utter + thy Follies; we cannot help it, Friend, I say: if thou wilt we must + hear thee: But if thou wert a Man of Understanding, thou wouldst not + take Advantage of thy courageous Countenance to abash us Children of + Peace. Thou art, thou sayest, a Soldier; give Quarter to us, who + cannot resist thee. Why didst thou fleer at our Friend, who feigned + himself asleep? he [said [2]] nothing: but how dost thou know what he + containeth? If thou speakest improper things in the hearing of this + virtuous young Virgin, consider it is an Outrage against a distressed + Person that cannot get from thee: To speak indiscreetly what we are + obliged to hear, by being hasped up with thee in this publick Vehicle, + is in some Degree assaulting on the high Road.' + +Here _Ephraim_ paused, and the Captain with an happy and uncommon +Impudence (which can be convicted and support it self at the same time) +cries, + + 'Faith, Friend, I thank thee; I should have been a little impertinent + if thou hadst not reprimanded me. Come, thou art, I see, a smoaky old + Fellow, and I'll be very orderly the ensuing Part of the Journey. I + was [going [3]] to give my self Airs, but, Ladies, I beg Pardon.' + +The Captain was so little out of Humour, and our Company was so far from +being sowered by this little Ruffle, that _Ephraim_ and he took a +particular Delight in being agreeable to each other for the future; and +assumed their different Provinces in the Conduct of the Company. Our +Reckonings, Apartments, and Accommodation, fell under _Ephraim:_ and the +Captain looked to all Disputes on the Road, as the good Behaviour of our +Coachman, and the Right we had of taking Place as going to _London_ of +all Vehicles coming from thence. The Occurrences we met with were +ordinary, and very little happened which could entertain by the Relation +of them: But when I consider'd the Company we were in, I took it for no +small good Fortune that the whole Journey was not spent in +Impertinences, which to one Part of us might be an Entertainment, to the +other a Suffering. + +What therefore _Ephraim_ said when we were almost arriv'd at _London_, +had to me an Air not only of good Understanding but good Breeding. Upon +the young Lady's expressing her Satisfaction in the Journey, and +declaring how delightful it had been to her, _Ephraim_ declared himself +as follows: + + 'There is no ordinary Part of humane Life which expresseth so much a + good Mind, and a right inward Man, as his Behaviour upon meeting with + Strangers, especially such as may seem the most unsuitable Companions + to him: Such a Man, when he falleth in the way with Persons of + Simplicity and Innocence, however knowing he may be in the Ways of + Men, will not vaunt himself thereof; but will the rather hide his + Superiority to them, that he may not be painful unto them. + + My good Friend, (continued he, turning to the Officer) thee and I are + to part by and by, and peradventure we may never meet again: But be + advised by a plain Man; Modes and Apparel are but Trifles to the real + Man, therefore do not think such a Man as thy self terrible for thy + Garb, nor such a one as me contemptible for mine. + + When two such as thee and I meet, with Affections as we ought to have + towards each other, thou should'st rejoice to see my peaceable + Demeanour, and I should be glad to see thy Strength and Ability to + protect me in it.' + + + +[Footnote 1: The man who would not fight received the name of Ephraim +from the 9th verse of Psalm lxxviii, which says: + + 'The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back + in the day of battle.'] + + +[Footnote 2: sayeth] + + +[Footnote 3: a going] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 133. Thursday, August 2, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Quis Desiderio sit pudor aut modus + Tam Chari capitis?' + + Hor. + + +There is a sort of Delight, which is alternately mixed with Terror and +Sorrow, in the Contemplation of Death. The Soul has its Curiosity more +than ordinarily awakened, when it turns its Thoughts upon the Conduct of +such who have behaved themselves with an Equal, a Resigned, a Chearful, +a Generous or Heroick Temper in that Extremity. + +We are affected with these respective Manners of Behaviour, as we +secretly believe the Part of the Dying Person imitable by our selves, or +such as we imagine our selves more particularly capable of. + +Men of exalted Minds march before us like Princes, and are, to the +Ordinary Race of Mankind, rather Subjects for their Admiration than +Example. However, there are no Ideas strike more forcibly upon our +Imaginations; than those which are raised from Reflections upon the +Exits of great and excellent Men. Innocent Men who have suffered as +Criminals, tho' they were Benefactors to Human Society, seem to be +Persons of the highest Distinction, among the vastly greater Number of +Human Race, the Dead. When the Iniquity of the Times brought _Socrates_ +to his Execution, how great and wonderful is it to behold him, +unsupported by any thing but the Testimony of his own Conscience and +Conjectures of Hereafter, receive the Poison with an Air of Mirth and +good Humour, and as if going on an agreeable Journey bespeak some Deity +to make it fortunate. + +When _Phocion's_ good Actions had met with the like Reward from his +Country, and he was led to Death with many others of his Friends, they +bewailing their Fate, he walking composedly towards the Place of +Execution, how gracefully does he support his Illustrious Character to +the very last Instant. One of the Rabble spitting at him as he passed, +with his usual Authority he called to know if no one was ready to teach +this Fellow how to behave himself. When a Poor-spirited Creature that +died at the same time for his Crimes bemoaned himself unmanfully, he +rebuked him with this Question, Is it no Consolation to such a Man as +thou art to die with _Phocion?_ At the Instant when he was to die, they +asked him what commands he had for his Son, he answered, To forget this +Injury of the _Athenians. Niocles_, his Friend, under the same Sentence, +desired he might drink the Potion before him: _Phocion_ said, because he +never had denied him any thing he would not even this, the most +difficult Request he had ever made. + +These Instances [1] were very noble and great, and the Reflections of +those Sublime Spirits had made Death to them what it is really intended +to be by the Author of Nature, a Relief from a various Being ever +subject to Sorrows and Difficulties. + +_Epaminondas_, the _Theban_ General, having received in Fight a mortal +Stab with a Sword, which was left in his Body, lay in that Posture 'till +he had Intelligence that his Troops [had] obtained the Victory, and then +permitted it to be drawn [out], at which Instant he expressed himself in +this manner, + + _This is not the end of my Life, my Fellow-Soldiers; it is now your_ + Epaminondas _is born, who dies in so much Glory_. + +It were an endless Labour to collect the Accounts with which all Ages +have filled the World of Noble and Heroick Minds that have resigned this +Being, as if the Termination of Life were but an ordinary Occurrence of +it. + +This common-place way of Thinking I fell into from an awkward Endeavour +to throw off a real and fresh Affliction, by turning over Books in a +melancholy Mood; but it is not easy to remove Griefs which touch the +Heart, by applying Remedies which only entertain the Imagination. As +therefore this Paper is to consist of any thing which concerns Human +Life, I cannot help letting the present Subject regard what has been the +last Object of my Eyes, tho' an Entertainment of Sorrow. + +I went this Evening to visit a Friend, with a design to rally him, upon +a Story I had heard of his intending to steal a Marriage without the +Privity of us his intimate Friends and Acquaintance. I came into his +Apartment with that Intimacy which I have done for very many Years, and +walked directly into his Bed-chamber, where I found my Friend in the +Agonies of Death. [2] What could I do? The innocent Mirth in my Thoughts +struck upon me like the most flagitious Wickedness: I in vain called +upon him; he was senseless, and too far spent to have the least +Knowledge of my Sorrow, or any Pain in himself. Give me leave then to +transcribe my Soliloquy, as I stood by his Mother, dumb with the weight +of Grief for a Son who was her Honour and her Comfort, and never till +that Hour since his Birth had been an Occasion of a Moment's Sorrow to +her. + + 'How surprising is this Change! from the Possession of vigorous Life + and Strength, to be reduced in a few Hours to this fatal Extremity! + Those Lips which look so pale and livid, within these few Days gave + Delight to all who heard their Utterance: It was the Business, the + Purpose of his Being, next to Obeying him to whom he is going, to + please and instruct, and that for no other end but to please and + instruct. Kindness was the Motive of his Actions, and with all the + Capacity requisite for making a Figure in a contentious World, + Moderation, Good-Nature, Affability, Temperance and Chastity, were the + Arts of his Excellent Life. There as he lies in helpless Agony, no + Wise Man who knew him so well as I, but would resign all the World can + bestow to be so near the end of such a Life. Why does my Heart so + little obey my Reason as to lament thee, thou excellent Man. ... + Heaven receive him, or restore him ... Thy beloved Mother, thy obliged + Friends, thy helpless Servants, stand around thee without Distinction. + How much wouldst thou, hadst thou thy Senses, say to each of us. + + But now that good Heart bursts, and he is at rest--with that Breath + expired a Soul who never indulged a Passion unfit for the Place he is + gone to: Where are now thy Plans of Justice, of Truth, of Honour? Of + what use the Volumes thou hast collated, the Arguments thou hast + invented, the Examples thou hast followed. Poor were the Expectations + of the Studious, the Modest and the Good, if the Reward of their + Labours were only to be expected from Man. No, my Friend, thy intended + Pleadings, thy intended good Offices to thy Friends, thy intended + Services to thy Country, are already performed (as to thy Concern in + them) in his Sight before whom the Past, Present, and Future appear at + one View. While others with thy Talents were tormented with Ambition, + with Vain-glory, with Envy, with Emulation, how well didst thou turn + thy Mind to its own Improvement in things out of the Power of Fortune, + in Probity, in Integrity, in the Practice and Study of Justice; how + silent thy Passage, how private thy Journey, how glorious thy End! + _Many have I known more Famous, some more Knowing, not one so + Innocent_.' + +R. + + + +[Footnote 1: From Plutarch's 'Life of Phocion'.] + + +[Footnote 2: This friend was Stephen, son of Edmund Clay, haberdasher. +Stephen Clay was of the Inner Temple, and called to the bar in 1700.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 134. Friday, August 3, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Opiferque per Orbem + Dicor ...' + + Ovid. + + +During my Absence in the Country, several Packets have been left for me, +which were not forwarded to me, because I was expected every Day in +Town. The Author of the following Letter, dated from _Tower-Hill_, +having sometimes been entertained with some Learned Gentlemen in Plush +Doublets, who have vended their Wares from a Stage in that Place, has +pleasantly enough addressed Me, as no less a Sage in Morality, than +those are in Physick. To comply with his kind Inclination to make my +Cures famous, I shall give you his Testimonial of my great Abilities at +large in his own Words. + + + _SIR_, + + 'Your saying t'other Day there is something wonderful in the + Narrowness of those Minds which can be pleased, and be barren of + Bounty to those who please them, makes me in pain that I am not a Man + of Power: If I were, you should soon see how much I approve your + Speculations. In the mean time, I beg leave to supply that Inability + with the empty Tribute of an honest Mind, by telling you plainly I + love and thank you for your daily Refreshments. I constantly peruse + your Paper as I smoke my Morning's Pipe, (tho' I can't forbear reading + the Motto before I fill and light) and really it gives a grateful + Relish to every Whif; each Paragraph is freight either with useful or + delightful Notions, and I never fail of being highly diverted or + improved. The Variety of your Subjects surprizes me as much as a Box + of Pictures did formerly, in which there was only one Face, that by + pulling some Pieces of Isinglass over it, was changed into a grave + Senator or a _Merry Andrew_, a patch'd Lady or a Nun, a Beau or a + Black-a-moor, a Prude or a Coquet, a Country 'Squire or a Conjurer, + with many other different Representations very entertaining (as you + are) tho' still the same at the Bottom. This was a childish Amusement + when I was carried away with outward Appearance, but you make a deeper + Impression, and affect the secret Springs of the Mind; you charm the + Fancy, sooth the Passions, and insensibly lead the Reader to that + Sweetness of Temper that you so well describe; you rouse Generosity + with that Spirit, and inculcate Humanity with that Ease, that he must + be miserably Stupid that is not affected by you. I can't say indeed + that you have put Impertinence to Silence, or Vanity out of + Countenance; but methinks you have bid as fair for it, as any Man that + ever appeared upon a publick Stage; and offer an infallible Cure of + Vice and Folly, for the Price of One Penny. And since it is usual for + those who receive Benefit by such famous Operators, to publish an + Advertisement, that others may reap the same Advantage, I think my + self obliged to declare to all the World, that having for a long time + been splenatick, ill natured, froward, suspicious, and unsociable, by + the Application of your Medicines, taken only with half an Ounce of + right _Virginia_ Tobacco, for six successive Mornings, I am become + open, obliging, officious, frank, and hospitable. + + _I am, Your Humble Servant, and great Admirer_, + + George Trusty. + + Tower-hill, + + July 5, 1711. + + +This careful Father and humble Petitioner hereafter mentioned, who are +under Difficulties about the just Management of Fans, will soon receive +proper Advertisements relating to the Professors in that behalf, with +their Places of Abode and Methods of Teaching. + + + July the 5th, 1711. + + SIR, + + 'In your Spectator of _June_ the 7th you Transcribe a Letter sent to + you from a new sort of Muster-master, who teaches Ladies the whole + Exercise of the Fan; I have a Daughter just come to Town, who tho' she + has always held a Fan in her Hand at proper Times, yet she knows no + more how to use it according to true Discipline, than an awkward + School-boy does to make use of his new Sword: I have sent for her on + purpose to learn the Exercise, she being already very well + accomplished in all other Arts which are necessary for a young Lady to + understand; my Request is, that you will speak to your Correspondent + on my behalf, and in your next Paper let me know what he expects, + either by the Month, or the Quarter, for teaching; and where he keeps + his Place of Rendezvous. I have a Son too, whom I would fain have + taught to gallant Fans, and should be glad to know what the Gentleman + will have for teaching them both, I finding Fans for Practice at my + own Expence. This Information will in the highest manner oblige, + + _SIR, Your most humble Servant_, + + William Wiseacre. + + As soon as my Son is perfect in this Art (which I hope will be in a + Year's time, for the Boy is pretty apt,) I design he shall learn to + ride the great Horse, (altho' he is not yet above twenty Years old) if + his Mother, whose Darling he is, will venture him. + + + _To the_ SPECTATOR. + + _The humble Petition of_ Benjamin Easie, _Gent_. + + _Sheweth_, + + 'That it was your Petitioner's Misfortune to walk to _Hackney_ Church + last Sunday, where to his great Amazement he met with a Soldier of + your own training: she furls a Fan, recovers a Fan, and goes through + the whole Exercise of it to Admiration. This well-managed Officer of + yours has, to my Knowledge, been the Ruin of above five young + Gentlemen besides my self, and still goes on laying waste wheresoever + she comes, whereby the whole Village is in great danger. Our humble + Request is therefore that this bold Amazon be ordered immediately to + lay down her Arms, or that you would issue forth an Order, that we who + have been thus injured may meet at the Place of General Rendezvous, + and there be taught to manage our Snuff-Boxes in such manner as we may + be an equal Match for her: + + _And your Petitioner shall ever Pray_, &c. + + +R. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 135. Saturday, August 4, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Est brevitate opus, ut currat Sententia ...' + + Hor. + + +I have somewhere read of an eminent Person, who used in his private +Offices of Devotion to give Thanks to Heaven that he was born a +_Frenchman:_ For my own part, I look upon it as a peculiar Blessing that +I was Born an _Englishman_. Among many other Reasons, I think my self +very happy in my Country, as the _Language_ of it is wonderfully adapted +to a Man [who [1]] is sparing of his Words, and an Enemy to Loquacity. + +As I have frequently reflected on my good Fortune in this Particular, I +shall communicate to the Publick my Speculations upon the, _English_ +Tongue, not doubting but they will be acceptable to all my curious +Readers. + +The _English_ delight in Silence more than any other _European_ Nation, +if the Remarks which are made on us by Foreigners are true. Our +Discourse is not kept up in Conversation, but falls into more Pauses and +Intervals than in our Neighbouring Countries; as it is observed, that +the Matter of our Writings is thrown much closer together, and lies in a +narrower Compass than is usual in the Works of Foreign Authors: For, to +favour our Natural Taciturnity, when we are obliged to utter our +Thoughts, we do it in the shortest way we are able, and give as quick a +Birth to our Conception as possible. + +This Humour shows itself in several Remarks that we may make upon the +_English_ Language. As first of all by its abounding in Monosyllables, +which gives us an Opportunity of delivering our Thoughts in few Sounds. +This indeed takes off from the Elegance of our Tongue, but at the same +time expresses our Ideas in the readiest manner, and consequently +answers the first Design of Speech better than the Multitude of +Syllables, which make the Words of other Languages more Tunable and +Sonorous. The Sounds of our _English_ Words are commonly like those of +String Musick, short and transient, [which [2]] rise and perish upon a +single Touch; those of other Languages are like the Notes of Wind +Instruments, sweet and swelling, and lengthen'd out into variety of +Modulation. + +In the next place we may observe, that where the Words are not +Monosyllables, we often make them so, as much as lies in our Power, by +our Rapidity of Pronounciation; as it generally happens in most of our +long Words which are derived from the _Latin_, where we contract the +length of the Syllables that give them a grave and solemn Air in their +own Language, to make them more proper for Dispatch, and more +conformable to the Genius of our Tongue. This we may find in a multitude +of Words, as _Liberty, Conspiracy, Theatre, Orator_, &c. + +The same natural Aversion to Loquacity has of late Years made a very +considerable Alteration in our Language, by closing in one Syllable the +Termination of our Præterperfect Tense, as in the Words, _drown'd, walk' +d, arriv'd_, for _drowned, walked, arrived_, which has very much +disfigured the Tongue, and turned a tenth part of our smoothest Words +into so many Clusters of Consonants. This is the more remarkable, +because the want of Vowels in our Language has been the general +Complaint of our politest Authors, who nevertheless are the Men that +have made these Retrenchments, and consequently very much increased our +former Scarcity. + +This Reflection on the Words that end in _ed_, I have heard in +Conversation from one of the greatest Genius's this Age has produced. +[3] I think we may add to the foregoing Observation, the Change which +has happened in our Language, by the Abbreviation of several Words that +are terminated in _eth_, by substituting an _s_ in the room of the last +Syllable, as in _drowns, walks, arrives_, and innumerable other Words, +which in the Pronunciation of our Forefathers were _drowneth, walketh, +arriveth_. This has wonderfully multiplied a Letter which was before too +frequent in the _English_ Tongue, and added to that _hissing_ in our +Language, which is taken so much notice of by Foreigners; but at the +same time humours our Taciturnity, and eases us of many superfluous +Syllables. + +I might here observe, that the same single Letter on many Occasions does +the Office of a whole Word, and represents the _His_ and _Her_ of our +Forefathers. There is no doubt but the Ear of a Foreigner, which is the +best Judge in this Case, would very much disapprove of such Innovations, +which indeed we do our selves in some measure, by retaining the old +Termination in Writing, and in all the solemn Offices of our Religion. + +As in the Instances I have given we have epitomized many of our +particular Words to the Detriment of our Tongue, so on other Occasions +we have drawn two Words into one, which has likewise very much untuned +our Language, and clogged it with Consonants, as _mayn't, can't, +shd'n't, wo'n't_, and the like, for _may not, can not, shall not, will +not_, &c. + +It is perhaps this Humour of speaking no more than we needs must, which +has so miserably curtailed some of our Words, that in familiar Writings +and Conversations they often lose all but their first Syllables, as in +_mob._ _rep._ _pos._ _incog._ and the like; and as all ridiculous Words +make their first Entry into a Language by familiar Phrases, I dare not +answer for these that they will not in time be looked upon as a part of +our Tongue. We see some of our Poets have been so indiscreet as to +imitate _Hudibras's_ Doggrel Expressions in their serious Compositions, +by throwing out the Signs of our Substantives, which are essential to +the English Language. Nay, this Humour of shortning our Language had +once run so far, that some of our celebrated Authors, among whom we may +reckon Sir _Roger E Estrange_ in particular, began to prune their Words +of all superfluous Letters, as they termed them, in order to adjust the +Spelling to the Pronunciation; which would have confounded all our +Etymologies, and have quite destroyed our Tongue. + +We may here likewise observe that our proper Names, when familiarized in +English, generally dwindle to Monosyllables, whereas in other modern +Languages they receive a softer Turn on this Occasion, by the Addition +of a new Syllable. _Nick_ in _Italian_ is _Nicolini_, _Jack in French +_Janot_; and so of the rest. + +There is another Particular in our Language which is a great Instance of +our Frugality of Words, and that is the suppressing of several Particles +which must be produced in other Tongues to make a Sentence intelligible. +This often perplexes the best Writers, when they find the Relatives +whom, which, or they at their Mercy whether they may have Admission or +not; and will never be decided till we have something like an Academy, +that by the best Authorities and Rules drawn from the Analogy of +Languages shall settle all Controversies between Grammar and Idiom. + +I have only considered our Language as it shows the Genius and natural +Temper of the _English_, which is modest, thoughtful and sincere, and +which perhaps may recommend the People, though it has spoiled the +Tongue. We might perhaps carry the same Thought into other Languages, +and deduce a greater Part of what is peculiar to them from the Genius of +the People who speak them. It is certain, the light talkative Humour of +the _French_ has not a little infected their Tongue, which might be +shown by many Instances; as the Genius of the _Italians_, which is so +much addicted to Musick and Ceremony, has moulded all their Words and +Phrases to those particular Uses. The Stateliness and Gravity of the +_Spaniards_ shews itself to Perfection in the Solemnity of their +Language, and the blunt honest Humour of the _Germans_ sounds better in +the Roughness of the High Dutch, than it would in a politer Tongue. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: Swift.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 136. Monday, August 6, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Parthis mendacior ...' + + Hor. + + +According to the Request of this strange Fellow, I shall Print the +following Letter. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I shall without any manner of Preface or Apology acquaint you, that I + am, and ever have been from my Youth upward, one of the greatest Liars + this Island has produced. I have read all the Moralists upon the + Subject, but could never find any Effect their Discourses had upon me, + but to add to my Misfortune by new Thoughts and Ideas, and making me + more ready in my Language, and capable of sometimes mixing seeming + Truths with my Improbabilities. With this strong Passion towards + Falshood in this kind, there does not live an honester Man or a + sincerer Friend; but my Imagination runs away with me, and whatever is + started I have such a Scene of Adventures appears in an Instant before + me, that I cannot help uttering them, tho', to my immediate Confusion, + I cannot but know I am liable to be detected by the first Man I meet. + + Upon occasion of the mention of the Battel of _Pultowa_, I could not + forbear giving an Account of a Kinsman of mine, a young Merchant who + was bred at _Mosco_, that had too much Metal to attend Books of + Entries and Accounts, when there was so active a Scene in the Country + where he resided, and followed the Czar as a Volunteer: This warm + Youth, born at the Instant the thing was spoke of, was the Man who + unhorsed the _Swedish_ General, he was the Occasion that the + _Muscovites_ kept their Fire in so soldier-like a manner, and brought + up those Troops which were covered from the Enemy at the beginning of + the Day; besides this, he had at last the good Fortune to be the Man + who took Count _Piper_ [1] With all this Fire I knew my Cousin to be + the Civilest Creature in the World. He never made any impertinent Show + of his Valour, and then he had an excellent Genius for the World in + every other kind. I had Letters from him (here I felt in my Pockets) + that exactly spoke the Czar's Character, which I knew [perfectly [2]] + well; and I could not forbear concluding, that I lay with his Imperial + Majesty twice or thrice a Week all the while he lodged at _Deptford_. + [3] What is worse than all this, it is impossible to speak to me, but + you give me some occasion of coming out with one Lie or other, that + has neither Wit, Humour, Prospect of Interest, or any other Motive + that I can think of in Nature. The other Day, when one was commending + an Eminent and Learned Divine, what occasion in the World had I to + say, Methinks he would look more Venerable if he were not so fair a + man? I remember the Company smiled. I have seen the Gentleman since, + and he is Coal-Black. I have Intimations every Day in my Life that no + Body believes me, yet I am never the better. I was saying something + the other Day to an old Friend at _Will's_ Coffee-house, and he made + me no manner of Answer; but told me, that an Acquaintance of _Tully_ + the Orator having two or three times together said to him, without + receiving any Answer, That upon his Honour he was but that very Month + forty Years of Age; Tully answer'd, Surely you think me the most + incredulous Man in the World, if I don't believe what you have told me + every Day this ten Years. The Mischief of it is, I find myself + wonderfully inclin'd to have been present at every Occurrence that is + spoken of before me; this has led me into many Inconveniencies, but + indeed they have been the fewer, because I am no ill-natur'd Man, and + never speak Things to any Man's Disadvantage. I never directly defame, + but I do what is as bad in the Consequence, for I have often made a + Man say such and such a lively Expression, who was born a mere Elder + Brother. When one has said in my Hearing, Such a one is no wiser than + he should be, I immediately have reply'd, Now 'faith, I can't see + that, he said a very good Thing to my Lord such a one, upon such an + Occasion, and the like. Such an honest Dolt as this has been watch'd + in every Expression he uttered, upon my Recommendation of him, and + consequently been subject to the more Ridicule. I once endeavoured to + cure my self of this impertinent Quality, and resolved to hold my + Tongue for seven Days together; I did so, but then I had so many Winks + and unnecessary Distortions of my Face upon what any body else said, + that I found I only forbore the Expression, and that I still lied in + my Heart to every Man I met with. You are to know one Thing (which I + believe you'll say is a pity, considering the Use I should have made + of it) I never Travelled in my Life; but I do not know whether I could + have spoken of any Foreign Country with more Familiarity than I do at + present, in Company who are Strangers to me. I have cursed the Inns in + _Germany_; commended the Brothels at _Venice_; the Freedom of + Conversation in _France_; and tho' I never was out of this dear Town, + and fifty Miles about it, have been three Nights together dogged by + Bravoes for an Intreague with a Cardinal's Mistress at _Rome_. + + It were endless to give you Particulars of this kind, but I can assure + you, Mr. SPECTATOR, there are about Twenty or Thirty of us in this + Town, I mean by this Town the Cities of _London_ and _Westminster;_ I + say there are in Town a sufficient Number of us to make a Society + among our selves; and since we cannot be believed any longer, I beg of + you to print this my Letter, that we may meet together, and be under + such Regulation as there may be no Occasion for Belief or Confidence + among us. If you think fit, we might be called _The Historians_, for + _Liar_ is become a very harsh Word. And that a Member of the Society + may not hereafter be ill received by the rest of the World, I desire + you would explain a little this sort of Men, and not let us + _Historians_ be ranked, as we are in the Imaginations of ordinary + People, among common Liars, Makebates, Impostors, and Incendiaries. + For your Instruction herein, you are to know that an Historian in + Conversation is only a Person of so pregnant a Fancy, that he cannot + be contented with ordinary Occurrences. I know a Man of Quality of our + Order, who is of the wrong Side of Forty-three, and has been of that + Age, according to _Tully's_ Jest, for some Years since, whose Vein is + upon the Romantick. Give him the least Occasion, and he will tell you + something so very particular that happen'd in such a Year, and in such + Company, where by the by was present such a one, who was afterwards + made such a thing. Out of all these Circumstances, in the best + Language in the World, he will join together with such probable + Incidents an Account that shews a Person of the deepest Penetration, + the honestest Mind, and withal something so Humble when he speaks of + himself, that you would Admire. Dear Sir, why should this be Lying! + There is nothing so instructive. He has withal the gravest Aspect; + something so very venerable and great! Another of these Historians is + a Young Man whom we would take in, tho' he extreamly wants Parts, as + People send Children (before they can learn any thing) to School, to + keep them out of Harm's way. He tells things which have nothing at all + in them, and can neither please [nor [4]] displease, but merely take + up your Time to no manner of Purpose, no manner of Delight; but he is + Good-natured, and does it because he loves to be saying something to + you, and entertain you. + + I could name you a Soldier that [hath [5]] done very great things + without Slaughter; he is prodigiously dull and slow of Head, but what + he can say is for ever false, so that we must have him. + + Give me leave to tell you of one more who is a Lover; he is the most + afflicted Creature in the World, lest what happened between him and a + Great Beauty should ever be known. Yet again, he comforts himself. + _Hang the Jade her Woman. If Mony can keep [the] Slut trusty I will do + it, though I mortgage every Acre;_ Anthony _and_ Cleopatra _for that; + All for Love and the World well lost ... + + Then, Sir, there is my little Merchant, honest _Indigo_ of the + _Change_, there's my Man for Loss and Gain, there's Tare and Tret, + there's lying all round the Globe; he has such a prodigious + Intelligence he knows all the _French_ are doing, or what we intend or + ought to intend, and has it from such Hands. But, alas, whither am I + running! While I complain, while I remonstrate to you, even all this + is a Lie, and there is not one such Person of Quality, Lover, Soldier, + or Merchant as I have now described in the whole World, that I know + of. But I will catch my self once in my Life, and in spite of Nature + speak one Truth, to wit that I am + + + _Your Humble Servant_, &c. + + + T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Prime Minister of Charles XII.] + + +[Footnote 2: exactly] + + +[Footnote 3: In the Spring of 1698.] + + +[Footnote 4: or] + + +[Footnote 5: has] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 137. Tuesday, August 7, 1711. Steele. + + + + At hæc etiam Servis semper libera fuerunt, timerent, gauderent, + dolerent, suo potius quam alterius arbitrio. + + Tull. Epist. + + +It is no small Concern to me, that I find so many Complaints from that +Part of Mankind whose Portion it is to live in Servitude, that those +whom they depend upon will not allow them to be even as happy as their +Condition will admit of. There are, as these unhappy Correspondents +inform me, Masters who are offended at a chearful Countenance, and think +a Servant is broke loose from them, if he does not preserve the utmost +Awe in their Presence. There is one who says, if he looks satisfied, his +Master asks him what makes him so pert this Morning; if a little sour, +Hark ye, Sirrah, are not you paid your Wages? The poor Creatures live in +the most extreme Misery together: The Master knows not how to preserve +Respect, nor the Servant how to give it. It seems this Person is of so +sullen a Nature, that he knows but little Satisfaction in the midst of a +plentiful Fortune, and secretly frets to see any Appearance of Content, +in one that lives upon the hundredth Part of his Income, who is unhappy +in the Possession of the Whole. Uneasy Persons, who cannot possess their +own Minds, vent their Spleen upon all who depend upon them: which, I +think, is expressed in a lively manner in the following Letters. + + + _August_ 2, 1711. + + _SIR_, + + I have read your Spectator of the third of the last Month, and wish I + had the Happiness of being preferred to serve so good a Master as Sir + ROGER. The Character of my Master is the very Reverse of that good and + gentle Knight's. All his Directions are given, and his Mind revealed, + by way of Contraries: As when any thing is to be remembered, with a + peculiar Cast of Face he cries, _Be sure to forget now_. If I am to + make haste back, _Don't come these two Hours; be sure to call by the + Way upon some of your Companions_. Then another excellent Way of his + is, if he sets me any thing to do, which he knows must necessarily + take up half a Day, he calls ten times in a Quarter of an Hour to know + whether I have done yet. This is his Manner; and the same Perverseness + runs through all his Actions, according as the Circumstances vary. + Besides all this, he is so suspicious, that he submits himself to the + Drudgery of a Spy. He is as unhappy himself as he makes his Servants: + He is constantly watching us, and we differ no more in Pleasure and + Liberty than as a Gaoler and a Prisoner. He lays Traps for Faults, and + no sooner makes a Discovery, but falls into such Language, as I am + more ashamed of for coming from him, than for being directed to me. + This, Sir, is a short Sketch of a Master I have served upwards of nine + Years; and tho' I have never wronged him, I confess my Despair of + pleasing him has very much abated my Endeavour to do it. If you will + give me leave to steal a Sentence out of my Master's _Clarendon_, I + shall tell you my Case in a Word, _Being used worse than I deserved, I + cared less to deserve well than I had done_. + + _I am, SIR_, + _Your Humble Servant_, + RALPH VALET. + + + Dear Mr. SPECTER, I am the next thing to a Lady's Woman, and am under + both my Lady and her Woman. I am so used by them both, that I should + be very glad to see them in the SPECTER. My Lady her self is of no + Mind in the World, and for that Reason her Woman is of twenty Minds in + a Moment. My Lady is one that never knows what to do with her self; + she pulls on and puts off every thing she wears twenty times before + she resolves upon it for that Day. I stand at one end of the Room, and + reach things to her Woman. When my Lady asks for a thing, I hear and + have half brought it, when the Woman meets me in the middle of the + Room to receive it, and at that Instant she says No she will not have + it. Then I go back, and her Woman comes up to her, and by this time + she will have that and two or three things more in an Instant: The + Woman and I run to each other; I am loaded and delivering the things + to her, when my Lady says she wants none of all these things, and we + are the dullest Creatures in the World, and she the unhappiest Woman + living, for she shan't be dress'd in any time. Thus we stand not + knowing what to do, when our good Lady with all the Patience in the + World tells us as plain as she can speak, that she will have Temper + because we have no manner of Understanding; and begins again to dress, + and see if we can find out of our selves what we are to do. When she + is Dressed she goes to Dinner, and after she has disliked every thing + there, she calls for the Coach, then commands it in again, and then + she will not go out at all, and then will go too, and orders the + Chariot. Now, good Mr. SPECTER, I desire you would in the Behalf of + all who serve froward Ladies, give out in your Paper, that nothing can + be done without allowing Time for it, and that one cannot be back + again with what one was sent for, if one is called back before one can + go a Step for that they want. And if you please let them know that all + Mistresses are as like as all Servants. + + _I am + Your Loving Friend_, + PATIENCE GIDDY. + + +These are great Calamities; but I met the other Day in the five Fields +towards _Chelsea_, a pleasanter Tyrant than either of the above +represented. A fat Fellow was puffing on in his open Waistcoat; a Boy of +fourteen in a Livery, carrying after him his Cloak, upper Coat, Hat, +Wig, and Sword. The poor Lad was ready to sink with the Weight, and +could not keep up with his Master, who turned back every half Furlong, +and wondered what made the lazy Young Dog lag behind. + +There is something very unaccountable, that People cannot put themselves +in the Condition of the Persons below them, when they consider the +Commands they give. But there is nothing more common, than to see a +Fellow (who if he were reduced to it, would not be hired by any Man +living) lament that he is troubled with the most worthless Dogs in +Nature. + +It would, perhaps, be running too far out of common Life to urge, that +he who is not Master of himself and his own Passions, cannot be a proper +Master of another. Æquanimity in a Man's own Words and Actions, will +easily diffuse it self through his whole Family. _Pamphilio_ has the +happiest Household of any Man I know, and that proceeds from the humane +regard he has to them in their private Persons, as well as in respect +that they are his Servants. If there be any Occasion, wherein they may +in themselves be supposed to be unfit to attend their Master's Concerns, +by reason of an Attention to their own, he is so good as to place +himself in their Condition. I thought it very becoming in him, when at +Dinner the other Day he made an Apology for want of more Attendants. He +said, _One of my Footmen is gone to the Wedding of his Sister, and the +other I don't expect to Wait, because his Father died but two Days ago_. + +T. + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 138. Wednesday, August 8, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Utitur in re non Dubia testibus non necessariis.' + + Tull. + + +One meets now and then with Persons who are extreamly learned and knotty +in Expounding clear Cases. _Tully_ [1] tells us of an Author that spent +some Pages to prove that Generals could not perform the great +Enterprizes which have made them so illustrious, if they had not had +Men. He asserted also, it seems, that a Minister at home, no more than a +Commander abroad, could do any thing without other Men were his +Instruments and Assistants. On this Occasion he produces the Example of +_Themistodes, Pericles, Cyrus_, and _Alexander_ himself, whom he denies +to have been capable of effecting what they did, except they had been +followed by others. It is pleasant enough to see such Persons contend +without Opponents, and triumph without Victory. + +The Author above-mentioned by the Orator, is placed for ever in a very +ridiculous Light, and we meet every Day in Conversation such as deserve +the same kind of Renown, for troubling those with whom they converse +with the like Certainties. The Persons that I have always thought to +deserve the highest Admiration in this kind are your ordinary +Story-tellers, who are most religiously careful of keeping to the Truth +in every particular Circumstance of a Narration, whether it concern the +main End or not. A Gentleman whom I had the Honour to be in Company with +the other Day, upon some Occasion that he was pleased to take, said, He +remembered a very pretty Repartee made by a very witty Man in King +_Charles's_ time upon the like Occasion. I remember (said he, upon +entring into the Tale) much about the time of _Oates's_ Plot, that a +Cousin-German of mine and I were at the _Bear_ in _Holborn:_ No, I am +out, it was at the _Cross_ Keys, but _Jack Thompson_ was there, for he +was very great with the Gentleman who made the Answer. But I am sure it +was spoken some where thereabouts, for we drank a Bottle in that +Neighbourhood every Evening: But no matter for all that, the thing is +the same; but ... + +He was going on to settle the Geography of the Jest when I left the +Room, wondering at this odd turn of Head which can play away its Words, +with uttering nothing to the Purpose, still observing its own +Impertinencies, and yet proceeding in them. I do not question but he +informed the rest of his Audience, who had more Patience than I, of the +Birth and Parentage, as well as the Collateral Alliances of his Family +who made the Repartee, and of him who provoked him to it. + +It is no small Misfortune to any who have a just Value for their Time, +when this Quality of being so very Circumstantial, and careful to be +exact, happens to shew it self in a Man whose Quality obliges them to +attend his Proofs, that it is now Day, and the like. But this is +augmented when the same Genius gets into Authority, as it often does. +Nay I have known it more than once ascend the very Pulpit. One of this +sort taking it in his Head to be a great Admirer of Dr. _Tillotson_ and +Dr. _Beveridge_, never failed of proving out of these great Authors +Things which no Man living would have denied him upon his [own] single +Authority. One Day resolving to come to the Point in hand, he said, +According to that excellent Divine, I will enter upon the Matter, or in +his Words, in the fifteenth Sermon of the Folio Edition, Page 160. + +_I shall briefly explain the Words, and then consider the Matter +contained in them_. + +This honest Gentleman needed not, one would think, strain his Modesty so +far as to alter his Design of _Entring into the Matter_, to that of +_Briefly explaining_. But so it was, that he would not even be contented +with that Authority, but added also the other Divine to strengthen his +Method, and told us, With the Pious and Learned Dr. _Beveridge_, Page +4th of his 9th Volume, I _shall endeavour to make it as plain as I can +from the Words which I have now read, wherein for that Purpose we shall +consider_ ... This Wiseacre was reckoned by the Parish, who did not +understand him, a most excellent Preacher; but that he read too much, +and was so Humble that he did not trust enough to his own Parts. + +Next to these ingenious Gentlemen, who argue for what no body can deny +them, are to be ranked a sort of People who do not indeed attempt to +prove insignificant things, but are ever labouring to raise Arguments +with you about Matters you will give up to them without the least +Controversy. One of these People told a Gentleman who said he saw Mr. +such a one go this Morning at nine a Clock towards the _Gravel-Pits_, +Sir, I must beg your pardon for that, for tho' I am very loath to have +any Dispute with you, yet I must take the liberty to tell you it was +nine when I saw him at _St. James's_. When Men of this Genius are pretty +far gone in Learning they will put you to prove that Snow is white, and +when you are upon that Topick can say that there is really no such thing +as Colour in Nature; in a Word, they can turn what little Knowledge they +have into a ready Capacity of raising Doubts; into a Capacity of being +always frivolous and always unanswerable. It was of two Disputants of +this impertinent and laborious kind that the Cynick said, _One of these +Fellows is Milking a Ram, and the other holds the Pail_. + + + +[Footnote 1: On Rhetorical Invention.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + _The Exercise of the Snuff-Box, + according to the most fashionable Airs and Motions, + in opposition to the Exercise of the Fan, + will be Taught with the best plain or perfumed Snuff, + at_ Charles Lillie's _Perfumer + at the Corner of Beaufort-Buildings in the_ Strand, + _and Attendance given + for the Benefit of the young Merchants about the Exchange + for two Hours every Day at Noon, except_ Saturdays, + _at a Toy-shop near_ Garraway's _Coffee-House. + + There will be likewise Taught + The Ceremony of the Snuff-box, + or Rules for offering Snuff to a Stranger, a Friend, or a Mistress, + according to the Degrees of Familiarity or Distance; + with an Explanation of + the Careless, the Scornful, the Politick, and the Surly Pinch, + and the Gestures proper to each of them_. + + N. B._The Undertaker does not question + but in a short time to have formed + a Body of Regular Snuff-Boxes + ready to meet and make head against + [all] the Regiment of Fans which have been + lately Disciplined, and are now in Motion_. + + T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 139. Thursday, August 9, 1711. Steele. + + + + Vera Gloria radices agit, atque etiam propagatur: Ficta omnia + celeriter, tanquam flosculi, decidunt, nec simulatum potest + quidquam esse diuturnum. + + Tull. + + +Of all the Affections which attend Human Life, the Love of Glory is the +most Ardent. According as this is Cultivated in Princes, it produces the +greatest Good or the greatest Evil. Where Sovereigns have it by +Impressions received from Education only, it creates an Ambitious rather +than a Noble Mind; where it is the natural Bent of the Prince's +Inclination, it prompts him to the Pursuit of Things truly Glorious. The +two greatest Men now in _Europe_ (according to the common Acceptation of +the Word _Great_) are _Lewis_ King of _France_, and _Peter_ Emperor of +_Russia_. As it is certain that all Fame does not arise from the +Practice of Virtue, it is, methinks, no unpleasing Amusement to examine +the Glory of these Potentates, and distinguish that which is empty, +perishing, and frivolous, from what is solid, lasting, and important. +_Lewis_ of _France_ had his Infancy attended by Crafty and Worldly Men, +who made Extent of Territory the most glorious [Instance [1]] of Power, +and mistook the spreading of Fame for the Acquisition of Honour. The +young Monarch's Heart was by such Conversation easily deluded into a +Fondness for Vain-glory, and upon these unjust Principles to form or +fall in with suitable Projects of Invasion, Rapine, Murder, and all the +Guilts that attend War when it is unjust. At the same time this Tyranny +was laid, Sciences and Arts were encouraged in the most generous Manner, +as if Men of higher Faculties were to be bribed to permit the Massacre +of the rest of the World. Every Superstructure which the Court of +_France_ built upon their first Designs, which were in themselves +vicious, was suitable to its false Foundation. The Ostentation of +Riches, the Vanity of Equipage, Shame of Poverty, and Ignorance of +Modesty, were the common Arts of Life: The generous Love of one Woman +was changed into Gallantry for all the Sex, and Friendships among Men +turned into Commerces of Interest, or mere Professions. _While these +were the Rules of Life, Perjuries in the Prince, and a general +Corruption of Manners in the Subject, were the Snares in which_ France +_has Entangled all her Neighbours._ With such false Colours have the +Eyes of _Lewis_ been enchanted, from the Debauchery of his early Youth, +to the Superstition of his present old Age. Hence it is, that he has the +Patience to have Statues erected to his Prowess, his Valour, his +Fortitude; and in the Softnesses and Luxury of a Court, to be applauded +for Magnanimity and Enterprize in Military Atchievements. + +_Peter Alexiwitz_ of _Russia_, when he came to Years of Manhood, though +he found himself Emperor of a vast and numerous People, Master of an +endless Territory, absolute Commander of the Lives and Fortunes of his +Subjects, in the midst of this unbounded Power and Greatness turned his +Thoughts upon Himself and People with Sorrow. Sordid Ignorance and a +Brute Manner of Life this Generous Prince beheld and contemned from the +Light of his own _Genius_. His Judgment suggested this to him, and his +Courage prompted him to amend it. In order to this he did not send to +the Nation from whence the rest of the World has borrowed its +Politeness, but himself left his Diadem to learn the true Way to Glory +and Honour, and Application to useful Arts, wherein to employ the +Laborious, the Simple, the Honest part of his People. Mechanick +Employments and Operations were very justly the first Objects of his +Favour and Observation. With this glorious Intention he travelled into +Foreign Nations in an obscure Manner, above receiving little Honours +where he sojourned, but prying into what was of more Consequence, their +Arts of Peace and of War. By this means has this great Prince laid the +Foundation of a great and lasting Fame, by personal Labour, personal +Knowledge, personal Valour. It would be Injury to any of Antiquity to +name them with him. Who, but himself, ever left a Throne to learn to sit +in it with more Grace? Who ever thought himself mean in Absolute +Power, 'till he had learned to use it? + +If we consider this wonderful Person, it is Perplexity to know where to +begin his Encomium. Others may in a Metaphorical or Philosophick Sense +be said to command themselves, but this Emperor is also literally under +his own Command. How generous and how good was his entring his own Name +as a private Man in the Army he raised, that none in it might expect to +out-run the Steps with which he himself advanced! By such Measures this +god-like Prince learned to Conquer, learned to use his Conquests. How +terrible has he appeared in Battel, how gentle in Victory? Shall then +the base Arts of the _Frenchman_ be held Polite, and the honest Labours +of the _Russian_ Barbarous? No: Barbarity is the Ignorance of true +Honour, or placing any thing instead of it. The unjust Prince is Ignoble +and Barbarous, the good Prince only Renowned and Glorious. + +Tho' Men may impose upon themselves what they please by their corrupt +Imaginations, Truth will ever keep its Station; and as Glory is nothing +else but the Shadow of Virtue, it will certainly disappear at the +Departure of Virtue. But how carefully ought the true Notions of it to +be preserved, and how industrious should we be to encourage any Impulses +towards it? The _Westminster_ School-boy that said the other Day he +could not sleep or play for the Colours in the Hall, [2] ought to be +free from receiving a Blow for ever. + +But let us consider what is truly Glorious according to the Author I +have to day quoted in the Front of my Paper. + +The Perfection of Glory, says _Tully_, [3] consists in these three +Particulars: _That the People love us; that they have Confidence in us; +that being affected with a certain Admiration towards us, they think we +deserve Honour_. + +This was spoken of Greatness in a Commonwealth: But if one were to form +a Notion of Consummate Glory under our Constitution, one must add to the +above-mentioned Felicities a certain necessary Inexistence, and +Disrelish of all the rest, without the Prince's Favour. + +He should, methinks, have Riches, Power, Honour, Command, Glory; but +Riches, Power, Honour, Command and Glory should have no Charms, but as +accompanied with the Affection of his Prince. He should, methinks, be +Popular because a Favourite, and a Favourite because Popular. + +Were it not to make the Character too imaginary, I would give him +Sovereignty over some Foreign Territory, and make him esteem that an +empty Addition without the kind Regards of his own Prince. + +One may merely have an _Idea_ of a Man thus composed and +circumstantiated, and if he were so made for Power without an Incapacity +of giving Jealousy, he would be also Glorious, without Possibility of +receiving Disgrace. This Humility and this Importance must make his +Glory immortal. + +These Thoughts are apt to draw me beyond the usual Length of this Paper, +but if I could suppose such Rhapsodies cou'd outlive the common Fate of +ordinary things, I would say these Sketches and Faint Images of Glory +were drawn in _August, 1711,_ when _John__ Duke of _Marlborough_ made +that memorable March wherein he took the French Lines without Bloodshed. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Instances] + + +[Footnote 2: The Colours taken at Blenheim hung in Westminster Hall.] + + +[Footnote 3: Towards the close of the first Philippic.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 140. Friday, August 10, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Animum curis nunc huc nunc dividit illuc.' + + Virg. + + +When I acquaint my Reader, that I have many other Letters not yet +acknowledged, I believe he will own, what I have a mind he should +believe, that I have no small Charge upon me, but am a Person of some +Consequence in this World. I shall therefore employ the present Hour +only in reading Petitions, in the Order as follows. + + + _Mr._ SPECTATOR, + + 'I have lost so much Time already, that I desire, upon the Receipt + hereof, you would sit down immediately and give me your Answer. And I + would know of you whether a Pretender of mine really loves me. + + As well as I can I will describe his Manners. When he sees me he is + always talking of Constancy, but vouchsafes to visit me but once a + Fortnight, and then is always in haste to be gone. + + When I am sick, I hear, he says he is mightily concerned, but neither + comes nor sends, because, as he tells his Acquaintance with a Sigh, he + does not care to let me know all the Power I have over him, and how + impossible it is for him to live without me. + + When he leaves the Town he writes once in six Weeks, desires to hear + from me, complains of the Torment of Absence, speaks of Flames, + Tortures, Languishings and Ecstasies. He has the Cant of an impatient + Lover, but keeps the Pace of a Lukewarm one. + + You know I must not go faster than he does, and to move at this rate + is as tedious as counting a great Clock. But you are to know he is + rich, and my Mother says, As he is slow he is sure; He will love me + long, if he loves me little: But I appeal to you whether he loves at + all + + _Your Neglected, Humble Servant,_ + Lydia Novell. + + _All these Fellows who have Mony are extreamly sawcy and cold; Pray, + Sir, tell them of it_. + + + + _Mr._SPECTATOR, + + 'I have been delighted with nothing more through the whole Course of + your Writings than the Substantial Account you lately gave of Wit, and + I could wish you would take some other Opportunity to express further + the Corrupt Taste the Age is run into; which I am chiefly apt to + attribute to the Prevalency of a few popular Authors, whose Merit in + some respects has given a Sanction to their Faults in others. + + Thus the Imitators of _Milton_ seem to place all the Excellency of + that sort of Writing either in the uncouth or antique Words, or + something else which was highly vicious, tho' pardonable, in that + Great Man. + + The Admirers of what we call Point, or Turn, look upon it as the + particular Happiness to which _Cowley, Ovid_ and others owe their + Reputation, and therefore imitate them only in such Instances; what is + Just, Proper and Natural does not seem to be the Question with them, + but by what means a quaint Antithesis may be brought about, how one + Word may be made to look two Ways, and what will be the Consequence of + a forced Allusion. + + Now tho' such Authors appear to me to resemble those who make + themselves fine, instead of being well dressed or graceful; yet the + Mischief is, that these Beauties in them, which I call Blemishes, are + thought to proceed from Luxuriance of Fancy and Overflowing of good + Sense: In one word, they have the Character of being too Witty; but if + you would acquaint the World they are not Witty at all, you would, + among many others, oblige, + + _SIR_, + + _Your Most Benevolent Reader_, + + R. D. + + + + _SIR_, + + 'I am a young Woman, and reckoned Pretty, therefore you'll pardon me + that I trouble you to decide a Wager between me and a Cousin of mine, + who is always contradicting one because he understands _Latin_. Pray, + Sir. is _Dimpple_ spelt with a single or a double _P_?' + + _I am, Sir_, + + _Your very Humble Servant_, + + Betty Saunter. + + _Pray_, Sir, _direct thus_, To the kind Querist, _and leave it at_ + Mr. Lillie's, _for I don't care to be known in the thing at all_. I + am, Sir, again Your Humble Servant.' + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I must needs tell you there are several of your Papers I do not much + like. You are often so Nice there is no enduring you, and so Learned + there is no understanding you. What have you to do with our + Petticoats?' + + _Your Humble Servant_, + + Parthenope. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Last Night as I was walking in the Park, I met a couple of Friends; + Prithee _Jack_, says one of them, let us go drink a Glass of Wine, for + I am fit for nothing else. This put me upon reflecting on the many + Miscarriages which happen in Conversations over Wine, when Men go to + the Bottle to remove such Humours as it only stirs up and awakens. + This I could not attribute more to any thing than to the Humour of + putting Company upon others which Men do not like themselves. Pray, + Sir, declare in your Papers, that he who is a troublesome Companion to + himself, will not be an agreeable one to others. Let People reason + themselves into good-Humour, before they impose themselves upon their + Friends. Pray, Sir, be as Eloquent as you can upon this Subject, and + do Human Life so much Good, as to argue powerfully, that it is not + every one that can swallow who is fit to drink a Glass of Wine.' + + _Your most Humble Servant_. + + + + _SIR_, + + 'I this Morning cast my Eye upon your Paper concerning the Expence of + Time. You are very obliging to the Women, especially those who are not + Young and past Gallantry, by touching so gently upon Gaming: Therefore + I hope you do not think it wrong to employ a little leisure Time in + that Diversion; but I should be glad to hear you say something upon + the Behaviour of some of the Female Gamesters. + + I have observed Ladies, who in all other respects are Gentle, + Good-humoured, and the very Pinks of good Breeding; who as soon as the + Ombre Table is called for, and set down to their Business, are + immediately Transmigrated into the veriest Wasps in Nature. + + You must know I keep my Temper, and win their Mony; but am out of + Countenance to take it, it makes them so very uneasie. Be pleased, + dear Sir, to instruct them to lose with a better Grace, and you will + oblige' + + _Yours_, + + Rachel Basto. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, [1] + + 'Your Kindness to _Eleonora_, in one of your Papers, has given me + Encouragement to do my self the Honour of writing to you. The great + Regard you have so often expressed for the Instruction and Improvement + of our Sex, will, I hope, in your own Opinion, sufficiently excuse me + from making any Apology for the Impertinence of this Letter. The great + Desire I have to embellish my Mind with some of those Graces which you + say are so becoming, and which you assert Reading helps us to, has + made me uneasie 'till I am put in a Capacity of attaining them: This, + Sir, I shall never think my self in, 'till you shall be pleased to + recommend some Author or Authors to my Perusal. + + I thought indeed, when I first cast my Eye on _Eleonora's_ Letter, + that I should have had no occasion for requesting it of you; but to my + very great Concern, I found, on the Perusal of that _Spectator_, I was + entirely disappointed, and am as much at a loss how to make use of my + Time for that end as ever. Pray, Sir, oblige me at least with one + Scene, as you were pleased to entertain _Eleonora_ with your Prologue. + I write to you not only my own Sentiments, but also those of several + others of my Acquaintance, who are as little pleased with the ordinary + manner of spending one's Time as my self: And if a fervent Desire + after Knowledge, and a great Sense of our present Ignorance, may be + thought a good Presage and Earnest of Improvement, you may look upon + your Time you shall bestow in answering this Request not thrown away + to no purpose. And I can't but add, that unless you have a particular + and more than ordinary Regard for _Eleonora_, I have a better Title to + your Favour than she; since I do not content myself with Tea-table + Reading of your Papers, but it is my Entertainment very often when + alone in my Closet. To shew you I am capable of Improvement, and hate + Flattery, I acknowledge I do not like some of your Papers; but even + there I am readier to call in question my own shallow Understanding + than Mr. SPECTOR'S profound Judgment. + + _I am, Sir, + your already (and in hopes of being more) your obliged Servant,_ + + PARTHENIA. + + +This last Letter is written with so urgent and serious an Air, that I +cannot but think it incumbent upon me to comply with her Commands, which +I shall do very suddenly. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: This letter, signed Parthenia, was by Miss Shepheard, +sister of Mrs. Perry, who wrote the Letter in No, 92, signed 'Leonora.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 141. Saturday, August 11, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Migravit ab Aure voluptas + Omnis ...' + + Hor. + + +In the present Emptiness of the Town, I have several Applications from +the lower Part of the Players, to admit Suffering to pass for Acting. +They in very obliging Terms desire me to let a Fall on the Ground, a +Stumble, or a good Slap on the Back, be reckoned a Jest. These Gambols I +shall tolerate for a Season, because I hope the Evil cannot continue +longer than till the People of Condition and Taste return to Town. The +Method, some time ago, was to entertain that Part of the Audience, who +have no Faculty above Eyesight, with Rope-dancers and Tumblers; which +was a way discreet enough, because it prevented Confusion, and +distinguished such as could show all the Postures which the Body is +capable of, from those who were to represent all the Passions to which +the Mind is subject. But tho' this was prudently settled, Corporeal and +Intellectual Actors ought to be kept at a still wider Distance than to +appear on the same Stage at all: For which Reason I must propose some +Methods for the Improvement of the Bear-Garden, by dismissing all Bodily +Actors to that Quarter. + +In Cases of greater moment, where Men appear in Publick, the Consequence +and Importance of the thing can bear them out. And tho' a Pleader or +Preacher is Hoarse or Awkward, the Weight of the Matter commands Respect +and Attention; but in Theatrical Speaking, if the Performer is not +exactly proper and graceful, he is utterly ridiculous. In Cases where +there is little else expected, but the Pleasure of the Ears and Eyes, +the least Diminution of that Pleasure is the highest Offence. In Acting, +barely to perform the Part is not commendable, but to be the least out +is contemptible. To avoid these Difficulties and Delicacies, I am +informed, that while I was out of Town, the Actors have flown in the +Air, and played such Pranks, and run such Hazards, that none but the +Servants of the Fire-office, Tilers and Masons, could have been able to +perform the like. The Author of the following Letter, it seems, has been +of the Audience at one of these Entertainments, and has accordingly +complained to me upon it; but I think he has been to the utmost degree +Severe against what is exceptionable in the Play he mentions, without +dwelling so much as he might have done on the Author's most excellent +Talent of Humour. The pleasant Pictures he has drawn of Life, should +have been more kindly mentioned, at the same time that he banishes his +Witches, who are too dull Devils to be attacked with so much Warmth. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, [1] + + 'Upon a Report that _Moll White_ had followed you to Town, and was to + act a Part in the _Lancashire-Witches_, I went last Week to see that + Play. [2] It was my Fortune to sit next to a Country Justice of the + Peace, a Neighbour (as he said) of Sir ROGER'S, who pretended to shew + her to us in one of the Dances. There was Witchcraft enough in the + Entertainment almost to incline me to believe him; _Ben Johnson_ was + almost lamed; young _Bullock_ narrowly saved his Neck; the Audience + was astonished, and an old Acquaintance of mine, a Person of Worth, + whom I would have bowed to in the Pit, at two Yards distance did not + know me. + + If you were what the Country People reported you, a white Witch, I + could have wished you had been there to have exorcised that Rabble of + Broomsticks, with which we were haunted for above three Hours. I could + have allowed them to set _Clod_ in the Tree, to have scared the + Sportsmen, plagued the Justice, and employed honest _Teague_ with his + holy Water. This was the proper Use of them in Comedy, if the Author + had stopped here; but I cannot conceive what Relation the Sacrifice of + the Black Lamb, and the Ceremonies of their Worship to the Devil, have + to the Business of Mirth and Humour. + + The Gentleman who writ this Play, and has drawn some Characters in it + very justly, appears to have been misled in his Witchcraft by an + unwary following the inimitable _Shakespear_. The Incantations in + _Mackbeth_ have a Solemnity admirably adapted to the Occasion of that + Tragedy, and fill the Mind with a suitable Horror; besides, that the + Witches are a Part of the Story it self, as we find it very + particularly related in _Hector Boetius_, from whom he seems to have + taken it. This therefore is a proper Machine where the Business is + dark, horrid, and bloody; but is extremely foreign from the Affair of + Comedy. Subjects of this kind, which are in themselves disagreeable, + can at no time become entertaining, but by passing through an + Imagination like _Shakespear's_ to form them; for which Reason Mr. + _Dryden_ would not allow even _Beaumont_ and _Fletcher_ capable of + imitating him. + + _But_ Shakespear's _Magick cou'd not copy'd be, + Within that Circle none durst walk but He_. [3] + + I should not, however, have troubled you with these Remarks, if there + were not something else in this Comedy, which wants to be exorcised + more than the Witches. I mean the Freedom of some Passages, which I + should have overlook'd, if I had not observed that those Jests can + raise the loudest Mirth, though they are painful to right Sense, and + an Outrage upon Modesty. + + We must attribute such Liberties to the Taste of that Age, but indeed + by such Representations a Poet sacrifices the best Part of his + Audience to the worst; and, as one would think, neglects the Boxes, to + write to the Orange-Wenches. + + I must not conclude till I have taken notice of the Moral with which + this Comedy ends. The two young Ladies having given a notable Example + of outwitting those who had a Right in the Disposal of them, and + marrying without Consent of Parents, one of the injur'd Parties, who + is easily reconciled, winds up all with this Remark, + + ... _Design whate'er we will, + There is a Fate which over-rules us still_. + + We are to suppose that the Gallants are Men of Merit, but if they had + been Rakes the Excuse might have serv'd as well. _Hans Carvel's_ Wife + [4] was of the same Principle, but has express'd it with a Delicacy + which shews she is not serious in her Excuse, but in a sort of + humorous Philosophy turns off the Thought of her Guilt, and says, + + _That if weak Women go astray, + Their Stars are more in fault than they_. + + This, no doubt, is a full Reparation, and dismisses the Audience with + very edifying Impressions. + + These things fall under a Province you have partly pursued already, + and therefore demand your Animadversion, for the regulating so Noble + an Entertainment as that of the Stage. It were to be wished, that all + who write for it hereafter would raise their Genius, by the Ambition + of pleasing People of the best Understanding; and leave others who + shew nothing of the Human Species but Risibility, to seek their + Diversion at the Bear-Garden, or some other Privileg'd Place, where + Reason and Good-manners have no Right to disturb them.' + + _August_ 8, 1711. + + _I am_, &c. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: This letter is by John Hughes.] + + +[Footnote 2: Shadwell's Play of the 'Lancashire Witches' was in the bill +of the Theatre advertised at the end of this number of the 'Spectator'. + + 'By her Majesty's Company of Comedians. + + At the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, on Tuesday next, being the 14th + Day of August, will be presented, A comedy call'd the Lancashire + Witches, Written by the Ingenious Mr. Shadwell, late Poet Laureat. + Carefully Revis'd. With all the Original Decorations of Scenes, + Witche's Songs and Dances, proper to the Dramma. The Principal Parts + to be perform'd by Mr. Mills, Mr. Booth, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bullock, + Sen., Mr. Norris, Mr. Pack, Mr. Bullock, Jun., Mrs. Elrington, Mrs. + Powel, Mrs. Bradshaw, Mrs. Cox. And the Witches by Mr. Burkhead, Mr. + Ryan, Mrs. Mills, and Mrs. Willis. It being the last time of Acting in + this Season.'] + + +[Footnote 3: Prologue to Davenant and Dryden's version of the 'Tempest'.] + + +[Footnote 4: In Prior's Poem of 'Hans Carvel'.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 142. Monday, August 13, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Irrupta tenet Copula ...' + + Hor. + +The following Letters being Genuine, [1] and the Images of a Worthy +Passion, I am willing to give the old Lady's Admonition to my self, and +the Representation of her own Happiness, a Place in my Writings. + + + _August 9_, 1711. + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am now in the sixty seventh Year of my Age, and read you with + Approbation; but methinks you do not strike at the Root of the + greatest Evil in Life, which is the false Notion of Gallantry in Love. + It is, and has long been, upon a very ill Foot; but I, who have been a + Wife Forty Years, and was bred in a way that has made me ever since + very happy, see through the Folly of it. In a Word, Sir, when I was a + young Woman, all who avoided the Vices of the Age were very carefully + educated, and all fantastical Objects were turned out of our Sight. + The Tapestry Hangings, with the great and venerable Simplicity of the + Scripture Stories, had better Effects than now the Loves of _Venus_ + and _Adonis_ or _Bacchus_ and _Ariadne_ in your fine present Prints. + The Gentleman I am married to made Love to me in Rapture, but it was + the Rapture of a Christian and a Man of Honour, not a Romantick Hero + or a Whining Coxcomb: This put our Life upon a right Basis. To give + you an Idea of our Regard one to another, I inclose to you several of + his Letters, writ Forty Years ago, when my Lover; and one writ t'other + Day, after so many Years Cohabitation.' + + _Your Servant_, + + Andromache. + + + _August_ 7, 1671. + + _Madam_, + + 'If my Vigilance and ten thousand Wishes for your Welfare and Repose + could have any force, you last Night slept in Security, and had + every good Angel in your Attendance. To have my Thoughts ever fixed + on you, to live in constant Fear of every Accident to which Human + Life is liable, and to send up my hourly Prayers to avert 'em from + you; I say, Madam, thus to think, and thus to suffer, is what I do + for Her who is in Pain at my Approach, and calls all my tender + Sorrow Impertinence. You are now before my Eyes, my Eyes that are + ready to flow with Tenderness, but cannot give relief to my gushing + Heart, that dictates what I am now Saying, and yearns to tell you + all its Achings. How art thou, oh my Soul, stoln from thy self! How + is all thy Attention broken! My Books are blank Paper, and my + Friends Intruders. I have no hope of Quiet but from your Pity; To + grant it, would make more for your Triumph. To give Pain is the + Tyranny, to make Happy the true Empire of Beauty. If you would + consider aright, you'd find an agreeable Change in dismissing the + Attendance of a Slave, to receive the Complaisance of a Companion. I + bear the former in hopes of the latter Condition: As I live in + Chains without murmuring at the Power which inflicts 'em, so I could + enjoy Freedom without forgetting the Mercy that gave it.' + + _MADAM, I am + + Your most devoted, most obedient Servant_. + + + _Tho' I made him no Declarations in his Favour, you see he had Hopes + of Me when he writ this in the Month following_. + + + _Madam, September 3, 1671_. + + 'Before the Light this Morning dawned upon the Earth I awaked, and + lay in Expectation of its return, not that it cou'd give any new + Sense of Joy to me, but as I hoped it would bless you with its + chearful Face, after a Quiet which I wish'd you last Night. If my + Prayers are heard, the Day appeared with all the Influence of a + Merciful Creator upon your Person and Actions. Let others, my lovely + Charmer, talk of a blind Being that disposes their Hearts, I contemn + their low Images of Love. I have not a Thought which relates to you, + that I cannot with Confidence beseech the All-seeing Power to bless + me in. May he direct you in all your Steps, and reward your + Innocence, your Sanctity of Manners, your Prudent Youth, and + becoming Piety, with the Continuance of his Grace and Protection. + This is an unusual Language to Ladies; but you have a Mind elevated + above the giddy Motions of a Sex insnared by Flattery, and misled by + a false and short Adoration into a solid and long Contempt. Beauty, + my fairest Creature, palls in the Possession, but I love also your + Mind; your Soul is as dear to me as my own; and if the Advantages of + a liberal Education, some Knowledge, and as much Contempt of the + World, join'd with the Endeavours towards a Life of strict Virtue + and Religion, can qualify me to raise new Ideas in a Breast so well + disposed as yours is, our Days will pass away with Joy; and old Age, + instead of introducing melancholy Prospects of Decay, give us hope + of Eternal Youth in a better Life. I have but few Minutes from the + Duty of my Employment to write in, and without time to read over + what I have writ, therefore beseech you to pardon the first Hints of + my Mind, which I have expressed in so little Order. + + _I am, dearest Creature, + + Your most Obedient, + + most Devoted Servant_.' + + + _The two next were written after the Day of our Marriage was fixed_. + + + _September 25, 1671 + + Madam,_ + + 'It is the hardest thing in the World to be in Love, and yet attend + Business. As for me, all that speak to me find me out, and I must + lock myself up, or other People will do it for me. A Gentleman asked + me this Morning what News from _Holland_, and I answered, She's + Exquisitely handsome. Another desir'd to know when I had been last + at _Windsor_, I reply'd, 'She designs to go with me. Prethee, allow + me at least to kiss your Hand before the appointed Day, that my Mind + may be in some Composure. Methinks I could write a Volume to you, + but all the Language on Earth would fail in saying how much, and + with what dis-interested Passion, _I am ever Yours_. + + + + _September 30, 1671_. + + _Seven in the Morning_. + + _Dear Creature_, + + Next to the Influence of Heav'n, I am to thank you that I see the + returning Day with Pleasure. To pass my Evenings in so sweet a + Conversation, and have the Esteem of a Woman of your Merit, has in + it a Particularity of Happiness no more to be express'd than + return'd. But I am, my Lovely Creature, contented to be on the + obliged Side, and to employ all my Days in new Endeavours to + convince you and all the World of the Sense I have of your + Condescension in Chusing, + _MADAM, Your Most Faithful, + Most Obedient Humble Servant._ + + + _He was, when he writ the following Letter, as agreeable and pleasant + a Man as any in England_. + + + _October 20, 1671_. + + _Madam_, + + I Beg Pardon that my Paper is not Finer, but I am forced to write + from a Coffee-house where I am attending about Business. There is a + dirty Crowd of Busie Faces all around me talking of Mony, while all + my Ambition, all my Wealth is Love: Love which animates my Heart, + sweetens my Humour, enlarges my Soul, and affects every Action of my + Life. 'Tis to my lovely Charmer I owe that many noble Ideas are + continually affix'd to my Words and Actions: 'Tis the natural Effect + of that generous Passion to create in the Admirer some Similitude of + the Object admired; thus, my Dear, am I every Day to improve from so + sweet a Companion. Look up, my Fair One, to that Heaven which made + thee such, and join with me to implore its Influence on our tender + innocent Hours, and beseech the Author of Love to bless the Rites he + has ordained, and mingle with our Happiness a just Sense of our + transient Condition, and a Resignation to his Will, which only can + regulate our Minds to a steady Endeavour to please him and each + other. + _I am, for Ever, + your Faithful Servant_. + + _I will not trouble you with more Letters at this time, but if you + saw the poor withered Hand which sends you these Minutes, I am sure + you will smile to think that there is one who is so gallant as to + speak of it still as so welcome a Present, after forty Years + Possession of the Woman whom he writes to_. + + + June 23, 1711. + + _Madam,_ + + I Heartily beg your Pardon for my Omission to write Yesterday. It + was of no Failure of my tender Regard for you; but having been very + much perplexed in my Thoughts on the Subject of my last, made me + determine to suspend speaking of it 'till I came to myself. But, my + Lovely Creature, know it is not in the Power of Age, or Misfortune, + or any other Accident which hangs over Human Life, to take from me + the pleasing Esteem I have for you, or the Memory of the bright + Figure you appeared in when you gave your Hand and Heart to, + + _MADAM_, + _Your most Grateful Husband_, + _and Obedient Servant_. + + + +[Footnote 1: They are, after the first, with a few changes of phrase and +the alteration of date proper to the design of this paper, copies of +Steele's own love-letters addressed to Mrs. Scurlock, in August and +September, 1707; except the last, a recent one, written since marriage.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 143. Tuesday, August 14, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Non est vivere sed valere Vita.' + + Martial. + + +It is an unreasonable thing some Men expect of their Acquaintance. They +are ever complaining that they are out of Order, or Displeased, or they +know not how, and are so far from letting that be a Reason for retiring +to their own Homes, that they make it their Argument for coming into +Company. What has any body to do with Accounts of a Man's being +Indispos'd but his Physician? If a Man laments in Company, where the +rest are in Humour enough to enjoy themselves, he should not take it ill +if a Servant is ordered to present him with a Porringer of Cawdle or +Posset-drink, by way of Admonition that he go Home to Bed. That Part of +Life which we ordinarily understand by the Word Conversation, is an +Indulgence to the Sociable Part of our Make; and should incline us to +bring our Proportion of good Will or good Humour among the Friends we +meet with, and not to trouble them with Relations which must of +necessity oblige them to a real or feigned Affliction. Cares, +Distresses, Diseases, Uneasinesses, and Dislikes of our own, are by no +means to be obtruded upon our Friends. If we would consider how little +of this Vicissitude of Motion and Rest, which we call Life, is spent +with Satisfaction, we should be more tender of our Friends, than to +bring them little Sorrows which do not belong to them. There is no real +Life, but chearful Life; therefore Valetudinarians should be sworn +before they enter into Company, not to say a Word of themselves till the +Meeting breaks up. It is not here pretended, that we should be always +[sitting [1]] with Chaplets of Flowers round our Heads, or be crowned +with Roses, in order to make our Entertainment agreeable to us; but if +(as it is usually observed) they who resolve to be Merry, seldom are so; +it will be much more unlikely for us to be well-pleased, if they are +admitted who are always complaining they are sad. Whatever we do we +should keep up the Chearfulness of our Spirits, and never let them sink +below an Inclination at least to be well-pleased: The Way to this, is to +keep our Bodies in Exercise, our Minds at Ease. That insipid State +wherein neither are in Vigour, is not to be accounted any part of our +Portion of Being. When we are in the Satisfaction of some Innocent +Pleasure, or Pursuit of some laudable Design, we are in the Possession +of Life, of Human Life. Fortune will give us Disappointments enough, and +Nature is attended with Infirmities enough, without our adding to the +unhappy Side of our Account by our Spleen or ill Humour. Poor +_Cottilus_, among so many real Evils, a Chronical Distemper and a narrow +Fortune, is never heard to complain: That equal Spirit of his, which any +Man may have, that, like him, will conquer Pride, Vanity and +Affectation, and follow Nature, is not to be broken, because it has no +Points to contend for. To be anxious for nothing but what Nature demands +as necessary, if it is not the Way to an Estate, is the Way to what Men +aim at by getting an Estate. This Temper will preserve Health in the +Body, as well as Tranquility in the Mind. _Cottilus_ sees the World in a +Hurry, with the same Scorn that a Sober Person sees a Man Drunk. Had he +been contented with what he ought to have been, how could, says he, such +a one have met with such a Disappointment? If another had valued his +Mistress for what he ought to have lov'd her, he had not been in her +Power. If her Virtue had had a Part of his Passion, her Levity had been +his Cure; she could not then have been false and amiable at the same +time. + +Since we cannot promise ourselves constant Health, let us endeavour at +such a Temper as may be our best Support in the Decay of it. _Uranius_ +has arrived at that Composure of Soul, and wrought himself up to such a +Neglect of every thing with which the Generality of Mankind is +enchanted, that nothing but acute Pains can give him Disturbance, and +against those too he will tell his intimate Friends he has a Secret +which gives him present Ease: _Uranius_ is so thoroughly perswaded of +another Life, and endeavours so sincerely to secure an Interest in it, +that he looks upon Pain but as a quickening of his Pace to an Home, +where he shall be better provided for than in his present Apartment. +Instead of the melancholy Views which others are apt to give themselves, +he will tell you that he has forgot he is Mortal, nor will he think of +himself as such. He thinks at the Time of his Birth he entered into an +Eternal Being; and the short Article of Death he will not allow an +Interruption of Life, since that Moment is not of half the Duration as +is his ordinary Sleep. Thus is his Being one uniform and consistent +Series of chearful Diversions and moderate Cares, without Fear or Hope +of Futurity. Health to him is more than Pleasure to another Man, and +Sickness less affecting to him than Indisposition is to others. + +I must confess, if one does not regard Life after this manner, none but +Ideots can pass it away with any tolerable Patience. Take a Fine Lady +who is of a Delicate Frame, and you may observe from the Hour she rises +a certain Weariness of all that passes about her. I know more than one +who is much too nice to be quite alive. They are sick of such strange +frightful People that they meet; one is so awkward, and another so +disagreeable, that it looks like a Penance to breathe the same Air with +them. You see this is so very true, that a great Part of Ceremony and +Good-breeding among Ladies turns upon their Uneasiness; and I'll +undertake, if the How-d'ye Servants of our Women were to make a Weekly +Bill of Sickness, as the Parish Clerks do of Mortality, you would not +find in an Account of seven Days, one in Thirty that was not downright +Sick or indisposed, or but a very little better than she was, and so +forth. + +It is certain that to enjoy Life and Health as a constant Feast, we +should not think Pleasure necessary, but, if possible, to arrive at an +Equality of Mind. It is as mean to be overjoyed upon Occasions of +Good-Fortune, as to be dejected in Circumstances of Distress. Laughter +in one Condition is as unmanly as Weeping in the other. We should not +form our Minds to expect Transport on every Occasion, but know how to +make it Enjoyment to be out of Pain. Ambition, Envy, vagrant Desire, or +impertinent Mirth will take up our Minds, without we can possess our +selves in that Sobriety of Heart which is above all Pleasures, and can +be felt much better than described. But the ready Way, I believe, to the +right Enjoyment of Life, is by a Prospect towards another to have but a +very mean Opinion of it. A great Author of our Time has set this in an +excellent Light, when with a Philosophick Pity of Human Life, he spoke +of it in his _Theory of the Earth_, [2] in the following manner. + + _For what is this Life but a Circulation of little mean Actions? We + lie down and rise again, dress and undress, feed and wax hungry, work + or play, and are weary, and then we lie down again, and the Circle + returns. We spend the Day in Trifles, and when the Night comes we + throw our selves into the Bed of Folly, amongst Dreams and broken + Thoughts, and wild Imaginations. Our Reason lies asleep by us, and we + are for the Time as arrant Brutes as those that sleep in the Stalls or + in the Field. Are not the Capacities of Man higher than these? And + ought not his Ambition and Expectations to be greater? Let us be + Adventurers for another World: 'Tis at least a fair and noble Chance; + and there is nothing in this worth our Thoughts or our Passions. If we + should be disappointed, we are still no worse than the rest of our + Fellow-Mortals; and if we succeed in our Expectations, we are + Eternally Happy_. + + + +[Footnote 1: sit] + + +[Footnote 2: Ed. Amsterdam, 1699, p. 241.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 144. Wednesday, August 15, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Nôris quam elegans formarum + Spectator siem.' + + Ter. + + +Beauty has been the Delight and Torment of the World ever since it +began. The Philosophers have felt its Influence so sensibly, that almost +every one of them has left us some Saying or other, which has intimated +that he too well knew the Power of it. One [1] has told us, that a +graceful Person is a more powerful Recommendation than the best Letter +that can be writ in your Favour. Another [2] desires the Possessor of it +to consider it as a meer Gift of Nature, and not any Perfection of his +own. A Third [3] calls it a short liv'd Tyranny; a Fourth, [4] a silent +Fraud, because it imposes upon us without the Help of Language; but I +think _Carneades_ spoke as much like a Philosopher as any of them, tho' +more like a Lover, when he call'd it Royalty without Force. It is not +indeed to be denied, that there is something irresistible in a Beauteous +Form; the most Severe will not pretend, that they do not feel an +immediate Prepossession in Favour of the Handsome. No one denies them +the Privilege of being first heard, and being regarded before others in +Matters of ordinary Consideration. At the same time the Handsome should +consider that it is a Possession, as it were, foreign to them. No one +can give it himself, or preserve it when they have it. Yet so it is, +that People can bear any Quality in the World better than Beauty. It is +the Consolation of all who are naturally too much affected with the +Force of it, that a little Attention, if a Man can attend with Judgment, +will cure them. Handsome People usually are so fantastically pleas'd +with themselves, that if they do not kill at first Sight, as the Phrase +is, a second Interview disarms them of all their Power. But I shall make +this Paper rather a Warning-piece to give Notice where the Danger is, +than to propose Instructions how to avoid it when you have fallen in the +way of it. Handsome Men shall be the Subject of another Chapter, the +Women shall take up the present Discourse. + +_Amaryllis_, who has been in Town but one Winter, is extreamly improved +with the Arts of Good-Breeding, without leaving Nature. She has not lost +the Native Simplicity of her Aspect, to substitute that Patience of +being stared at, which is the usual Triumph and Distinction of a Town +Lady. In Publick Assemblies you meet her careless Eye diverting itself +with the Objects around her, insensible that she her self is one of the +brightest in the Place. + +_Dulcissa_ is quite [of] another Make, she is almost a Beauty by Nature, +but more than one by Art. If it were possible for her to let her Fan or +any Limb about her rest, she would do some Part of the Execution she +meditates; but tho' she designs her self a Prey she will not stay to be +taken. No Painter can give you Words for the different Aspects of +_Dulcissa_ in half a Moment, whereever she appears: So little does she +accomplish what she takes so much pains for, to be gay and careless. + +_Merab_ is attended with all the Charms of Woman and Accomplishments of +Man. It is not to be doubted but she has a great deal of Wit, if she +were not such a Beauty; and she would have more Beauty had she not so +much Wit. Affectation prevents her Excellencies from walking together. +If she has a Mind to speak such a Thing, it must be done with such an +Air of her Body; and if she has an Inclination to look very careless, +there is such a smart Thing to be said at the same Time, that the Design +of being admired destroys it self. Thus the unhappy _Merab_, tho' a Wit +and Beauty, is allowed to be neither, because she will always be both. + +_Albacinda_ has the Skill as well as Power of pleasing. Her Form is +majestick, but her Aspect humble. All good Men should beware of the +Destroyer. She will speak to you like your Sister, till she has you +sure; but is the most vexatious of Tyrants when you are so. Her +Familiarity of Behaviour, her indifferent Questions, and general +Conversation, make the silly Part of her Votaries full of Hopes, while +the wise fly from her Power. She well knows she is too Beautiful and too +Witty to be indifferent to any who converse with her, and therefore +knows she does not lessen herself by Familiarity, but gains Occasions of +Admiration, by seeming Ignorance of her Perfections. + +_Eudosia_ adds to the Height of her Stature a Nobility of Spirit which +still distinguishes her above the rest of her Sex. Beauty in others is +lovely, in others agreeable, in others attractive; but in _Eudosia_ it +is commanding: Love towards _Eudosia_ is a Sentiment like the Love of +Glory. The Lovers of other Women are softened into Fondness, the +Admirers of _Eudosia_ exalted into Ambition. + +_Eucratia_ presents her self to the Imagination with a more kindly +Pleasure, and as she is Woman, her Praise is wholly Feminine. If we were +to form an Image of Dignity in a Man, we should give him Wisdom and +Valour, as being essential to the Character of Manhood. In like manner, +if you describe a right Woman in a laudable Sense, she should have +gentle Softness, tender Fear, and all those Parts of Life, which +distinguish her from the other Sex; with some Subordination to it, but +such an Inferiority that makes her still more lovely. _Eucratia_ is that +Creature, she is all over Woman. Kindness is all her Art, and Beauty all +her Arms. Her Look, her Voice, her Gesture, and whole Behaviour is truly +Feminine. A Goodness mixed with Fear, gives a Tincture to all her +Behaviour. It would be Savage to offend her, and Cruelty to use Art to +gain her. Others are beautiful, but [_Eucratia_ [5]] thou art Beauty! + +_Omnamante_ is made for Deceit, she has an Aspect as Innocent as the +famed _Lucrece_, but a Mind as Wild as the more famed _Cleopatra_. Her +Face speaks a Vestal, but her Heart a _Messalina_. Who that beheld +_Omnamante's_ negligent unobserving Air, would believe that she hid +under that regardless Manner the witty Prostitute, the rapacious Wench, +the prodigal Courtesan? She can, when she pleases, adorn those Eyes with +Tears like an Infant that is chid! She can cast down that pretty Face in +Confusion, while you rage with Jealousy, and storm at her +Perfidiousness; she can wipe her Eyes, tremble and look frighted, till +you think yourself a Brute for your Rage, own yourself an Offender, beg +Pardon, and make her new Presents. + +But I go too far in reporting only the Dangers in beholding the +Beauteous, which I design for the Instruction of the Fair as well as +their Beholders; and shall end this Rhapsody with mentioning what I +thought was well enough said of an Antient Sage to a Beautiful Youth, +whom he saw admiring his own Figure in Brass. What, said the +Philosopher, [6] could that Image of yours say for it self if it could +speak? It might say, (answered the Youth) _That it is very Beautiful. +And are not you ashamed_, reply'd the Cynick, _to value your self upon +that only of which a Piece of Brass is capable? + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Aristotle.] + + +[Footnote 2: Plato.] + + +[Footnote 3: Socrates.] + + +[Footnote 4: Theophrastus.] + + +[Footnote 5: Eudosia] + + +[Footnote 6: Antisthenes. Quoted from Diogenes Laertius, Lib. vi. cap. +I.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 145. Thursday, August 16, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Stultitiam patiuntur opes ...' + + Hor. + + +If the following Enormities are not amended upon the first Mention, I +desire further Notice from my Correspondents. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am obliged to you for your Discourse the other Day upon frivolous + Disputants, who with great Warmth, and Enumeration of many + Circumstances and Authorities, undertake to prove Matters which no + Body living denies. You cannot employ your self more usefully than in + adjusting the Laws of Disputation in Coffee-houses and accidental + Companies, as well as in more formal Debates. Among many other things + which your own Experience must suggest to you, it will be very + obliging if you please to take notice of Wagerers. I will not here + repeat what _Hudibras_ says of such Disputants, which is so true, that + it is almost Proverbial; [1] but shall only acquaint you with a Set of + young Fellows of the Inns of Court, whose Fathers have provided for + them so plentifully, that they need not be very anxious to get Law + into their Heads for the Service of their Country at the Bar; but are + of those who are sent (as the Phrase of Parents is) to the _Temple_ to + know how to keep their own. One of these Gentlemen is very loud and + captious at a Coffee-house which I frequent, and being in his Nature + troubled with an Humour of Contradiction, though withal excessive + Ignorant, he has found a way to indulge this Temper, go on in Idleness + and Ignorance, and yet still give himself the Air of a very learned + and knowing Man, by the Strength of his Pocket. The Misfortune of the + thing is, I have, as it happens sometimes, a greater Stock of Learning + than of Mony. The Gentleman I am speaking of, takes Advantage of the + Narrowness of my Circumstances in such a manner, that he has read all + that I can pretend to, and runs me down with such a positive Air, and + with such powerful Arguments, that from a very Learned Person I am + thought a mere Pretender. Not long ago I was relating that I had read + such a Passage in _Tacitus_, up starts my young Gentleman in a full + Company, and pulling out his Purse offered to lay me ten Guineas, to + be staked immediately in that Gentleman's Hands, (pointing to one + smoaking at another Table) that I was utterly mistaken. I was Dumb for + want of ten Guineas; he went on unmercifully to Triumph over my + Ignorance how to take him up, and told the whole Room he had read + _Tacitus_ twenty times over, and such a remarkable Instance as that + could not escape him. He has at this time three considerable Wagers + depending between him and some of his Companions, who are rich enough + to hold an Argument with him. He has five Guineas upon Questions in + Geography, two that the _Isle of Wight_ is a Peninsula, and three + Guineas to one that the World is round. We have a Gentleman comes to + our Coffee-house, who deals mightily in Antique Scandal; my Disputant + has laid him twenty Pieces upon a Point of History, to wit, that + _Cæsar_ never lay with _Cato's_ Sister, as is scandalously reported by + some People. + + There are several of this sort of Fellows in Town, who wager + themselves into Statesmen, Historians, Geographers, Mathematicians, + and every other Art, when the Persons with whom they talk have not + Wealth equal to their Learning. I beg of you to prevent, in these + Youngsters, this compendious Way to Wisdom, which costs other People + so much Time and Pains, and you will oblige + + _Your humble Servant._ + + + + _Coffee-House near the_ Temple, Aug. 12, 1711. + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Here's a young Gentleman that sings Opera-Tunes or Whistles in a full + House. Pray let him know that he has no Right to act here as if he + were in an empty Room. Be pleased to divide the Spaces of a Publick + Room, and certify Whistlers, Singers, and Common Orators, that are + heard further than their Portion of the Room comes [to,] that the Law + is open, and that there is an Equity which will relieve us from such + as interrupt us in our Lawful Discourse, as much as against such as + stop us on the Road. I take these Persons, Mr. SPECTATOR, to be such + Trespassers as the Officer in your Stage-Coach, and of the same + Sentiment with Counsellor _Ephraim_. It is true the Young Man is rich, + and, as the Vulgar say, [needs [1]] not care for any Body; but sure + that is no Authority for him to go whistle where he pleases. + + _I am, SIR_, _Your Most Humble Servant_, + + _P.S._ I have Chambers in the _Temple_, and here are Students that + learn upon the Hautboy; pray desire the Benchers that all Lawyers who + are Proficients in Wind-Musick may lodge to the _Thames_. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + We are a Company of young Women who pass our Time very much together, + and obliged by the mercenary Humour of the Men to be as Mercenarily + inclined as they are. There visits among us an old Batchelor whom each + of us has a Mind to. The Fellow is rich, and knows he may have any of + us, therefore is particular to none, but excessively ill-bred. His + Pleasantry consists in Romping, he snatches Kisses by Surprize, puts + his Hand in our Necks, tears our Fans, robs us of Ribbons, forces + Letters out of our Hands, looks into any of our Papers, and a thousand + other Rudenesses. Now what I'll desire of you is to acquaint him, by + Printing this, that if he does not marry one of us very suddenly, we + have all agreed, the next time he pretends to be merry, to affront + him, and use him like a Clown as he is. In the Name of the Sisterhood + I take my Leave of you, and am, as they all are, + + _Your Constant Reader and Well-wisher_. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I and several others of your Female Readers, have conformed our selves + to your Rules, even to our very Dress. There is not one of us but has + reduced our outward Petticoat to its ancient Sizable Circumference, + tho' indeed we retain still a Quilted one underneath, which makes us + not altogether unconformable to the Fashion; but 'tis on Condition, + Mr. SPECTATOR extends not his Censure so far. But we find you Men + secretly approve our Practice, by imitating our Pyramidical Form. The + Skirt of your fashionable Coats forms as large a Circumference as our + Petticoats; as these are set out with Whalebone, so are those with + Wire, to encrease and sustain the Bunch of Fold that hangs down on + each Side; and the Hat, I perceive, is decreased in just proportion to + our Head-dresses. We make a regular Figure, but I defy your + Mathematicks to give Name to the Form you appear in. Your Architecture + is mere _Gothick_, and betrays a worse Genius than ours; therefore if + you are partial to your own Sex, I shall be less than I am now + + _Your Humble Servant_. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: + + _I have heard old cunning Stagers + Say Fools for Arguments lay Wagers._ + +Hudibras, Part II. c. i.] + + +[Footnote 2: need] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 146. Friday, August 17, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Nemo Vir Magnus sine aliquo Afflatu divino unquam fuit.' + + Tull. + + +We know the highest Pleasure our Minds are capable of enjoying with +Composure, when we read Sublime Thoughts communicated to us by Men of +great Genius and Eloquence. Such is the Entertainment we meet with in +the Philosophick Parts of _Cicero_'s Writings. Truth and good Sense have +there so charming a Dress, that they could hardly be more agreeably +represented with the Addition of Poetical Fiction and the Power of +Numbers. This ancient Author, and a modern one, had fallen into my Hands +within these few Days; and the Impressions they have left upon me, have +at the present quite spoiled me for a merry Fellow. The Modern is that +admirable Writer the Author of _The Theory of the Earth_. The Subjects +with which I have lately been entertained in them both bear a near +Affinity; they are upon Enquiries into Hereafter, and the Thoughts of +the latter seem to me to be raised above those of the former in +proportion to his Advantages of Scripture and Revelation. If I had a +Mind to it, I could not at present talk of any thing else; therefore I +shall translate a Passage in the one, and transcribe a Paragraph out of +the other, for the Speculation of this Day. _Cicero_ tells us, [1] that +_Plato_ reports _Socrates_, upon receiving his Sentence, to have spoken +to his Judges in the following manner. + + I have great Hopes, oh my Judges, that it is infinitely to my + Advantage that I am sent to Death: For it is of necessity that one of + these two things must be the Consequence. Death must take away all + these Senses, or convey me to another Life. If all Sense is to be + taken away, and Death is no more than that profound Sleep without + Dreams, in which we are sometimes buried, oh Heavens! how desirable is + it to die? how many Days do we know in Life preferable to such a + State? But if it be true that Death is but a Passage to Places which + they who lived before us do now inhabit, how much still happier is it + to go from those who call themselves Judges, to appear before those + that really are such; before _Minos, Rhadamanthus, Æacus_, and + _Triptolemus_, and to meet Men who have lived with Justice and Truth? + Is this, do you think, no happy Journey? Do you think it nothing to + speak with _Orpheus, Musceus, Homer_, and _Hesiod_? I would, indeed, + suffer many Deaths to enjoy these Things. With what particular Delight + should I talk to _Palamedes, Ajax_, and others, who like me have + suffered by the Iniquity of their Judges. I should examine the Wisdom + of that great Prince, who carried such mighty Forces against _Troy_; + and argue with _Ulysses_ and _Sisyphus_, upon difficult Points, as I + have in Conversation here, without being in Danger of being condemned. + But let not those among you who have pronounced me an innocent Man be + afraid of Death. No Harm can arrive at a good Man whether dead or + living; his Affairs are always under the direction of the Gods; nor + will I believe the Fate which is allotted to me myself this Day to + have arrived by Chance; nor have I ought to say either against my + Judges or Accusers, but that they thought they did me an Injury ... + But I detain you too long, it is Time that I retire to Death, and you + to your Affairs of Life; which of us has the Better is known to the + Gods, but to no Mortal Man. + +The Divine _Socrates_ is here represented in a Figure worthy his great +Wisdom and Philosophy, worthy the greatest mere Man that ever breathed. +But the modern Discourse is written upon a Subject no less than the +Dissolution of Nature it self. Oh how glorious is the old Age of that +great Man, who has spent his Time in such Contemplations as has made +this Being, what only it should be, an Education for Heaven! He has, +according to the Lights of Reason and Revelation, which seemed to him +clearest, traced the Steps of Omnipotence: He has, with a Celestial +Ambition, as far as it is consistent with Humility and Devotion, +examined the Ways of Providence, from the Creation to the Dissolution of +the visible World. How pleasing must have been the Speculation, to +observe Nature and Providence move together, the Physical and Moral +World march the same Pace: To observe Paradise and eternal Spring the +Seat of Innocence, troubled Seasons and angry Skies the Portion of +Wickedness and Vice. When this admirable Author has reviewed all that +has past, or is to come, which relates to the habitable World, and run +through the whole Fate of it, how could a Guardian Angel, that had +attended it through all its Courses or Changes, speak more emphatically +at the End of his Charge, than does our Author when he makes, as it +were, a Funeral Oration over this Globe, looking to the Point where it +once stood? [2] + + Let us only, if you please, to take leave of this Subject, reflect + upon this Occasion on the Vanity and transient Glory of this habitable + World. How by the Force of one Element breaking loose upon the rest, + all the Vanities of Nature, all the Works of Art, all the Labours of + Men, are reduced to Nothing. All that we admired and adored before as + great and magnificent, is obliterated or vanished; and another Form + and Face of things, plain, simple, and every where the same, + overspreads the whole Earth. Where are now the great Empires of the + World, and their great Imperial Cities? Their Pillars, Trophies, and + Monuments of Glory? Shew me where they stood, read the Inscription, + tell me the Victors Name. What Remains, what Impressions, what + Difference or Distinction, do you see in this Mass of Fire? _Rome_ it + self, eternal _Rome_, the great City, the Empress of the World, whose + Domination and Superstition, ancient and modern, make a great Part of + the History of the Earth, what is become of her now? She laid her + Foundations deep, and her Palaces were strong and sumptuous; _She + glorified her self, and lived deliciously, and said in her Heart, I + sit a Queen, and shall see no Sorrow_: But her Hour is come, she is + wiped away from the Face of the Earth, and buried in everlasting + Oblivion. But it is not Cities only, and Works of Mens Hands, but the + everlasting Hills, the Mountains and Rocks of the Earth are melted as + Wax before the Sun, and _their Place is no where found_. Here stood + the _Alps_, the Load of the Earth, that covered many Countries, and + reached their Arms from the Ocean to the _Black Sea_; this huge Mass + of Stone is softned and dissolved as a tender Cloud into Rain. Here + stood the _African_ Mountains, and _Atlas_ with his Top above the + Clouds; there was frozen _Caucasus_, and _Taurus_, and _Imaus_, and + the Mountains of _Asia_; and yonder towards the North, stood the + _Riphaean_ Hills, cloathd in Ice and Snow. All these are Vanished, + dropt away as the Snow upon their Heads. _Great and Marvellous are thy + Works, Just and True are thy Ways, thou King of Saints! Hallelujah_. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Tusculan Questions', Bk. I.] + + +[Footnote 2: 'Theory of the Earth', Book III., ch. xii.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 147. Saturday, August 18, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Pronuntiatio est Vocis et Vultus et Gestus moderatio cum + venustate.' + + Tull. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + The well Reading of the Common Prayer is of so great Importance, and + so much neglected, that I take the Liberty to offer to your + Consideration some Particulars on that Subject: And what more worthy + your Observation than this? A thing so Publick, and of so high + Consequence. It is indeed wonderful, that the frequent Exercise of it + should not make the Performers of that Duty more expert in it. This + Inability, as I conceive, proceeds from the little Care that is taken + of their Reading, while Boys and at School, where when they are got + into _Latin_, they are looked upon as above _English_, the Reading of + which is wholly neglected, or at least read to very little purpose, + without any due Observations made to them of the proper Accent and + Manner of Reading; by this means they have acquired such ill Habits as + won't easily be removed. The only way that I know of to remedy this, + is to propose some Person of great Ability that way as a Pattern for + them; Example being most effectual to convince the Learned, as well as + instruct the Ignorant. + + You must know, Sir, I've been a constant Frequenter of the Service of + the Church of _England_ for above these four Years last past, and + 'till _Sunday_ was Seven-night never discovered, to so great a Degree, + the Excellency of the Common-Prayer. When being at St. _James's + Garlick-Hill_ Church, I heard the Service read so distinctly, so + emphatically, and so fervently, that it was next to an Impossibility + to be unattentive. My Eyes and my Thoughts could not wander as usual, + but were confin'd to my Prayers: I then considered I addressed my self + to the Almighty, and not to a beautiful Face. And when I reflected on + my former Performances of that Duty, I found I had run it over as a + matter of Form, in comparison to the Manner in which I then discharged + it. My Mind was really affected, and fervent Wishes accompanied my + Words. The Confession was read with such a resigned Humility, the + Absolution with such a comfortable Authority, the Thanksgivings with + such a Religious Joy, as made me feel those Affections of the Mind in + a Manner I never did before. To remedy therefore the Grievance above + complained of, I humbly propose, that this excellent Reader, [1] upon + the next and every Annual Assembly of the Clergy of _Sion-College_, + and all other Conventions, should read Prayers before them. For then + those that are afraid of stretching their Mouths, and spoiling their + soft Voice, will learn to Read with Clearness, Loudness, and Strength. + Others that affect a rakish negligent Air by folding their Arms, and + lolling on their Book, will be taught a decent Behaviour, and comely + Erection of Body. Those that Read so fast as if impatient of their + Work, may learn to speak deliberately. There is another sort of + Persons whom I call Pindarick Readers, as being confined to no set + measure; these pronounce five or six Words with great Deliberation, + and the five or six subsequent ones with as great Celerity: The first + part of a Sentence with a very exalted Voice, and the latter part with + a submissive one: Sometimes again with one sort of a Tone, and + immediately after with a very different one. These Gentlemen will + learn of my admired Reader an Evenness of Voice and Delivery, and all + who are innocent of these Affectations, but read with such an + Indifferency as if they did not understand the Language, may then be + informed of the Art of Reading movingly and fervently, how to place + the Emphasis, and give the proper Accent to each Word, and how to vary + the Voice according to the Nature of the Sentence. There is certainly + a very great Difference between the Reading a Prayer and a Gazette, + which I beg of you to inform a Set of Readers, who affect, forsooth, a + certain Gentleman-like Familiarity of Tone, and mend the Language as + they go on, crying instead of Pardoneth and Absolveth, Pardons and + Absolves. These are often pretty Classical Scholars, and would think + it an unpardonable Sin to read _Virgil_ or _Martial_ with so little + Taste as they do Divine Service. + + This Indifferency seems to me to arise from the Endeavour of avoiding + the Imputation of Cant, and the false Notion of it. It will be proper + therefore to trace the Original and Signification of this Word. Cant + is, by some People, derived from one _Andrew Cant_, who, they say, was + a Presbyterian Minister in some illiterate Part of _Scotland_, who by + Exercise and Use had obtained the Faculty, _alias_ Gift, of Talking in + the Pulpit in such a Dialect, that it's said he was understood by none + but his own Congregation, and not by all of them. Since _Mas. Cant's_ + time, it has been understood in a larger Sense, and signifies all + sudden Exclamations, Whinings, unusual Tones, and in fine all Praying + and Preaching, like the unlearned of the Presbyterians. But I hope a + proper Elevation of Voice, a due Emphasis and Accent, are not to come + within this Description. So that our Readers may still be as unlike + the Presbyterians as they please. The Dissenters (I mean such as I + have heard) do indeed elevate their Voices, but it is with sudden + jumps from the lower to the higher part of them; and that with so + little Sense or Skill, that their Elevation and Cadence is Bawling and + Muttering. They make use of an Emphasis, but so improperly, that it is + often placed on some very insignificant Particle, as upon _if_, or + _and_. Now if these Improprieties have so great an Effect on the + People, as we see they have, how great an Influence would the Service + of our Church, containing the best Prayers that ever were composed, + and that in Terms most affecting, most humble, and most expressive of + our Wants, and Dependance on the Object of our Worship, dispos'd in + most proper Order, and void of all Confusion; what Influence, I say, + would these Prayers have, were they delivered with a due Emphasis, and + apposite Rising and Variation of Voice, the Sentence concluded with a + gentle Cadence, and, in a word, with such an Accent and Turn of Speech + as is peculiar to Prayer? + + As the matter of Worship is now managed, in Dissenting Congregations, + you find insignificant Words and Phrases raised by a lively Vehemence; + in our own Churches, the most exalted Sense depreciated, by a + dispassionate Indolence. I remember to have heard Dr. _S_--_e_ [2] say + in his Pulpit, of the Common-prayer, that, at least, it was as perfect + as any thing of Human Institution: If the Gentlemen who err in this + kind would please to recollect the many Pleasantries they have read + upon those who recite good Things with an ill Grace, they would go on + to think that what in that Case is only Ridiculous, in themselves is + Impious. But leaving this to their own Reflections, I shall conclude + this Trouble with what _Cæsar_ said upon the Irregularity of Tone in + one who read before him, _Do you read or sing? If you sing, you sing + very ill_. [3] + + + +[Footnote 1: The Rec. Philip Stubbs, afterwards Archdeacon of St. Alban's.] + + +[Footnote 2: Smalridge?] + + +[Footnote 3: + + Si legis cantas; si cantas, male cantas. + +The word Cant is rather from 'cantare', as a chanting whine, than from +the Andrew Cants, father and son, of Charles the Second's time.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 148 Monday, August 20, 1711 Steele + + + + 'Exempta juvat spinis e pluribus una.' + + Hor. + + +My Correspondents assure me that the Enormities which they lately +complained of, and I published an Account of, are so far from being +amended, that new Evils arise every Day to interrupt their Conversation, +in Contempt of my Reproofs. My Friend who writes from the Coffee-house +near the _Temple_, informs me that the Gentleman who constantly sings a +Voluntary in spite of the whole Company, was more musical than ordinary +after reading my Paper; and has not been contented with that, but has +danced up to the Glass in the Middle of the Room, and practised +Minuet-steps to his own Humming. The incorrigible Creature has gone +still further, and in the open Coffee-house, with one Hand extended as +leading a Lady in it, he has danced both _French_ and Country-Dances, +and admonished his supposed Partner by Smiles and Nods to hold up her +Head, and fall back, according to the respective Facings and Evolutions +of the Dance. Before this Gentleman began this his Exercise, he was +pleased to clear his Throat by coughing and spitting a full half Hour; +and as soon as he struck up, he appealed to an Attorney's Clerk in the +Room, whether he hit as he ought _Since you from Death have saved me?_ +and then asked the young Fellow (pointing to a Chancery-Bill under his +Arm) whether that was an Opera-Score he carried or not? Without staying +for an Answer he fell into the Exercise Above-mentioned, and practised +his Airs to the full House who were turned upon him, without the least +Shame or Repentance for his former Transgressions. + +I am to the last Degree at a Loss what to do with this young Fellow, +except I declare him an Outlaw, and pronounce it penal for any one to +speak to him in the said House which he frequents, and direct that he be +obliged to drink his Tea and Coffee without Sugar, and not receive from +any Person whatsoever any thing above mere Necessaries. + +As we in _England_ are a sober People, and generally inclined rather to +a certain Bashfulness of Behaviour in Publick, it is amazing whence some +Fellows come whom one meets with in this Town; they do not at all seem +to be the Growth of our Island; the Pert, the Talkative, all such as +have no Sense of the Observations of others, are certainly of foreign +Extraction. As for my Part, I am as much surprised when I see a +talkative _Englishman_, as I should be to see the _Indian_ Pine growing +on one of our quick-set Hedges. Where these Creatures get Sun enough, to +make them such lively Animals and dull Men, is above my Philosophy. + +There are another Kind of Impertinents which a Man is perplexed with in +mixed Company, and those are your loud Speakers: These treat Mankind as +if we were all deaf; they do not express but declare themselves. Many of +these are guilty of this Outrage out of Vanity, because they think all +they say is well; or that they have their own Persons in such +Veneration, that they believe nothing which concerns them can be +insignificant to any Body else. For these Peoples sake, I have often +lamented that we cannot close our Ears with as much ease as we can our +Eyes: It is very uneasy that we must necessarily be under Persecution. +Next to these Bawlers, is a troublesome Creature who comes with the Air +of your Friend and your Intimate, and that is your Whisperer. There is +one of them at a Coffee-house which I my self frequent, who observing me +to be a Man pretty well made for Secrets, gets by me, and with a Whisper +tells me things which all the Town knows. It is no very hard matter to +guess at the Source of this Impertinence, which is nothing else but a +Method or Mechanick Art of being wise. You never see any frequent in it, +whom you can suppose to have anything in the World to do. These Persons +are worse than Bawlers, as much as a secret Enemy is more dangerous than +a declared one. I wish this my Coffee-house Friend would take this for +an Intimation, that I have not heard one Word he has told me for these +several Years; whereas he now thinks me the most trusty Repository of +his Secrets. The Whisperers have a pleasant way of ending the close +Conversation, with saying aloud, _Do not you think so?_ Then whisper +again, and then aloud, _but you know that Person;_ then whisper again. +The thing would be well enough, if they whisper'd to keep the Folly of +what they say among Friends; but alas, they do it to preserve the +Importance of their Thoughts. I am sure I could name you more than one +Person whom no Man living ever heard talk upon any Subject in Nature, or +ever saw in his whole Life with a Book in his Hand, that I know not how +can whisper something like Knowledge of what has and does pass in the +World; which you would think he learned from some familiar Spirit that +did not think him worthy to receive the whole Story. But in truth +Whisperers deal only in half Accounts of what they entertain you with. A +great Help to their Discourse is, 'That the Town says, and People begin +to talk very freely, and they had it from Persons too considerable to be +named, what they will tell you when things are riper.' My Friend has +winked upon me any Day since I came to Town last, and has communicated +to me as a Secret, that he designed in a very short Time to tell me a +Secret; but I shall know what he means, he now assures me, in less than +a Fortnight's Time. + +But I must not omit the dearer Part of Mankind, I mean the Ladies, to +take up a whole Paper upon Grievances which concern the Men only; but +shall humbly propose, that we change Fools for an Experiment only. A +certain Set of Ladies complain they are frequently perplexed with a +Visitant who affects to be wiser than they are; which Character he hopes +to preserve by an obstinate Gravity, and great Guard against discovering +his Opinion upon any Occasion whatsoever. A painful Silence has hitherto +gained him no further Advantage, than that as he might, if he had +behaved himself with Freedom, been excepted against but as to this and +that Particular, he now offends in the whole. To relieve these Ladies, +my good Friends and Correspondents, I shall exchange my dancing Outlaw +for their dumb Visitant, and assign the silent Gentleman all the Haunts +of the Dancer; in order to which, I have sent them by the Penny-post the +following Letters for their Conduct in their new Conversations. + + + _SIR_, + + I have, you may be sure, heard of your Irregularities without regard + to my Observations upon you; but shall not treat you with so much + Rigour as you deserve. If you will give yourself the Trouble to repair + to the Place mentioned in the Postscript to this Letter at Seven this + Evening, you will be conducted into a spacious Room well-lighted, + where there are Ladies and Musick. You will see a young Lady laughing + next the Window to the Street; you may take her out, for she loves you + as well as she does any Man, tho' she never saw you before. She never + thought in her Life, any more than your self. She will not be + surprised when you accost her, nor concerned when you leave her. + Hasten from a Place where you are laughed at, to one where you will be + admired. You are of no Consequence, therefore go where you will be + welcome for being so. + + _Your most Humble Servant_.' + + + _SIR_, + + 'The Ladies whom you visit, think a wise Man the most impertinent + Creature living, therefore you cannot be offended that they are + displeased with you. Why will you take pains to appear wise, where you + would not be the more esteemed for being really so? Come to us; forget + the Gigglers; and let your Inclination go along with you whether you + speak or are silent; and let all such Women as are in a Clan or + Sisterhood, go their own way; there is no Room for you in that Company + who are of the common Taste of the Sex.' + + _For Women born to be controll'd + Stoop to the forward and the bold; + Affect the haughty, and the proud, + The gay, the frolick, and the loud._ [1] + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Waller 'Of Love.'] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 149. Tuesday, August 21, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Cui in manu sit quem esse dementem velit, + Quem sapere, quem sanari, quem in morbum injici, + Quem contra amari, quem accersiri, quem expeti.' + + Cæcil. apud Tull. + + +The following Letter and my Answer shall take up the present Speculation. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am the young Widow of a Country Gentleman who has left me Entire + Mistress of a large Fortune, which he agreed to as an Equivalent for + the Difference in our Years. In these Circumstances it is not + extraordinary to have a Crowd of Admirers; which I have abridged in my + own Thoughts, and reduced to a couple of Candidates only, both young, + and neither of them disagreeable in their Persons; according to the + common way of computing, in one the Estate more than deserves my + Fortune, and in the other my Fortune more than deserves the Estate. + When I consider the first, I own I am so far a Woman I cannot avoid + being delighted with the Thoughts of living great; but then he seems + to receive such a Degree of Courage from the Knowledge of what he has, + he looks as if he was going to confer an Obligation on me; and the + Readiness he accosts me with, makes me jealous I am only hearing a + Repetition of the same things he has said to a hundred Women before. + When I consider the other, I see myself approached with so much + Modesty and Respect, and such a Doubt of himself, as betrays methinks + an Affection within, and a Belief at the same time that he himself + would be the only Gainer by my Consent. What an unexceptionable + Husband could I make out of both! but since that's impossible, I beg + to be concluded by your Opinion; it is absolutely in your Power to + dispose of + + _Your most Obedient Servant_, + Sylvia. + + + _Madam_, + + You do me great Honour in your Application to me on this important + Occasion; I shall therefore talk to you with the Tenderness of a + Father, in Gratitude for your giving me the Authority of one. You do + not seem to make any great Distinction between these Gentlemen as to + their Persons; the whole Question lies upon their Circumstances and + Behaviour; If the one is less respectful because he is rich, and the + other more obsequious because he is not so, they are in that Point + moved by the same Principle, the Consideration of Fortune, and you + must place them in each others Circumstances before you can judge of + their Inclination. To avoid Confusion in discussing this Point, I will + call the richer Man _Strephon_, and the other _Florio_. If you believe + _Florio_ with _Strephon's_ Estate would behave himself as he does now, + _Florio_ is certainly your Man; but if you think _Strephon_, were he + in _Florio's_ Condition, would be as obsequious as _Florio_ is now, + you ought for your own sake to choose _Strephon_; for where the Men + are equal, there is no doubt Riches ought to be a Reason for + Preference. After this manner, my dear Child, I would have you + abstract them from their Circumstances; for you are to take it for + granted, that he who is very humble only because he is poor, is the + very same Man in Nature with him who is haughty because he is rich. + + When you have gone thus far, as to consider the Figure they make + towards you; you will please, my Dear, next to consider the Appearance + you make towards them. If they are Men of Discerning, they can observe + the Motives of your Heart; and _Florio_ can see when he is disregarded + only upon your Account of Fortune, which makes you to him a mercenary + Creature: and you are still the same thing to _Strephon_, in taking + him for his Wealth only: You are therefore to consider whether you had + rather oblige, than receive an Obligation. + + The Marriage-Life is always an insipid, a vexatious, or an happy + Condition. The first is, when two People of no Genius or Taste for + themselves meet together, upon such a Settlement as has been thought + reasonable by Parents and Conveyancers from an exact Valuation of the + Land and Cash of both Parties: In this Case the young Lady's Person is + no more regarded, than the House and Improvements in Purchase of an + Estate: but she goes with her Fortune, rather than her Fortune with + her. These make up the Crowd or Vulgar of the Rich, and fill up the + Lumber of human Race, without Beneficence towards those below them, or + Respect towards those above them; and lead a despicable, independent + and useless Life, without Sense of the Laws of Kindness, Good-nature, + mutual Offices, and the elegant Satisfactions which flow from Reason + and Virtue. + + The vexatious Life arises from a Conjunction of two People of quick + Taste and Resentment, put together for Reasons well known to their + Friends, in which especial Care is taken to avoid (what they think the + chief of Evils) Poverty, and insure to them Riches, with every Evil + besides. These good People live in a constant Constraint before + Company, and too great Familiarity alone; when they are within + Observation they fret at each other's Carriage and Behaviour; when + alone they revile each other's Person and Conduct: In Company they are + in a Purgatory, when only together in an Hell. + + The happy Marriage is, where two Persons meet and voluntarily make + Choice of each other, without principally regarding or neglecting the + Circumstances of Fortune or Beauty. These may still love in spite of + Adversity or Sickness: The former we may in some measure defend our + selves from, the other is the Portion of our very Make. When you have + a true Notion of this sort of Passion, your Humour of living great + will vanish out of your Imagination, and you will find Love has + nothing to do with State. Solitude, with the Person beloved, has a + Pleasure, even in a Woman's Mind, beyond Show or Pomp. You are + therefore to consider which of your Lovers will like you best + undressed, which will bear with you most when out of Humour? and your + way to this is to ask your self, which of them you value most for his + own sake? and by that judge which gives the greater Instances of his + valuing you for your self only. + + After you have expressed some Sense of the humble Approach of + _Florio_, and a little Disdain at _Strephon's_ Assurance in his + Address, you cry out, _What an unexceptionable Husband could I make + out of both?_ It would therefore methinks be a good way to determine + your self: Take him in whom what you like is not transferable to + another; for if you choose otherwise, there is no Hopes your Husband + will ever have what you liked in his Rival; but intrinsick Qualities + in one Man may very probably purchase every thing that is adventitious + in [another.[1]] In plainer Terms: he whom you take for his personal + Perfections will sooner arrive at the Gifts of Fortune, than he whom + you take for the sake of his Fortune attain to Personal Perfections. + If _Strephon_ is not as accomplished and agreeable as _Florio_, + Marriage to you will never make him so; but Marriage to you may make + _Florio_ as rich as _Strephon?_ Therefore to make a sure Purchase, + employ Fortune upon Certainties, but do not sacrifice Certainties to + Fortune. + + _I am, Your most Obedient, Humble Servant_. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: any other.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 150. Wednesday, August 22, 1711. Budgell. + + + + 'Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, + Quàm quod ridiculos homines facit ...' + + Juv. + + +As I was walking in my Chamber the Morning before I went last into the +Country, I heard the Hawkers with great Vehemence crying about a Paper, +entitled, _The ninety nine Plagues of an empty Purse_. I had indeed some +Time before observed, that the Orators of _Grub-street_ had dealt very +much in _Plagues_. They have already published in the same Month, _The +Plagues of Matrimony, The Plagues of a single Life, The nineteen Plagues +of a Chambermaid, The Plagues of a Coachman, The Plagues of a Footman_, +and _The Plague of Plagues_. The success these several _Plagues_ met +with, probably gave Occasion to the above-mentioned Poem on an _empty +Purse_. However that be, the same Noise so frequently repeated under my +Window, drew me insensibly to think on some of those Inconveniences and +Mortifications which usually attend on Poverty, and in short, gave Birth +to the present Speculation: For after my Fancy had run over the most +obvious and common Calamities which Men of mean Fortunes are liable to, +it descended to those little Insults and Contempts, which though they +may seem to dwindle into nothing when a Man offers to describe them, are +perhaps in themselves more cutting and insupportable than the former. +_Juvenal_ with a great deal of Humour and Reason tells us, that nothing +bore harder upon a poor Man in his Time, than the continual Ridicule +which his Habit and Dress afforded to the Beaus of _Rome_. + + _Quid, quod materiam præbet causasque jocorum + Omnibus hic idem? si foeda et scissa lacerna, + Si toga sordidula est, et rupta calceus alter + Pelle patet, vel si consuto vulnere crassum + Atque recens linam ostendit non una Cicatrix_. + + (Juv. Sat. 3.) + + _Add, that the Rich have still a Gibe in Store, + And will be monstrous witty on the Poor; + For the torn Surtout and the tatter'd Vest, + The Wretch and all his Wardrobe are a Jest: + The greasie Gown sully'd with often turning, + Gives a good Hint to say the Man's in Mourning; + Or if the Shoe be ript, or Patch is put, + He's wounded I see the Plaister on his Foot_. + + (Dryd.) + +'Tis on this Occasion that he afterwards adds the Reflection which I +have chosen for my Motto. + + _Want is the Scorn of every wealthy Fool, + And Wit in Rags is turn'd to Ridicule_. + + (Dryd.) + +It must be confess'd that few things make a Man appear more despicable +or more prejudice his Hearers against what he is going to offer, than an +awkward or pitiful Dress; insomuch that I fancy, had _Tully_ himself +pronounced one of his Orations with a Blanket about his Shoulders, more +People would have laughed at his Dress than have admired his Eloquence. +This last Reflection made me wonder at a Set of Men, who, without being +subjected to it by the Unkindness of their Fortunes, are contented to +draw upon themselves the Ridicule of the World in this Particular; I +mean such as take it into their Heads, that the first regular Step to be +a Wit is to commence a Sloven. It is certain nothing has so much debased +that, which must have been otherwise so great a Character; and I know +not how to account for it, unless it may possibly be in Complaisance to +those narrow Minds who can have no Notion of the same Person's +possessing different Accomplishments; or that it is a sort of Sacrifice +which some Men are contented to make to Calumny, by allowing it to +fasten on one Part of their Character, while they are endeavouring to +establish another. Yet however unaccountable this foolish Custom is, I +am afraid it could plead a long Prescription; and probably gave too much +Occasion for the Vulgar Definition still remaining among us of an +_Heathen Philosopher_. + +I have seen the Speech of a _Terræ-filius_, spoken in King Charles II's +Reign; in which he describes two very eminent Men, who were perhaps the +greatest Scholars of their Age; and after having mentioned the entire +Friendship between them, concludes, That _they had but one Mind, one +Purse, one Chamber, and one Hat_. The Men of Business were also infected +with a Sort of Singularity little better than this. I have heard my +Father say, that a broad-brimm'd Hat, short Hair, and unfolded +Hankerchief, were in his time absolutely necessary to denote a _notable +Man;_ and that he had known two or three, who aspired to the Character +of _very notable_, wear Shoestrings with great Success. + +To the Honour of our present Age it must be allowed, that some of our +greatest Genius's for Wit and Business have almost entirely broke the +Neck of these Absurdities. + +_Victor_, after having dispatched the most important Affairs of the +Commonwealth, has appeared at an Assembly, where all the Ladies have +declared him the genteelest Man in the Company; and in _Atticus_, though +every way one of the greatest Genius's the Age has produced, one sees +nothing particular in his Dress or Carriage to denote his Pretensions to +Wit and Learning: so that at present a Man may venture to cock up his +Hat, and wear a fashionable Wig, without being taken for a Rake or a +Fool. + +The Medium between a Fop and a Sloven is what a Man of Sense would +endeavour to keep; yet I remember Mr. _Osbourn_ advises his Son [1] to +appear in his Habit rather above than below his Fortune; and tells him, +that he will find an handsom Suit of Cloathes always procures some +additional Respect. I have indeed myself observed that my Banker bows +lowest to me when I wear my full-bottom'd Wig; and writes me _Mr._ or +_Esq._, accordingly as he sees me dressed. + +I shall conclude this Paper with an Adventure which I was myself an +Eye-witness of very lately. + +I happened the other Day to call in at a celebrated Coffee-house near +the _Temple_. I had not been there long when there came in an elderly +Man very meanly dressed, and sat down by me; he had a thread-bare loose +Coat on, which it was plain he wore to keep himself warm, and not to +favour his under Suit, which seemed to have been at least its +Contemporary: His short Wig and Hat were both answerable to the rest of +his Apparel. He was no sooner seated than he called for a Dish of Tea; +but as several Gentlemen in the Room wanted other things, the Boys of +the House did not think themselves at leisure to mind him. I could +observe the old Fellow was very uneasy at the Affront, and at his being +obliged to repeat his Commands several times to no purpose; 'till at +last one of the [Lads [2]] presented him with some stale Tea in a broken +Dish, accompanied with a Plate of brown Sugar; which so raised his +Indignation, that after several obliging Appellations of Dog and Rascal, +he asked him aloud before the whole Company, _Why he must be used with +less Respect than that Fop there?_ pointing to a well-dressed young +Gentleman who was drinking Tea at the opposite Table. The Boy of the +House replied with a [great [3]] deal of Pertness, That his Master had +two sorts of Customers, and that the Gentleman at the other Table had +given him many a Sixpence for wiping his Shoes. By this time the young +_Templar_, who found his Honour concerned in the Dispute, and that the +Eyes of the whole Coffee-house were upon him, had thrown aside a Paper +he had in his Hand, and was coming towards us, while we at the Table +made what haste we could to get away from the impending Quarrel, but +were all of us surprised to see him as he approached nearer put on an +Air of Deference and Respect. To whom the old Man said, _Hark you, +Sirrah, I'll pay off your extravagant Bills once more; but will take +effectual Care for the future, that your Prodigality shall not spirit up +a Parcel of Rascals to insult your Father_. + +Tho' I by no means approve either the Impudence of the Servants or the +Extravagance of the Son, I cannot but think the old Gentleman was in +some measure justly served for walking in Masquerade, I mean appearing +in a Dress so much beneath his Quality and Estate. + +X. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Advice to a Son', by Francis Osborn, Esq., Part I. sect. +23.] + + +[Footnote 2: Rascals] + + +[Footnote 3: good] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 151. Thursday, August 23, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Maximas Virtutes jacere omnes necesse est Voluptate dominante.' + + Tull. 'de Fin.' + + +I Know no one Character that gives Reason a greater Shock, at the same +Time that it presents a good ridiculous Image to the Imagination, than +that of a Man of Wit and Pleasure about the Town. This Description of a +Man of Fashion, spoken by some with a Mixture of Scorn and Ridicule, by +others with great Gravity as a laudable Distinction, is in every Body's +Mouth that spends any Time in Conversation. My Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB +has this Expression very frequently; and I never could understand by the +Story which follows, upon his Mention of such a one, but that his Man of +Wit and Pleasure was either a Drunkard too old for Wenching, or a young +lewd Fellow with some Liveliness, who would converse with you, receive +kind Offices of you, and at the same time debauch your Sister, or lie +with your Wife. According to his Description, a Man of Wit, when he +could have Wenches for Crowns apiece which he liked quite as well, would +be so extravagant as to bribe Servants, make false Friendships, fight +Relations: I say, according to him, plain and simple Vice was too little +for a Man of Wit and Pleasure; but he would leave an easy and accessible +Wickedness, to come at the same thing with only the Addition of certain +Falshood and possible Murder. WILL, thinks the Town grown very dull, in +that we do not hear so much as we used to do of these Coxcombs, whom +(without observing it) he describes as the most infamous Rogues in +Nature, with relation to Friendship, Love, or Conversation. + +When Pleasure is made the chief Pursuit of Life, it will necessarily +follow that such Monsters as these will arise from a constant +Application to such Blandishments as naturally root out the Force of +Reason and Reflection, and substitute in their Place a general +Impatience of Thought, and a constant Pruiriency of inordinate Desire. + +Pleasure, when it is a Man's chief Purpose, disappoints it self; and the +constant Application to it palls the Faculty of enjoying it, tho' it +leaves the Sense of our Inability for that we wish, with a Disrelish of +every thing else. Thus the intermediate Seasons of the Man of Pleasure +are more heavy than one would impose upon the vilest Criminal. Take him +when he is awaked too soon after a Debauch, or disappointed in following +a worthless Woman without Truth, and there is no Man living whose Being +is such a Weight or Vexation as his is. He is an utter Stranger to the +pleasing Reflections in the Evening of a well-spent Day, or the Gladness +of Heart or Quickness of Spirit in the Morning after profound Sleep or +indolent Slumbers. He is not to be at Ease any longer than he can keep +Reason and good Sense without his Curtains; otherwise he will be haunted +with the Reflection, that he could not believe such a one the Woman that +upon Trial he found her. What has he got by his Conquest, but to think +meanly of her for whom a Day or two before he had the highest Honour? +and of himself for, perhaps, wronging the Man whom of all Men living he +himself would least willingly have injured? + +Pleasure seizes the whole Man who addicts himself to it, and will not +give him Leisure for any good Office in Life which contradicts the +Gaiety of the present Hour. You may indeed observe in People of Pleasure +a certain Complacency and Absence of all Severity, which the Habit of a +loose unconcerned Life gives them; but tell the Man of Pleasure your +secret Wants, Cares, or Sorrows, and you will find he has given up the +Delicacy of his Passions to the Cravings of his Appetites. He little +knows the perfect Joy he loses, for the disappointing Gratifications +which he pursues. He looks at Pleasure as she approaches, and comes to +him with the Recommendation of warm Wishes, gay Looks, and graceful +Motion; but he does not observe how she leaves his Presence with +Disorder, Impotence, down-cast Shame, and conscious Imperfection. She +makes our Youth inglorious, our Age shameful. + +WILL. HONEYCOMB gives us twenty Intimations in an Evening of several +Hags whose Bloom was given up to his Arms; and would raise a Value to +himself for having had, as the Phrase is, very good Women. WILL.'S good +Women are the Comfort of his Heart, and support him, I warrant, by the +Memory of past Interviews with Persons of their Condition. No, there is +not in the World an Occasion wherein Vice makes so phantastical a +Figure, as at the Meeting of two old People who have been Partners in +unwarrantable Pleasure. To tell a toothless old Lady that she once had a +good Set, or a defunct Wencher that he once was the admired Thing of the +Town, are Satires instead of Applauses; but on the other Side, consider +the old Age of those who have passed their Days in Labour, Industry, and +Virtue, their Decays make them but appear the more venerable, and the +Imperfections of their Bodies are beheld as a Misfortune to humane +Society that their Make is so little durable. + +But to return more directly to my Man of Wit and Pleasure. In all Orders +of Men, wherever this is the chief Character, the Person who wears it is +a negligent Friend, Father, and Husband, and entails Poverty on his +unhappy Descendants. Mortgages Diseases, and Settlements are the +Legacies a Man of Wit and Pleasure leaves to his Family. All the poor +Rogues that make such lamentable Speeches after every Sessions at +_Tyburn_, were, in their Way, Men of Wit and Pleasure, before they fell +into the Adventures which brought them thither. + +Irresolution and Procrastination in all a Man's Affairs, are the natural +Effects of being addicted to Pleasure: Dishonour to the Gentleman and +Bankruptcy to the Trader, are the Portion of either whose chief Purpose +of Life is Delight. The chief Cause that this Pursuit has been in all +Ages received with so much Quarter from the soberer Part of Mankind, has +been that some Men of great Talents have sacrificed themselves to it: +The shining Qualities of such People have given a Beauty to whatever +they were engaged in, and a Mixture of Wit has recommended Madness. For +let any Man who knows what it is to have passed much Time in a Series of +Jollity, Mirth, Wit, or humourous Entertainments, look back at what he +was all that while a doing, and he will find that he has been at one +Instant sharp to some Man he is sorry to have offended, impertinent to +some one it was Cruelty to treat with such Freedom, ungracefully noisy +at such a Time, unskilfully open at such a Time, unmercifully calumnious +at such a Time; and from the whole Course of his applauded +Satisfactions, unable in the end to recollect any Circumstance which can +add to the Enjoyment of his own Mind alone, or which he would put his +Character upon with other Men. Thus it is with those who are best made +for becoming Pleasures; but how monstrous is it in the generality of +Mankind who pretend this Way, without Genius or Inclination towards it? +The Scene then is wild to an Extravagance: this is as if Fools should +mimick Madmen. Pleasure of this Kind is the intemperate Meals and loud +Jollities of the common Rate of Country Gentlemen, whose Practice and +Way of Enjoyment is to put an End as fast as they can to that little +Particle of Reason they have when they are sober: These Men of Wit and +Pleasure dispatch their Senses as fast as possible by drinking till they +cannot taste, smoaking till they cannot see, and roaring till they +cannot hear. + +T. + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 152. Friday, August 24, 1711. Steele. + + + [Greek (transliterated): + + Ohiae per phyll_on geneàe toiáede kaì andr_on]. + + Hom. 'Il.' 6, v. 146. + + +There is no sort of People whose Conversation is so pleasant as that of +military Men, who derive their Courage and Magnanimity from Thought and +Reflection. The many Adventures which attend their Way of Life makes +their Conversation so full of Incidents, and gives them so frank an Air +in speaking of what they have been Witnesses of, that no Company can be +more amiable than that of Men of Sense who are Soldiers. There is a +certain irregular Way in their Narrations or Discourse, which has +something more warm and pleasing than we meet with among Men who are +used to adjust and methodize their Thoughts. + +I was this Evening walking in the Fields with my Friend Captain SENTRY, +and I could not, from the many Relations which I drew him into of what +passed when he was in the Service, forbear expressing my Wonder, that +the Fear of Death, which we, the rest of Mankind, arm ourselves against +with so much Contemplation, Reason and Philosophy, should appear so +little in Camps, that common Men march into open Breaches, meet opposite +Battalions, not only without Reluctance but with Alacrity. My Friend +answered what I said in the following manner: + + 'What you wonder at may very naturally be the Subject of Admiration to + all who are not conversant in Camps; but when a Man has spent some + time in that way of Life, he observes a certain Mechanick Courage + which the ordinary Race of Men become Masters of from acting always in + a Crowd: They see indeed many drop, but then they see many more alive; + they observe themselves escape very narrowly, and they do not know why + they should not again. Besides which general way of loose thinking, + they usually spend the other Part of their Time in Pleasures upon + which their Minds are so entirely bent, that short Labours or Dangers + are but a cheap purchase of Jollity, Triumph, Victory, fresh Quarters, + new Scenes, and uncommon Adventures.' + +Such are the Thoughts of the Executive Part of an Army, and indeed of +the Gross of Mankind in general; but none of these Men of Mechanical +Courage have ever made any great Figure in the Profession of Arms. Those +who are formed for Command, are such as have reasoned themselves, out of +a Consideration of greater Good than Length of Days, into such a +Negligence of their Being, as to make it their first Position, That it +is one Day to be resigned; and since it is, in the Prosecution of worthy +Actions and Service of Mankind they can put it to habitual Hazard. The +Event of our Designs, say they, as it relates to others, is uncertain; +but as it relates to ourselves it must be prosperous, while we are in +the Pursuit of our Duty, and within the Terms upon which Providence has +ensured our Happiness, whether we die or live. All [that [1]] Nature has +prescribed must be good; and as Death is natural to us, it is Absurdity +to fear it. Fear loses its Purpose when we are sure it cannot preserve +us, and we should draw Resolution to meet it from the Impossibility to +escape it. Without a Resignation to the Necessity of dying, there can be +no Capacity in Man to attempt any thing that is glorious: but when they +have once attained to that Perfection, the Pleasures of a Life spent in +Martial Adventures, are as great as any of which the human Mind is +capable. The Force of Reason gives a certain Beauty, mixed with the +Conscience of well-doing and Thirst of Glory, to all which before was +terrible and ghastly to the Imagination. Add to this, that the +Fellowship of Danger, the common good of Mankind, the general Cause, and +the manifest Virtue you may observe in so many Men, who made no Figure +till that Day, are so many Incentives to destroy the little +Consideration of their own Persons. Such are the Heroick Part of +Soldiers who are qualified for Leaders: As to the rest whom I before +spoke of, I know not how it is, but they arrive at a certain Habit of +being void of Thought, insomuch that on occasion of the most imminent +Danger they are still in the same Indifference. Nay I remember an +Instance of a gay _French-man_, who was led on in Battle by a superior +Officer, (whose Conduct it was his Custom to speak of always with +Contempt and Raillery) and in the Beginning of the Action received a +Wound he was sensible was mortal; his Reflection on this Occasion was, +_I wish I could live another Hour, to see how this blundering Coxcomb +will get clear of this Business._ [2] + +I remember two young Fellows who rid in the same Squadron of a Troop of +Horse, who were ever together; they eat, they drank, they intreagued; in +a word, all their Passions and Affections seemed to tend the same Way, +and they appeared serviceable to each other in them. We were in the Dusk +of the Evening to march over a River, and the Troop these Gentlemen +belonged to were to be transported in a Ferry-boat, as fast as they +could. One of the Friends was now in the Boat, while the other was drawn +up with others by the Waterside waiting the Return of the Boat. A +Disorder happened in the Passage by an unruly Horse; and a Gentleman who +had the Rein of his Horse negligently under his Arm, was forced into the +Water by his Horse's Jumping over. The Friend on the Shore cry'd out, +Who's that is drowned trow? He was immediately answer'd, Your Friend, +_Harry Thompson_. He very gravely reply'd, _Ay, he had a mad Horse_. +This short Epitaph from such a Familiar, without more Words, gave me, at +that Time under Twenty, a very moderate Opinion of the Friendship of +Companions. Thus is Affection and every other Motive of Life in the +Generality rooted out by the present busie Scene about them: they lament +no Man whose Capacity can be supplied by another; and where Men converse +without Delicacy, the next Man you meet will serve as well as he whom +you have lived with half your Life. To such the Devastation of +Countries, the Misery of Inhabitants, the Cries of the Pillaged, and the +silent Sorrow of the great Unfortunate, are ordinary Objects; their +Minds are bent upon the little Gratifications of their own Senses and +Appetites, forgetful of Compassion, insensible of Glory, avoiding only +Shame; their whole Hearts taken up with the trivial Hope of meeting and +being merry. These are the People who make up the Gross of the Soldiery: +But the fine Gentleman in that Band of Men is such a One as I have now +in my Eye, who is foremost in all Danger to which he is ordered. His +Officers are his Friends and Companions, as they are Men of Honour and +Gentlemen; the private Men his Brethren, as they are of his Species. He +is beloved of all that behold him: They wish him in Danger as he views +their Ranks, that they may have Occasions to save him at their own +Hazard. Mutual Love is the Order of the Files where he commands; every +Man afraid for himself and his Neighbour, not lest their Commander +should punish them, but lest he should be offended. Such is his Regiment +who knows Mankind, and feels their Distresses so far as to prevent them. +Just in distributing what is their Due, he would think himself below +their Tailor to wear a Snip of their Cloaths in + + Lace upon his own; and below the most rapacious Agent, should he enjoy + a Farthing above his own Pay. Go on, brave Man, immortal Glory is thy + Fortune, and immortal Happiness thy Reward. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: which] + + +[Footnote 2: This is told in the 'Memoirs of Condé' of the Chevalier de +Flourilles, a lieutenant-general of his killed in 1674, at the Battle of +Senelf.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 153. Saturday, August 25, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Habet natura ut aliarum omnium rerum sic vivendi modum; senectus + autem peractio Ætatis est tanquam Fabulæ. Cujus defatigationem + fugere debemus, præsertim adjunctâ Satietate.' + + Tull. 'de Senec.' + + +Of all the impertinent Wishes which we hear expressed in Conversation, +there is not one more unworthy a Gentleman or a Man of liberal +Education, than that of wishing one's self Younger. I have observed this +Wish is usually made upon Sight of some Object which gives the Idea of a +past Action, that it is no Dishonour to us that we cannot now repeat, or +else on what was in it self shameful when we performed it. It is a +certain Sign of a foolish or a dissolute Mind if we want our Youth again +only for the Strength of Bones and Sinews which we once were Masters of. +It is (as my Author has it) as absurd in an old Man to wish for the +Strength of a Youth, as it would be in a young Man to wish for the +Strength of a Bull or a Horse. These Wishes are both equally out of +Nature, which should direct in all things that are not contradictory to +Justice, Law, and Reason. But tho' every old Man has been [Young [1]], +and every young one hopes to be old, there seems to be a most unnatural +Misunderstanding between those two Stages of Life. The unhappy Want of +Commerce arises from the insolent Arrogance or Exultation in Youth, and +the irrational Despondence or Self-pity in Age. A young Man whose +Passion and Ambition is to be good and wise, and an old one who has no +Inclination to be lewd or debauched, are quite unconcerned in this +Speculation; but the Cocking young Fellow who treads upon the Toes of +his Elders, and the old Fool who envies the sawcy Pride he sees in him, +are the Objects of our present Contempt and Derision. Contempt and +Derision are harsh Words; but in what manner can one give Advice to a +Youth in the Pursuit and Possession of sensual Pleasures, or afford Pity +to an old Man in the Impotence and Desire of Enjoying them? When young +Men in publick Places betray in their Deportment an abandoned +Resignation to their Appetites, they give to sober Minds a Prospect of a +despicable Age, which, if not interrupted by Death in the midst of their +Follies, must certainly come. When an old Man bewails the Loss of such +Gratifications which are passed, he discovers a monstrous Inclination to +that which it is not in the Course of Providence to recal. The State of +an old Man, who is dissatisfy'd merely for his being such, is the most +out of all Measures of Reason and good Sense of any Being we have any +Account of from the highest Angel to the lowest Worm. How miserable is +the Contemplation to consider a libidinous old Man (while all Created +things, besides himself and Devils, are following the Order of +Providence) fretting at the Course of things, and being almost the sole +Malecontent in the Creation. But let us a little reflect upon what he +has lost by the number of Years: The Passions which he had in Youth are +not to be obeyed as they were then, but Reason is more powerful now +without the Disturbance of them. An old Gentleman t'other Day in +Discourse with a Friend of his (reflecting upon some Adventures they had +in Youth together) cry'd out, _Oh Jack, those were happy Days! That is +true_, reply'd his Friend, _but methinks we go about our Business more +quietly than we did then_. One would think it should be no small +Satisfaction to have gone so far in our Journey that the Heat of the Day +is over with us. When Life itself is a Feaver, as it is in licentious +Youth, the Pleasures of it are no other than the Dreams of a Man in that +Distemper, and it is as absurd to wish the Return of that Season of +Life, as for a Man in Health to be sorry for the Loss of gilded Palaces, +fairy Walks, and flowery Pastures, with which he remembers he was +entertained in the troubled Slumbers of a Fit of Sickness. + +As to all the rational and worthy Pleasures of our Being, the Conscience +of a good Fame, the Contemplation of another Life, the Respect and +Commerce of honest Men, our Capacities for such Enjoyments are enlarged +by Years. While Health endures, the latter Part of Life, in the Eye of +Reason, is certainly the more eligible. The Memory of a well-spent Youth +gives a peaceable, unmixed, and elegant Pleasure to the Mind; and to +such who are so unfortunate as not to be able to look back on Youth with +Satisfaction, they may give themselves no little Consolation that they +are under no Temptation to repeat their Follies, and that they at +present despise them. It was prettily said, + + 'He that would be long an old Man, must begin early to be one:' + +It is too late to resign a thing after a Man is robbed of it; therefore +it is necessary that before the Arrival of Age we bid adieu to the +Pursuits of Youth, otherwise sensual Habits will live in our +Imaginations when our Limbs cannot be subservient to them. The poor +Fellow who lost his Arm last Siege, will tell you, he feels the Fingers +that were buried in _Flanders_ ake every cold Morning at _Chelsea_. + +The fond Humour of appearing in the gay and fashionable World, and being +applauded for trivial Excellencies, is what makes Youth have Age in +Contempt, and makes Age resign with so ill a Grace the Qualifications of +Youth: But this in both Sexes is inverting all things, and turning the +natural Course of our Minds, which should build their Approbations and +Dislikes upon what Nature and Reason dictate, into Chimera and +Confusion. + +Age in a virtuous Person, of either Sex, carries in it an Authority +which makes it preferable to all the Pleasures of Youth. If to be +saluted, attended, and consulted with Deference, are Instances of +Pleasure, they are such as never fail a virtuous old Age. In the +Enumeration of the Imperfections and Advantages of the younger and later +Years of Man, they are so near in their Condition, that, methinks, it +should be incredible we see so little Commerce of Kindness between them. +If we consider Youth and Age with _Tully_, regarding the Affinity to +Death, Youth has many more Chances to be near it than Age; what Youth +can say more than an old Man, 'He shall live 'till Night?' Youth catches +Distempers more easily, its Sickness is more violent, and its Recovery +more doubtful. The Youth indeed hopes for many more Days, so cannot the +old Man. The Youth's Hopes are ill-grounded; for what is more foolish +than to place any Confidence upon an Uncertainty? But the old Man has +not Room so much as for Hope; he is still happier than the Youth, he has +already enjoyed what the other does but hope for: One wishes to live +long, the other has lived long. But alas, is there any thing in human +Life, the Duration of which can be called long? There is nothing which +must end to be valued for its Continuance. If Hours, Days, Months, and +Years pass away, it is no matter what Hour, what Day, what Month, or +what Year we die. The Applause of a good Actor is due to him at whatever +Scene of the Play he makes his Exit. It is thus in the Life of a Man of +Sense, a short Life is sufficient to manifest himself a Man of Honour +and Virtue; when he ceases to be such he has lived too long, and while +he is such, it is of no Consequence to him how long he shall be so, +provided he is so to his Life's End. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: a Young] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 154. Monday, August 27, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Nemo repente fuit turpissimus ...' + + Juv. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'You are frequent in the mention of Matters which concern the feminine + World, and take upon you to be very severe against Men upon all those + Occasions: But all this while I am afraid you have been very little + conversant with Women, or you would know the generality of them are + not so angry as you imagine at the general Vices [among [1]] us. I am + apt to believe (begging your Pardon) that you are still what I my self + was once, a queer modest Fellow; and therefore, for your Information, + shall give you a short Account of my self, and the Reasons why I was + forced to wench, drink, play, and do every thing which are necessary + to the Character of a Man of Wit and Pleasure, to be well with the + Ladies. + + You are to know then that I was bred a Gentleman, and had the + finishing Part of my Education under a Man of great Probity, Wit, and + Learning, in one of our Universities. I will not deny but this made my + Behaviour and Mein bear in it a Figure of Thought rather than Action; + and a Man of a quite contrary Character, who never thought in his + Life, rallied me one Day upon it, and said, He believed I was still a + Virgin. There was a young Lady of Virtue present, and I was not + displeased to favour the Insinuation; but it had a quite contrary + Effect from what I expected. I was ever after treated with great + Coldness both by that Lady and all the rest of my Acquaintance. In a + very little time I never came into a Room but I could hear a Whisper, + Here comes the Maid: A Girl of Humour would on some [Occasion [2]] + say, Why, how do you know more than any of us? An Expression of that + kind was generally followed by a loud Laugh: In a word, for no other + Fault in the World than that they really thought me as innocent as + themselves, I became of no Consequence among them, and was received + always upon the Foot of a Jest. This made so strong an Impression upon + me, that I resolved to be as agreeable as the best of the Men who + laugh'd at me; but I observed it was Nonsense for me to be Impudent at + first among those who knew me: My Character for Modesty was so + notorious wherever I had hitherto appeared, that I resolved to shew my + new Face in new Quarters of the World. My first Step I chose with + Judgment; for I went to _Astrop_, [3] and came down among a Crowd of + Academicks, at one Dash, the impudentest Fellow they had ever seen in + their Lives. Flushed with this Success, I made Love and was happy. + Upon this Conquest I thought it would be unlike a Gentleman to stay + longer with my Mistress, and crossed the Country to _Bury:_ I could + give you a very good Account of my self at that Place also. At these + two ended my first Summer of Gallantry. The Winter following, you + would wonder at it, but I relapsed into Modesty upon coming among + People of Figure in _London_, yet not so much but that the Ladies who + had formerly laughed at me, said, Bless us! how wonderfully that + Gentleman is improved? Some Familiarities about the Play-houses + towards the End of the ensuing Winter, made me conceive new Hopes of + Adventures; and instead of returning the next Summer to _Astrop_ or + _Bury_, [4] I thought my self qualified to go to _Epsom_, and followed + a young Woman, whose Relations were jealous of my Place in her Favour, + to _Scarborough_. I carried my Point, and in my third Year aspired to + go to _Tunbridge_, and in the Autumn of the same Year made my + Appearance at _Bath_. I was now got into the Way of Talk proper for + Ladies, and was run into a vast Acquaintance among them, which I + always improved to the _best Advantage_. In all this Course of Time, + and some Years following, I found a sober modest Man was always looked + upon by both Sexes as a precise unfashioned Fellow of no Life or + Spirit. It was ordinary for a Man who had been drunk in good Company, + or passed a Night with a Wench, to speak of it next Day before Women + for whom he had the greatest Respect. He was reproved, perhaps, with a + Blow of the Fan, or an Oh Fie, but the angry Lady still preserved an + apparent Approbation in her Countenance: He was called a strange + wicked Fellow, a sad Wretch; he shrugs his Shoulders, swears, receives + another Blow, swears again he did not know he swore, and all was well. + You might often see Men game in the Presence of Women, and throw at + once for more than they were worth, to recommend themselves as Men of + Spirit. I found by long Experience that the loosest Principles and + most abandoned Behaviour, carried all before them in Pretensions to + Women of Fortune. The Encouragement given to People of this Stamp, + made me soon throw off the remaining Impressions of a sober Education. + In the above-mentioned Places, as well as in Town, I always kept + Company with those who lived most at large; and in due Process of Time + I was a pretty Rake among the Men, and a very pretty Fellow among the + Women. I must confess, I had some melancholy Hours upon the Account of + the Narrowness of my Fortune, but my Conscience at the same time gave + me the Comfort that I had qualified my self for marrying a Fortune. + + When I had lived in this manner for some time, and became thus + accomplished, I was now in the twenty seventh Year of my Age, and + about the Forty seventh of my Constitution, my Health and Estate + wasting very fast; when I happened to fall into the Company of a very + pretty young Lady in her own Disposal. I entertained the Company, as + we Men of Gallantry generally do, with the many Haps and Disasters, + Watchings under Windows, Escapes from jealous Husbands, and several + other Perils. The young Thing was wonderfully charmed with one that + knew the World so well, and talked so fine; with _Desdemona_, all her + Lover said affected her; _it was strange,'twas wondrous strange_. In a + word, I saw the Impression I had made upon her, and with a very little + Application the pretty Thing has married me. There is so much Charm in + her Innocence and Beauty, that I do now as much detest the Course I + have been in for many Years, as I ever did before I entred into it. + + What I intend, Mr. SPECTATOR, by writing all this to you, is that you + would, before you go any further with your Panegyricks on the Fair + Sex, give them some Lectures upon their silly Approbations. It is that + I am weary of Vice, and that it was not my natural Way, that I am now + so far recovered as not to bring this believing dear Creature to + Contempt and Poverty for her Generosity to me. At the same time tell + the Youth of good Education of our Sex, that they take too little Care + of improving themselves in little things: A good Air at entring into a + Room, a proper Audacity in expressing himself with Gaiety and + Gracefulness, would make a young Gentleman of Virtue and Sense capable + of discountenancing the shallow impudent Rogues that shine among the + Women. + + Mr. SPECTATOR, I don't doubt but you are a very sagacious Person, but + you are so great with _Tully_ of late, that I fear you will contemn + these Things as Matters of no Consequence: But believe me, Sir, they + are of the highest Importance to Human Life; and if you can do any + thing towards opening fair Eyes, you will lay an Obligation upon all + your Contemporaries who are Fathers, Husbands, or Brothers to Females. + + _Your most affectionate humble Servant,_ + Simon Honeycomb. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: amongst] + + +[Footnote 2: Occasions] + + +[Footnote 3: A small Spa, in Northamptonshire, upon the Oxford border. +From Astrop to Bath the scale of fashion rises.] + + +[Footnote 4: Bury Fair and Epsom Wells gave titles to two of Shadwell's +Comedies.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. I55. [1] Tuesday, August 28, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Hæ nugæ seria ducunt + In mala ...' + + Hor. + + +I have more than once taken Notice of an indecent Licence taken in +Discourse, wherein the Conversation on one Part is involuntary, and the +Effect of some necessary Circumstance. This happens in travelling +together in the same hired Coach, sitting near each other in any publick +Assembly, or the like. I have, upon making Observations of this sort, +received innumerable Messages from that Part of the Fair Sex whose Lot +in Life is to be of any Trade or publick Way of Life. They are all to a +Woman urgent with me to lay before the World the unhappy Circumstances +they are under, from the unreasonable Liberty which is taken in their +Presence, to talk on what Subject it is thought fit by every Coxcomb who +wants Understanding or Breeding. One or two of these Complaints I shall +set down. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I Keep a Coffee-house, and am one of those whom you have thought fit + to mention as an Idol some time ago. I suffered a good deal of + Raillery upon that Occasion; but shall heartily forgive you, who are + the Cause of it, if you will do me Justice in another Point. What I + ask of you, is, to acquaint my Customers (who are otherwise very good + ones) that I am unavoidably hasped in my Bar, and cannot help hearing + the improper Discourses they are pleased to entertain me with. They + strive who shall say the most immodest Things in my Hearing: At the + same time half a dozen of them loll at the Bar staring just in my + Face, ready to interpret my Looks and Gestures according to their own + Imaginations. In this passive Condition I know not where to cast my + Eyes, place my Hands, or what to employ my self in: But this Confusion + is to be a Jest, and I hear them say in the End, with an Air of Mirth + and Subtlety, Let her alone, she knows as well as we, for all she + looks so. Good Mr. SPECTATOR, persuade Gentlemen that it is out of all + Decency: Say it is possible a Woman may be modest and yet keep a + Publick-house. Be pleased to argue, that in truth the Affront is the + more unpardonable because I am oblig'd to suffer it, and cannot fly + from it. I do assure you, Sir, the Chearfulness of Life which would + arise from the honest Gain I have, is utterly lost to me, from the + endless, flat, impertinent Pleasantries which I hear from Morning to + Night. In a Word, it is too much for me to bear, and I desire you to + acquaint them, that I will keep Pen and Ink at the Bar, and write down + all they say to me, and send it to you for the Press. It is possible + when they see how empty what they speak, without the Advantage of an + impudent Countenance and Gesture, will appear, they may come to some + Sense of themselves, and the Insults they are guilty of towards me. I + am, _SIR_, + + _Your most humble Servant_, + + _The_ Idol. + + +This Representation is so just, that it is hard to speak of it without +an Indignation which perhaps would appear too elevated to such as can be +guilty of this inhuman Treatment, where they see they affront a modest, +plain, and ingenuous Behaviour. This Correspondent is not the only +Sufferer in this kind, for I have long Letters both from the _Royal_ and +_New Exchange_ on the same Subject. They tell me that a young Fop cannot +buy a Pair of Gloves, but he is at the same time straining for some +Ingenious Ribaldry to say to the young Woman who helps them on. It is no +small Addition to the Calamity, that the Rogues buy as hard as the +plainest and modestest Customers they have; besides which, they loll +upon their Counters half an Hour longer than they need, to drive away +other Customers, who are to share their Impertinencies with the +Milliner, or go to another Shop. Letters from _'Change-Alley_ are full +of the same Evil, and the Girls tell me except I can chase some eminent +Merchants from their Shops they shall in a short time fail. It is very +unaccountable, that Men can have so little Deference to all Mankind who +pass by them, as to bear being seen toying by two's and three's at a +time, with no other Purpose but to appear gay enough to keep up a light +Conversation of Common-place Jests, to the Injury of her whose Credit is +certainly hurt by it, tho' their own may be strong enough to bear it. +When we come to have exact Accounts of these Conversations, it is not to +be doubted but that their Discourses will raise the usual Stile of +buying and selling: Instead of the plain downright lying, and asking and +bidding so unequally to what they will really give and take, we may hope +to have from these fine Folks an Exchange of Compliments. There must +certainly be a great deal of pleasant Difference between the Commerce of +Lovers, and that of all other Dealers, who are, in a kind, Adversaries. +A sealed Bond, or a Bank-Note, would be a pretty Gallantry to convey +unseen into the Hands of one whom a Director is charmed with; otherwise +the City-Loiterers are still more unreasonable than those at the other +End of the Town: At the _New Exchange_ they are eloquent for want +of Cash, but in the City they ought with Cash to supply their want of +Eloquence. + +If one might be serious on this prevailing Folly, one might observe, +that it is a melancholy thing, when the World is mercenary even to the +buying and selling our very Persons, that young Women, tho' they have +never so great Attractions from Nature, are never the nearer being +happily disposed of in Marriage; I say, it is very hard under this +Necessity, it shall not be possible for them to go into a way of Trade +for their Maintenance, but their very Excellencies and personal +Perfections shall be a Disadvantage to them, and subject them to be +treated as if they stood there to sell their Persons to Prostitution. +There cannot be a more melancholy Circumstance to one who has made any +Observation in the World, than one of those erring Creatures exposed to +Bankruptcy. When that happens, none of these toying Fools will do any +more than any other Man they meet to preserve her from Infamy, Insult, +and Distemper. A Woman is naturally more helpless than the other Sex; +and a Man of Honour and Sense should have this in his View in all Manner +of Commerce with her. Were this well weighed, Inconsideration, Ribaldry, +and Nonsense, would not be more natural to entertain Women with than +Men; and it would be as much Impertinence to go into a Shop of one of +these young Women without buying, as into that of any other Trader. I +shall end this Speculation with a Letter I have received from a pretty +Milliner in the City. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I have read your Account of Beauties, and was not a little surprized + to find no Character of my self in it. I do assure you I have little + else to do but to give Audience as I am such. Here are Merchants of no + small Consideration, who call in as certainly as they go to _'Change_, + to say something of my roguish Eye: And here is one who makes me once + or twice a Week tumble over all my Goods, and then owns it was only a + Gallantry to see me act with these pretty Hands; then lays out three + Pence in a little Ribbon for his Wrist-bands, and thinks he is a Man + of great Vivacity. There is an ugly Thing not far off me, whose Shop + is frequented only by People of Business, that is all Day long as busy + as possible. Must I that am a Beauty be treated with for nothing but + my Beauty? Be pleased to assign Rates to my kind Glances, or make all + pay who come to see me, or I shall be undone by my Admirers for want + of Customers. _Albacinda_, _Eudosia_, and all the rest would be used + just as we are, if they were in our Condition; therefore pray consider + the Distress of us the lower Order of Beauties, and I shall be + + _Your obliged humble Servant._ + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: In the first issue this is numbered by mistake 156. The +wrong numbering is continued to No. 163, when two successive papers are +numbered 163; there is no 164, and then two papers are numbered 165. +After this, at 166 the numbering falls right.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 156. Wednesday, August 29, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Sed tu simul obligasti + Perfidum votis caput, enitescis + Pulchrior multo ...' + + Hor. + + +I do not think any thing could make a pleasanter Entertainment, than the +History of the reigning Favourites among the Women from Time to Time +about this Town: In such an Account we ought to have a faithful +Confession of each Lady for what she liked such and such a Man, and he +ought to tell us by what particular Action or Dress he believed he +should be most successful. As for my part, I have always made as easy a +Judgment when a Man dresses for the Ladies, as when he is equipped for +Hunting or Coursing. The Woman's Man is a Person in his Air and +Behaviour quite different from the rest of our Species: His Garb is more +loose and negligent, his Manner more soft and indolent; that is to say, +in both these Cases there is an apparent Endeavour to appear unconcerned +and careless. In catching Birds the Fowlers have a Method of imitating +their Voices to bring them to the Snare; and your Women's Men have +always a Similitude of the Creature they hope to betray, in their own +Conversation. A Woman's Man is very knowing in all that passes from one +Family to another, has little pretty Officiousnesses, is not at a loss +what is good for a Cold, and it is not amiss if he has a Bottle of +Spirits in his Pocket in case of any sudden Indisposition. + +Curiosity having been my prevailing Passion, and indeed the sole +Entertainment of my Life, I have sometimes made it my business to +examine the Course of Intreagues as well as the Manners and +Accomplishments of such as have been most successful that Way. In all my +Observation, I never knew a Man of good Understanding a general +Favourite; some Singularity in his Behaviour, some Whim in his Way of +Life, and what would have made him ridiculous among the Men, has +recommended him to the other Sex. I should be very sorry to offend a +People so fortunate as these of whom I am speaking; but let any one look +over the old Beaux, and he will find the Man of Success was remarkable +for quarrelling impertinently for their Sakes, for dressing unlike the +rest of the World, or passing his Days in an insipid Assiduity about the +Fair Sex, to gain the Figure he made amongst them. Add to this that he +must have the Reputation of being well with other Women, to please any +one Woman of Gallantry; for you are to know, that there is a mighty +Ambition among the light Part of the Sex to gain Slaves from the +Dominion of others. My Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB says it was a common Bite +with him to lay Suspicions that he was favoured by a Lady's Enemy, that +is some rival Beauty, to be well with herself. A little Spite is natural +to a great Beauty: and it is ordinary to snap up a disagreeable Fellow +lest another should have him. That impudent Toad _Bareface_ fares well +among all the Ladies he converses with, for no other Reason in the World +but that he has the Skill to keep them from Explanation one with +another. Did they know there is not one who likes him in her Heart, each +would declare her Scorn of him the next Moment; but he is well received +by them because it is the Fashion, and Opposition to each other brings +them insensibly into an Imitation of each other. What adds to him the +greatest Grace is, the pleasant Thief, as they call him, is the most +inconstant Creature living, has a wonderful deal of Wit and Humour, and +never wants something to say; besides all which, he has a most spiteful +dangerous Tongue if you should provoke him. + +To make a Woman's Man, he must not be a Man of Sense, or a Fool; the +Business is to entertain, and it is much better to have a Faculty of +arguing, than a Capacity of judging right. But the pleasantest of all +the Womens Equipage are your regular Visitants; these are Volunteers in +their Service, without Hopes of Pay or Preferment; It is enough that +they can lead out from a publick Place, that they are admitted on a +publick Day, and can be allowed to pass away part of that heavy Load, +their Time, in the Company of the Fair. But commend me above all others +to those who are known for your Ruiners of Ladies; these are the +choicest Spirits which our Age produces. We have several of these +irresistible Gentlemen among us when the Company is in Town. These +Fellows are accomplished with the Knowledge of the ordinary Occurrences +about Court and Town, have that sort of good Breeding which is exclusive +of all Morality, and consists only in being publickly decent, privately +dissolute. + +It is wonderful how far a fond Opinion of herself can carry a Woman, to +make her have the least Regard to a professed known Woman's Man: But as +scarce one of all the Women who are in the Tour of Gallantries ever +hears any thing of what is the common Sense of sober Minds, but are +entertained with a continual Round of Flatteries, they cannot be +Mistresses of themselves enough to make Arguments for their own Conduct +from the Behaviour of these Men to others. It is so far otherwise, that +a general Fame for Falshood in this kind, is a Recommendation: and the +Coxcomb, loaded with the Favours of many others, is received like a +Victor that disdains his Trophies, to be a Victim to the present +Charmer. + +If you see a Man more full of Gesture than ordinary in a publick +Assembly, if loud upon no Occasion, if negligent of the Company round +him, and yet laying wait for destroying by that Negligence, you may take +it for granted that he has ruined many a Fair One. The Woman's Man +expresses himself wholly in that Motion which we call Strutting: An +elevated Chest, a pinched Hat, a measurable Step, and a sly surveying +Eye, are the Marks of him. Now and then you see a Gentleman with all +these Accomplishments; but alas, any one of them is enough to undo +Thousands: When a Gentleman with such Perfections adds to it suitable +Learning, there should be publick Warning of his Residence in Town, that +we may remove our Wives and Daughters. It happens sometimes that such a +fine Man has read all the Miscellany Poems, a few of our Comedies, and +has the Translation of _Ovid's_ Epistles by Heart. Oh if it were +possible that such a one could be as true as he is charming! but that is +too much, the Women will share such a dear false Man: + + 'A little Gallantry to hear him Talk one would indulge one's self in, + let him reckon the Sticks of one's Fan, say something of the _Cupids_ + in it, and then call one so many soft Names which a Man of his + Learning has at his Fingers Ends. There sure is some Excuse for + Frailty, when attacked by such a Force against a weak Woman.' + +Such is the Soliloquy of many a Lady one might name, at the sight of one +of these who makes it no Iniquity to go on from Day to Day in the Sin of +Woman-Slaughter. + +It is certain that People are got into a Way of Affectation, with a +manner of overlooking the most solid Virtues, and admiring the most +trivial Excellencies. The Woman is so far from expecting to be contemned +for being a very injudicious silly Animal, that while she can preserve +her Features and her Mein, she knows she is still the Object of Desire; +and there is a sort of secret Ambition, from reading frivolous Books, +and keeping as frivolous Company, each side to be amiable in +Imperfection, and arrive at the Characters of the Dear Deceiver and the +Perjured Fair. [1] + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: To this number is appended the following + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + Mr. SPECTATOR gives his most humble Service + to _Mr. R. M._ of Chippenham in _Wilts_, + and hath received the Patridges.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 157. Thursday, August 30, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Genius natale comes qui temperat astrum + Naturæ Deus humanæ Mortalis in unum + Quodque Caput ...' + + Hor. + + +I am very much at a loss to express by any Word that occurs to me in our +Language that which is understood by _Indoles_ in _Latin_. The natural +Disposition to any Particular Art, Science, Profession, or Trade, is +very much to be consulted in the Care of Youth, and studied by Men for +their own Conduct when they form to themselves any Scheme of Life. It is +wonderfully hard indeed for a Man to judge of his own Capacity +impartially; that may look great to me which may appear little to +another, and I may be carried by Fondness towards my self so far, as to +attempt Things too high for my Talents and Accomplishments: But it is +not methinks so very difficult a Matter to make a Judgment of the +Abilities of others, especially of those who are in their Infancy. My +Commonplace Book directs me on this Occasion to mention the Dawning of +Greatness in _Alexander_, who being asked in his Youth to contend for a +Prize in the Olympick Games, answered he would, if he had Kings to run +against him. _Cassius_, who was one of the Conspirators against _Cæsar_, +gave as great a Proof of his Temper, when in his Childhood he struck a +Play-fellow, the Son of _Sylla_, for saying his Father was Master of the +_Roman_ People. _Scipio_ is reported to have answered, (when some +Flatterers at Supper were asking him what the _Romans_ should do for a +General after his Death) Take _Marius_. _Marius_ was then a very Boy, +and had given no Instances of his Valour; but it was visible to _Scipio_ +from the Manners of the Youth, that he had a Soul formed for the Attempt +and Execution of great Undertakings. I must confess I have very often +with much Sorrow bewailed the Misfortune of the Children of _Great +Britain_, when I consider the Ignorance and Undiscerning of the +Generality of Schoolmasters. The boasted Liberty we talk of is but a +mean Reward for the long Servitude, the many Heart-aches and Terrors, to +which our Childhood is exposed in going through a Grammar-School: Many +of these stupid Tyrants exercise their Cruelty without any manner of +Distinction of the Capacities of Children, or the Intention of Parents +in their Behalf. There are many excellent Tempers which are worthy to be +nourished and cultivated with all possible Diligence and Care, that were +never designed to be acquainted with _Aristotle, Tully_, or _Virgil_; +and there are as many who have Capacities for understanding every Word +those great Persons have writ, and yet were not born to have any Relish +of their Writings. For want of this common and obvious discerning in +those who have the Care of Youth, we have so many hundred unaccountable +Creatures every Age whipped up into great Scholars, that are for ever +near a right Understanding, and will never arrive at it. These are the +Scandal of Letters, and these are generally the Men who are to teach +others. The Sense of Shame and Honour is enough to keep the World itself +in Order without Corporal Punishment, much more to train the Minds of +uncorrupted and innocent Children. It happens, I doubt not, more than +once in a Year, that a Lad is chastised for a Blockhead, when it is good +Apprehension that makes him incapable of knowing what his Teacher means: +A brisk Imagination very often may suggest an Error, which a Lad could +not have fallen into, if he had been as heavy in conjecturing as his +Master in explaining: But there is no Mercy even towards a wrong +Interpretation of his Meaning, the Sufferings of the Scholar's Body are +to rectify the Mistakes of his Mind. + +I am confident that no Boy who will not be allured to Letters without +Blows, will ever be brought to any thing with them. A great or good Mind +must necessarily be the worse for such Indignities; and it is a sad +Change to lose of its Virtue for the Improvement of its Knowledge. No +one who has gone through what they call a great School, but must +remember to have seen Children of excellent and ingenuous Natures, (as +has afterwards appeared in their Manhood) I say no Man has passed +through this way of Education, but must have seen an ingenuous Creature +expiring with Shame, with pale Looks, beseeching Sorrow, and silent +Tears, throw up its honest Eyes, and kneel on its tender Knees to an +inexorable Blockhead, to be forgiven the false Quantity of a Word in +making a Latin Verse; The Child is punished, and the next Day he commits +a like Crime, and so a third with the same Consequence. I would fain ask +any reasonable Man whether this Lad, in the Simplicity of his native +Innocence, full of Shame, and capable of any Impression from that Grace +of Soul, was not fitter for any Purpose in this Life, than after that +Spark of Virtue is extinguished in him, tho' he is able to write twenty +Verses in an Evening? + +Seneca says, after his exalted way of Talking, _As the immortal Gods +never learnt any Virtue, tho they are endowed with all that is good; so +there are some Men who have so natural a Propensity to what they should +follow, that they learn it almost as soon as they hear it._ [1] Plants +and Vegetables are cultivated into the Production of finer Fruit than +they would yield without that Care; and yet we cannot entertain Hopes of +producing a tender conscious Spirit into Acts of Virtue, without the +same Methods as is used to cut Timber, or give new Shape to a Piece of +Stone. + +It is wholly to this dreadful Practice that we may attribute a certain +Hardiness and Ferocity which some Men, tho' liberally educated, carry +about them in all their Behaviour. To be bred like a Gentleman, and +punished like a Malefactor, must, as we see it does, produce that +illiberal Sauciness which we see sometimes in Men of Letters. + +The _Spartan_ Boy who suffered the Fox (which he had stolen and hid +under his Coat) to eat into his Bowels, I dare say had not half the Wit +or Petulance which we learn at great Schools among us: But the glorious +Sense of Honour, or rather Fear of Shame, which he demonstrated in that +Action, was worth all the Learning in the World without it. + +It is methinks a very melancholy Consideration, that a little Negligence +can spoil us, but great Industry is necessary to improve us; the most +excellent Natures are soon depreciated, but evil Tempers are long before +they are exalted into good Habits. To help this by Punishments, is the +same thing as killing a Man to cure him of a Distemper; when he comes to +suffer Punishment in that one Circumstance, he is brought below the +Existence of a rational Creature, and is in the State of a Brute that +moves only by the Admonition of Stripes. But since this Custom of +educating by the Lash is suffered by the Gentry of _Great Britain _, I +would prevail only that honest heavy Lads may be dismissed from Slavery +sooner than they are at present, and not whipped on to their fourteenth +or fifteenth Year, whether they expect any Progress from them or not. +Let the Child's Capacity be forthwith examined and [he] sent to some +Mechanick Way of Life, without respect to his Birth, if Nature designed +him for nothing higher: let him go before he has innocently suffered, +and is debased into a Dereliction of Mind for being what it is no Guilt +to be, a plain Man. I would not here be supposed to have said, that our +learned Men of either Robe who have been whipped at School, are not +still Men of noble and liberal Minds; but I am sure they had been much +more so than they are, had they never suffered that Infamy. + +But tho' there is so little Care, as I have observed, taken, or +Observation made of the natural Strain of Men, it is no small Comfort to +me, as a SPECTATOR, that there is any right Value set upon the _bona +Indoles_ of other Animals; as appears by the following Advertisement +handed about the County of _Lincoln _, and subscribed by _Enos Thomas_, +a Person whom I have not the Honour to know, but suppose to be +profoundly learned in Horse-flesh. + + _A Chesnut Horse called_ Cæsar, _bred_ by James Darcy, _Esq., at_ + Sedbury, _near_ Richmond _in the County of_ York; _his Grandam + was his old royal Mare, and got by_ Blunderbuss, _which was got by_ + Hemsly Turk, _and he got Mr._ Courand's Arabian, _which got Mr._ + Minshul's Jews-trump. _Mr._ Cæsar _sold him to a Nobleman + (coming five Years old, when he had but one Sweat) for three hundred + Guineas. A Guinea a Leap and Trial, and a Shilling the Man_. + + T. Enos Thomas. + + + + [Footnote 1: Epist. 95.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + No. 158. Friday, August 31, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Nos hoec novimus esse nihil.' + + Martial. + + +Out of a firm Regard to Impartiality, I print these Letters, let them +make for me or not. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I have observed through the whole Course of your Rhapsodies, (as you + once very well called them) you are very industrious to overthrow all + that many your Superiors who have gone before you have made their Rule + of writing. I am now between fifty and sixty, and had the Honour to be + well with the first Men of Taste and Gallantry in the joyous Reign of + _Charles_ the Second: We then had, I humbly presume, as good + Understandings among us as any now can pretend to. As for yourself, + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, you seem with the utmost Arrogance to undermine the + very Fundamentals upon which we conducted our selves. It is monstrous + to set up for a Man of Wit, and yet deny that Honour in a Woman is any + thing else but Peevishness, that Inclination [is [1]] the best Rule of + Life, or Virtue and Vice any thing else but Health and Disease. We had + no more to do but to put a Lady into good Humour, and all we could + wish followed of Course. Then again, your _Tully_, and your Discourses + of another Life, are the very Bane of Mirth and good Humour. Pr'ythee + don't value thyself on thy Reason at that exorbitant Rate, and the + Dignity of human Nature; take my Word for it, a Setting-dog has as + good Reason as any Man in _England_. Had you (as by your Diurnals one + would think you do) set up for being in vogue in Town, you should have + fallen in with the Bent of Passion and Appetite; your Songs had then + been in every pretty Mouth in _England_, and your little Distichs had + been the Maxims of the Fair and the Witty to walk by: But alas, Sir, + what can you hope for from entertaining People with what must needs + make them like themselves worse than they did before they read you? + Had you made it your Business to describe _Corinna_ charming, though + inconstant, to find something in human Nature itself to make _Zoilus_ + excuse himself for being fond of her; and to make every Man in good + Commerce with his own Reflections, you had done something worthy our + Applause; but indeed, Sir, we shall not commend you for disapproving + us. I have a great deal more to say to you, but I shall sum it up all + in this one Remark, In short, Sir, you do not write like a Gentleman. + + 'I am, SIR, + Your most humble Servant.' + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'The other Day we were several of us at a Tea-Table, and according to + Custom and your own Advice had the _Spectator_ read among us: It was + that Paper wherein you are pleased to treat with great Freedom that + Character which you call a Woman's Man. We gave up all the Kinds you + have mentioned, except those who, you say, are our constant Visitants. + I was upon the Occasion commissioned by the Company to write to you + and tell you, That we shall not part with the Men we have at present, + 'till the Men of Sense think fit to relieve them, and give us their + Company in their Stead. You cannot imagine but that we love to hear + Reason and good Sense better than the Ribaldry we are at present + entertained with, but we must have Company, and among us very + inconsiderable is better than none at all. We are made for the Cements + of Society, and came into the World to create Relations among Mankind; + and Solitude is an unnatural Being to us. If the Men of good + Understanding would forget a little of their Severity, they would find + their Account in it; and their Wisdom would have a Pleasure in it, to + which they are now Strangers. It is natural among us when Men have a + true Relish of our Company and our Value, to say every thing with a + better Grace; and there is without designing it something ornamental + in what Men utter before Women, which is lost or neglected in + Conversations of Men only. Give me leave to tell you, Sir, it would do + you no great Harm if you yourself came a little more into our Company; + it would certainly cure you of a certain positive and determining + Manner in which you talk sometimes. In hopes of your Amendment, + + 'I am, SIR, + + 'Your gentle Reader_.' + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Your professed Regard to the Fair Sex, may perhaps make them value + your Admonitions when they will not those of other Men. I desire you, + Sir, to repeat some Lectures upon Subjects which you have now and then + in a cursory manner only just touched. I would have a _Spectator_ + wholly writ upon good Breeding: and after you have asserted that Time + and Place are to be very much considered in all our Actions, it will + be proper to dwell upon Behaviour at Church. On Sunday last a grave + and reverend Man preached at our Church: There was something + particular in his Accent, but without any manner of Affectation. This + Particularity a Set of Gigglers thought the most necessary Thing to be + taken notice of in his whole Discourse, and made it an Occasion of + Mirth during the whole time of Sermon: You should see one of them + ready to burst behind a Fan, another pointing to a Companion in + another Seat, and a fourth with an arch Composure, as if she would if + possible stifle her Laughter. There were many Gentlemen who looked at + them stedfastly, but this they took for ogling and admiring them: + There was one of the merry ones in particular, that found out but just + then that she had but five Fingers, for she fell a reckoning the + pretty Pieces of Ivory over and over again, to find her self + Employment and not laugh out. Would it not be expedient, Mr. + SPECTATOR, that the Church-warden should hold up his Wand on these + Occasions, and keep the Decency of the Place as a Magistrate does the + Peace in a Tumult elsewhere? + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I am a Woman's Man, and read with a very fine Lady your Paper, wherein + you fall upon us whom you envy: What do you think I did? you must know + she was dressing, I read the _Spectator_ to her, and she laughed at + the Places where she thought I was touched; I threw away your Moral, + and taking up her Girdle cried out, + + _Give me but what this Ribbon bound, + Take all the rest the [Sun [2]] goes round_. [3] + + She smiled, Sir, and said you were a Pedant; so say of me what you + please, read _Seneca_ and quote him against me if you think fit. + _I am_, + _SIR, + Your humble Servant_. + + + +[Footnote 1: is not] + + +[Footnote 2: _World_] + + +[Footnote 3: Waller, _On a Girdle_.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 159. Saturday, September 1, 1711. Addison. + + + ... Omnem quæ nunc obducta tuenti + Mortales hebetat visus tibi, et humida circum + Caligat, nubem eripiam ... + + Virg. + + +When I was at _Grand Cairo_, I picked up several Oriental Manuscripts, +which I have still by me. Among others I met with one entitled, _The +Visions of Mirzah_, which I have read over with great Pleasure. I intend +to give it to the Publick when I have noother Entertainment for them; +and shall begin with the first Vision, which I have translated Word for +Word as follows. + + 'On the fifth Day of the Moon, which according to the Custom of my + Forefathers I always keep holy, after having washed my self, and + offered up my Morning Devotions, I ascended the high Hills of + _Bagdat_, in order to pass the rest of the Day in Meditation and + Prayer. As I was here airing my self on the Tops of the Mountains, I + fell into a profound Contemplation on the Vanity of human Life; and + passing from one Thought to another, Surely, said I, Man is but a + Shadow and Life a Dream. Whilst I was thus musing, I cast my Eyes + towards the Summit of a Rock that was not far from me, where I + discovered one in the Habit of a Shepherd, with a little Musical + Instrument in his Hand. As I looked upon him he applied it to his + Lips, and began to play upon it. The Sound of it was exceeding sweet, + and wrought into a Variety of Tunes that were inexpressibly + melodious, and altogether different from any thing I had ever heard: + They put me in mind of those heavenly Airs that are played to the + departed Souls of good Men upon their first Arrival in Paradise, to + wear out the Impressions of the last Agonies, and qualify them for the + Pleasures of that happy Place. My Heart melted away in secret + Raptures. + + I had been often told that the Rock before me was the Haunt of a + Genius; and that several had been entertained with Musick who had + passed by it, but never heard that the Musician had before made + himself visible. When he had raised my Thoughts by those transporting + Airs which he played, to taste the Pleasures of his Conversation, as I + looked upon him like one astonished, he beckoned to me, and by the + waving of his Hand directed me to approach the Place where he sat. I + drew near with that Reverence which is due to a superior Nature; and + as my Heart was entirely subdued by the captivating Strains I had + heard, I fell down at his Feet and wept. The Genius smiled upon me + with a Look of Compassion and Affability that familiarized him to my + Imagination, and at once dispelled all the Fears and Apprehensions + with which I approached him. He lifted me from the Ground, and taking + me by the hand, _Mirzah_, said he, I have heard thee in thy + Soliloquies; follow me. + + He then led me to the highest Pinnacle of the Rock, and placing me on + the Top of it, Cast thy Eyes Eastward, said he, and tell me what thou + seest. I see, said I, a huge Valley, and a prodigious Tide of Water + rolling through it. The Valley that thou seest, said he, is the Vale + of Misery, and the Tide of Water that thou seest is part of the great + Tide of Eternity. What is the Reason, said I, that the Tide I see + rises out of a thick Mist at one End, and again loses itself in a + thick Mist at the other? What thou seest, said he, is that Portion of + Eternity which is called Time, measured out by the Sun, and reaching + from the Beginning of the World to its Consummation. Examine now, said + he, this Sea that is bounded with Darkness at both Ends, and tell me + what thou discoverest in it. I see a Bridge, said I, standing in the + Midst of the Tide. The Bridge thou seest, said he, is human Life, + consider it attentively. Upon a more leisurely Survey of it, I found + that it consisted of threescore and ten entire Arches, with several + broken Arches, which added to those that were entire, made up the + Number about an hundred. As I was counting the Arches, the Genius told + me that this Bridge consisted at first of a thousand Arches; but that + a great Flood swept away the rest, and left the Bridge in the ruinous + Condition I now beheld it: But tell me further, said he, what thou + discoverest on it. I see Multitudes of People passing over it, said I, + and a black Cloud hanging on each End of it. As I looked more + attentively, I saw several of the Passengers dropping thro' the + Bridge, into the great Tide that flowed underneath it; and upon + farther Examination, perceived there were innumerable Trap-doors that + lay concealed in the Bridge, which the Passengers no sooner trod upon, + but they fell thro' them into the Tide and immediately disappeared. + These hidden Pit-falls were set very thick at the Entrance of the + Bridge, so that the Throngs of People no sooner broke through the + Cloud, but many of them fell into them. They grew thinner towards the + Middle, but multiplied and lay closer together towards the End of the + Arches that were entire. + + There were indeed some Persons, but their Number was very small, that + continued a kind of hobbling March on the broken Arches, but fell + through one after another, being quite tired and spent with so long a + Walk. + + I passed some Time in the Contemplation of this wonderful Structure, + and the great Variety of Objects which it presented. My Heart was + filled with a deep Melancholy to see several dropping unexpectedly in + the midst of Mirth and Jollity, and catching at every thing that stood + by them to save themselves. Some were looking up towards the Heavens + in a thoughtful Posture, and in the midst of a Speculation stumbled + and fell out of Sight. Multitudes were very busy in the Pursuit of + Bubbles that glittered in their Eyes and danced before them; but often + when they thought themselves within the reach of them their Footing + failed and down they sunk. In this Confusion of Objects, I observed + some with Scymetars in their Hands, and others with Urinals, who ran + to and fro upon the Bridge, thrusting several Persons on Trap-doors + which did not seem to [lie in their Way,[1]] and which they might have + escaped had they not been forced upon them. + + The Genius seeing me indulge my self in this melancholy Prospect, + told me I had dwelt long enough upon it: Take thine Eyes off the + Bridge, said he, and tell me if thou yet seest any thing thou dost not + comprehend. Upon looking up, What mean, said I, those great Flights of + Birds that are perpetually hovering about the Bridge, and settling + upon it from time to time? I see Vultures, Harpyes, Ravens, + Cormorants, and among many other feather'd Creatures several little + winged Boys, that perch in great Numbers upon the middle Arches. + These, said the Genius, are Envy, Avarice, Superstition, Despair, + Love, with the like Cares and Passions that infest human Life. + + I here fetched a deep Sigh, Alas, said I, Man was made in vain! How + is he given away to Misery and Mortality! tortured in Life, and + swallowed up in Death! The Genius being moved with Compassion towards + me, bid me quit so uncomfortable a Prospect: Look no more, said he, on + Man in the first Stage of his Existence, in his setting out for + Eternity; but cast thine Eye on that thick Mist into which the Tide + bears the several Generations of Mortals that fall into it. I directed + my Sight as I was ordered, and (whether or no the good Genius + strengthened it with any supernatural Force, or dissipated Part of the + Mist that was before too thick for the Eye to penetrate) I saw the + Valley opening at the farther End, and spreading forth into an immense + Ocean, that had a huge Rock of Adamant running through the Midst of + it, and dividing it into two equal Parts. The Clouds still rested on + one Half of it, insomuch that I could discover nothing in it: But the + other appeared to me a vast Ocean planted with innumerable Islands, + that were covered with Fruits and Flowers, and interwoven with a + thousand little shining Seas that ran among them. I could see Persons + dressed in glorious Habits with Garlands upon their Heads, passing + among the Trees, lying down by the Side of Fountains, or resting on + Beds of Flowers; and could hear a confused Harmony of singing Birds, + falling Waters, human Voices, and musical Instruments. Gladness grew + in me upon the Discovery of so delightful a Scene. I wished for the + Wings of an Eagle, that I might fly away to those happy Seats; but the + Genius told me there was no Passage to them, except through the Gates + of Death that I saw opening every Moment upon the Bridge. The Islands, + said he, that lie so fresh and green before thee, and with which the + whole Face of the Ocean appears spotted as far as thou canst see, are + more in Number than the Sands on the Sea-shore; there are Myriads of + Islands behind those which thou here discoverest, reaching further + than thine Eye, or even thine Imagination can extend it self. These + are the Mansions of good Men after Death, who according to the Degree + and Kinds of Virtue in which they excelled, are distributed among + these several Islands, which abound with Pleasures of different Kinds + and Degrees, suitable to the Relishes and Perfections of those who are + settled in them; every Island is a Paradise accommodated to its + respective Inhabitants. Are not these, O _Mirzah_, Habitations worth + contending for? Does Life appear miserable, that gives thee + Opportunities of earning such a Reward? Is Death to be feared, that + will convey thee to so happy an Existence? Think not Man was made in + vain, who has such an Eternity reserved for him. I gazed with + inexpressible Pleasure on these happy Islands. At length, said I, shew + me now, I beseech thee, the Secrets that lie hid under those dark + Clouds which cover the Ocean on the other side of the Rock of Adamant. + The Genius making me no Answer, I turned about to address myself to + him a second time, but I found that he had left me; I then turned + again to the Vision which I had been so long contemplating; but + Instead of the rolling Tide, the arched Bridge, and the happy Islands, + I saw nothing but the long hollow Valley of _Bagdat_, with Oxen, + Sheep, and Camels grazing upon the Sides of it. + + _The End of the first Vision of Mirzah_. + + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: "have been laid for them", corrected by an erratum in No. +161.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 160. Monday, September 3, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Cui mens divinior, atque os + Magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem.' + + Hor. + + +There is no Character more frequently given to a Writer, than that of +being a Genius. I have heard many a little Sonneteer called a _fine +Genius_. There is not an Heroick Scribler in the Nation, that has not +his Admirers who think him a _great Genius_; and as for your Smatterers +in Tragedy, there is scarce a Man among them who is not cried up by one +or other for a _prodigious Genius_. + +My design in this Paper is to consider what is properly a great Genius, +and to throw some Thoughts together on so uncommon a Subject. + +Among great Genius's those few draw the Admiration of all the World upon +them, and stand up as the Prodigies of Mankind, who by the meer Strength +of natural Parts, and without any Assistance of Arts or Learning, have +produced Works that were the Delight of their own Times, and the Wonder +of Posterity. There appears something nobly wild and extravagant in +these great natural Genius's, that is infinitely more beautiful than all +the Turn and Polishing of what the _French_ call a _Bel Esprit_, by +which they would express a Genius refined by Conversation, Reflection, +and the Reading of the most polite Authors. The greatest Genius [which +[1]] runs through the Arts and Sciences, takes a kind of Tincture from +them, and falls unavoidably into Imitation. + +Many of these great natural Genius's that were never disciplined and +broken by Rules of Art, are to be found among the Ancients, and in +particular among those of the more Eastern Parts of the World. _Homer_ +has innumerable Flights that _Virgil_ was not able to reach, and in the +Old Testament we find several Passages more elevated and sublime than +any in _Homer_. At the same time that we allow a greater and more daring +Genius to the Ancients, we must own that the greatest of them very much +failed in, or, if you will, that they were very much above the Nicety +and Correctness of the Moderns. In their Similitudes and Allusions, +provided there was a Likeness, they did not much trouble themselves +about the Decency of the Comparison: Thus _Solomon_ resembles the Nose +of his Beloved to the Tower of _Libanon_ which looketh toward +_Damascus_; as the Coming of a Thief in the Night, is a Similitude of +the same kind in the New Testament. It would be endless to make +Collections of this Nature; _Homer_ illustrates one of his Heroes +encompassed with the Enemy by an Ass in a Field of Corn that has his +Sides belaboured by all the Boys of the Village without stirring a Foot +for it: and another of them tossing to and fro in his Bed and burning +with Resentment, to a Piece of Flesh broiled on the Coals. This +particular Failure in the Ancients, opens a large Field of Raillery to +the little Wits, who can laugh at an Indecency but not relish the +Sublime in these Sorts of Writings. The present Emperor of _Persia_, +conformable to this Eastern way of Thinking, amidst a great many pompous +Titles, denominates himself The Sun of Glory and the Nutmeg of Delight. +In short, to cut off all Cavilling against the Ancients and particularly +those of the warmer Climates who had most Heat and Life in their +Imaginations, we are to consider that the Rule of observing what the +_French_ call the _Bienséance_ in an Allusion, has been found out of +latter Years, and in the colder Regions of the World; where we would +make some Amends for our want of Force and Spirit, by a scrupulous +Nicety and Exactness in our Compositions. + +Our Countryman _Shakespear_ was a remarkable Instance of this first kind +of great Genius's. + +I cannot quit this Head without observing that _Pindar_ was a great +Genius of the first Class, who was hurried on by a natural Fire and +Impetuosity to vast Conceptions of things and noble Sallies of +Imagination. At the same time, can any thing be more ridiculous than for +Men of a sober and moderate Fancy to imitate this Poet's Way of Writing +in those monstrous Compositions which go among us under the Name of +Pindaricks? When I see People copying Works which, as _Horace_ has +represented them, are singular in their Kind, and inimitable; when I see +Men following Irregularities by Rule, and by the little Tricks of Art +straining after the most unbounded Flights of Nature, I cannot but apply +to them that Passage in _Terence_: + +_... Incerta hæc si tu postules +Ratione certâ facere, nihilo plus agas, +Quàm si des operam, ut cum ratione insanias_. + +In short a modern Pindarick Writer, compared with _Pindar_, is like a +Sister among the Camisars [2] compared with _Virgil_'s Sibyl: There is +the Distortion, Grimace, and outward Figure, but nothing of that divine +Impulse which raises the Mind above its self, and makes the Sounds more +than human. + +[There is another kind of great Genius's which I shall place in a second +Class, not as I think them inferior to the first, but only for +Distinction's sake, as they are of a different kind. This [3]] second +Class of great Genius's are those that have formed themselves by Rules, +and submitted the Greatness of their natural Talents to the Corrections +and Restraints of Art. Such among the _Greeks_ were _Plato_ and +_Aristotle_; among the _Romans_, _Virgil_ and _Tully_; among the +_English_, _Milton_ and Sir _Francis Bacon_. + +[4] The Genius in both these Classes of Authors may be equally great, +but shews itself [after [5]] a different Manner. In the first it is like +a rich Soil in a happy Climate, that produces a whole Wilderness of +noble Plants rising in a thousand beautiful Landskips, without any +certain Order or Regularity. In the other it is the same rich Soil under +the same happy Climate, that has been laid out in Walks and Parterres, +and cut into Shape and Beauty by the Skill of the Gardener. + +The great Danger in these latter kind of Genius's, is, lest they cramp +their own Abilities too much by Imitation, and form themselves +altogether upon Models, without giving the full Play to their own +natural Parts. An Imitation of the best Authors is not to compare with a +good Original; and I believe we may observe that very few Writers make +an extraordinary Figure in the World, who have not something in their +Way of thinking or expressing themselves that is peculiar to them, and +entirely their own. + +[6] It is odd to consider what great Genius's are sometimes thrown away +upon Trifles. + +I once saw a Shepherd, says a famous _Italian_ Author, [who [7]] used to +divert himself in his Solitudes with tossing up Eggs and catching them +again without breaking them: In which he had arrived to so great a +degree of Perfection, that he would keep up four at a time for several +Minutes together playing in the Air, and falling into his Hand by Turns. +I think, says the Author, I never saw a greater Severity than in this +Man's Face; for by his wonderful Perseverance and Application, he had +contracted the Seriousness and Gravity of a Privy-Councillor; and I +could not but reflect with my self, that the same Assiduity and +Attention, had they been rightly applied, might have made him a greater +Mathematician than _Archimedes_. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: The Camisars, or French Prophets, originally from the +Cevennes, came into England in 1707. With violent agitations and +distortions of body they prophesied and claimed also the power to work +miracles; even venturing to prophesy that Dr Ernes, a convert of theirs, +should rise from the dead five months after burial.] + + +[Footnote 3: The] + + +[Footnote 4: Not a new paragraph in the first issue.] + + +[Footnote 5: in] + + +[Footnote 7: Not a new paragraph in the first issue.] + + +[Footnote 8: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 161. Tuesday, Sept. 4, 1711. Budgell. + + + + 'Ipse dies agitat festos: Fususque per herbam, + Ignis ubi in medio et Socii cratera coronant, + Te libans, Lenæe, vocat: pecorisque magistris + Velocis Jaculi certamina ponit in ulmo, + Corporaque agresti nudat prædura Palæstra. + Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini, + Hanc Remus et Frater: Sic fortis Etruria crevit, + Scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma.' + + Virg. 'G.' 2. + + + +I am glad that my late going into the Country has encreased the Number +of my Correspondents, one of whom sends me the following Letter. + + + _SIR_, + + 'Though you are pleased to retire from us so soon into the City, I + hope you will not think the Affairs of the Country altogether unworthy + of your Inspection for the future. I had the Honour of seeing your + short Face at Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY'S, and have ever since thought + your Person and Writings both extraordinary. Had you stayed there a + few Days longer you would have seen a Country _Wake_, which you know + in most Parts of _England_ is the _Eve-Feast of the Dedication of our + Churches_. I was last Week at one of these Assemblies which was held + in a neighbouring Parish; where I found their _Green_ covered with a + promiscuous Multitude of all Ages and both Sexes, who esteem one + another more or less the following Part of the Year according as they + distinguish themselves at this Time. The whole Company were in their + Holiday Cloaths, and divided into several Parties, all of them + endeavouring to shew themselves in those Exercises wherein they + excelled, and to gain the Approbation of the Lookers on. + + I found a Ring of Cudgel-Players, who were breaking one another's + Heads in order to make some Impression on their Mistresses Hearts. I + observed a lusty young Fellow, who had the Misfortune of a broken + Pate; but what considerably added to the Anguish of the Wound, was his + over-hearing an old Man, who shook his Head and said, _That he + questioned now if black Kate would marry him these three Years_. I was + diverted from a farther Observation of these Combatants, by a + Foot-ball Match, which was on the other side of the _Green_; where + _Tom Short_ behaved himself so well, that most People seemed to agree + _it was impossible that he should remain a Batchelor till the next + Wake_. Having played many a Match my self, I could have looked longer + on this Sport, had I not observed a Country Girl, who was posted on an + Eminence at some Distance from me, and was making so many odd + Grimaces, and writhing and distorting her whole Body in so strange a + Manner, as made me very desirous to know the Meaning of it. Upon my + coming up to her, I found that she was overlooking a Ring of + Wrestlers, and that her Sweetheart, a Person of small Stature, was + contending with an huge brawny Fellow, who twirled him about, and + shook the little Man so violently, that by a secret Sympathy of Hearts + it produced all those Agitations in the Person of his Mistress, who I + dare say, like _Cælia_ in _Shakespear_ on the same Occasion, could + have _wished herself invisible to catch the strong Fellow by the Leg_. + The Squire of the Parish treats the whole Company every Year with a + Hogshead of Ale; and proposes a _Beaver-Hat_ as a Recompense to him + who gives most _Falls_. This has raised such a Spirit of Emulation in + the Youth of the Place, that some of them have rendered themselves + very expert at this Exercise; and I was often surmised to see a + Fellow's Heels fly up, by a Trip which was given him so smartly that I + could scarce discern it. I found that the old Wrestlers seldom entered + the Ring, till some one was grown formidable by having thrown two or + three of his Opponents; but kept themselves as it were in a reserved + Body to defend the Hat, which is always hung up by the Person who gets + it in one of the most Conspicuous Parts of the House, and looked upon + by the whole Family as something redounding much more to their Honour + than a Coat of Arms. There was a Fellow who was so busy in regulating + all the Ceremonies, and seemed to carry such an Air of Importance in + his Looks, that I could not help inquiring who he was, and was + immediately answered, _That he did not value himself upon nothing, for + that he and his Ancestors had won so many Hats, that his Parlour + looked like a Haberdashers Shop:_ However this Thirst of Glory in them + all, was the Reason that no one Man stood _Lord of the Ring_ for above + three _Falls_ while I was amongst them. + + The young Maids, who were not Lookers on at these Exercises, were + themselves engaged in some Diversion; and upon my asking a Farmer's + Son of my own Parish what he was gazing at with so much Attention, he + told me, _That he was seeing_ Betty Welch, whom I knew to be his + Sweet-Heart, _pitch a Bar_. + + In short, I found the men endeavoured to shew the Women they were no + Cowards, and that the whole Company strived to recommend themselves to + each other, by making it appear that they were all in a perfect State + of Health, and fit to undergo any Fatigues of bodily Labour. + + Your Judgment upon this Method of _Love_ and _Gallantry_, as it is at + present practised amongst us in the Country, will very much oblige, + + _SIR, Yours_, &c.' + + +If I would here put on the Scholar and Politician, I might inform my +Readers how these bodily Exercises or Games were formerly encouraged in +all the Commonwealths of _Greece_; from whence the _Romans_ afterwards +borrowed their _Pentathlum_, which was composed of _Running, Wrestling, +Leaping, Throwing_, and _Boxing_, tho' the Prizes were generally nothing +but a Crown of Cypress or Parsley, Hats not being in fashion in those +Days: That there is an old Statute, which obliges every Man in +_England_, having such an Estate, to keep and exercise the long Bow; by +which Means our Ancestors excelled all other Nations in the Use of that +Weapon, and we had all the real Advantages, without the Inconvenience of +a standing Army: And that I once met with a Book of Projects, in which +the Author considering to what noble Ends that Spirit of Emulation, +which so remarkably shews it self among our common People in these +Wakes, might be directed, proposes that for the Improvement of all our +handicraft Trades there should be annual Prizes set up for such Persons +as were most excellent in their several Arts. But laying aside all these +political Considerations, which might tempt me to pass the Limits of my +Paper, I confess the greatest Benefit and Convenience that I can observe +in these Country Festivals, is the bringing young People together, and +giving them an Opportunity of shewing themselves in the most +advantageous Light. A Country Fellow that throws his Rival upon his +Back, has generally as good Success with their common Mistress; as +nothing is more usual than for a nimble-footed Wench to get a Husband at +the same time she wins a Smock. Love and Marriages are the natural +Effects of these anniversary Assemblies. I must therefore very much +approve the Method by which my Correspondent tells me each Sex +endeavours to recommend it self to the other, since nothing seems more +likely to promise a healthy Offspring or a happy Cohabitation. And I +believe I may assure my Country Friend, that there has been many a Court +Lady who would be contented to exchange her crazy young Husband for _Tom +Short_, and several Men of Quality who would have parted with a tender +Yoke-fellow for _Black Kate_. + +I am the more pleased with having _Love_ made the principal End and +Design of these Meetings, as it seems to be most agreeable to the Intent +for which they were at first instituted, as we are informed by the +learned Dr. _Kennet_, [1] with whose Words I shall conclude my present +Paper. + + _These Wakes_, says he, _were in Imitation of the ancient [Greek: + agápai], or Love-Feasts; and were first established in_ England _by + Pope_ Gregory _the Great, who in an Epistle to_ Melitus _the Abbot + gave Order that they should be kept in Sheds or Arbories made up with + Branches and Boughs of Trees round the Church_. + +He adds, + + _That this laudable Custom of Wakes prevailed for many Ages, till the + nice Puritans began to exclaim against it as a Remnant of Popery; and + by degrees the precise Humour grew so popular, that at an_ Exeter + _Assizes the Lord Chief Baron_ Walter _made an Order for the + Suppression of all Wakes; but on Bishop_ Laud's _complaining of this + innovating Humour, the King commanded the Order to be reversed_. + +X. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Parochial Antiquities' (1795), pp. 610, 614.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 162 Wednesday, September 5, 1711 Addison + + + + '... Servetur ad imum, +Qualis ab incoepto processerit, et sibi constet.' + +Hor. + + +Nothing that is not a real Crime makes a Man appear so contemptible and +little in the Eyes of the World as Inconstancy, especially when it +regards Religion or Party. In either of these Cases, tho' a Man perhaps +does but his Duty in changing his Side, he not only makes himself hated +by those he left, but is seldom heartily esteemed by those he comes over +to. + +In these great Articles of Life, therefore, a Man's Conviction ought to +be very strong, and if possible so well timed that worldly Advantages +may seem to have no Share in it, or Mankind will be ill natured enough +to think he does not change Sides out of Principle, but either out of +Levity of Temper or Prospects of Interest. Converts and Renegadoes of +all Kinds should take particular care to let the World see they act upon +honourable Motives; or whatever Approbations they may receive from +themselves, and Applauses from those they converse with, they may be +very well assured that they are the Scorn of all good Men, and the +publick Marks of Infamy and Derision. + +Irresolution on the Schemes of Life [which [1]] offer themselves to our +Choice, and Inconstancy in pursuing them, are the greatest and most +universal Causes of all our Disquiet and Unhappiness. When [Ambition +[2]] pulls one Way, Interest another, Inclination a third, and perhaps +Reason contrary to all, a Man is likely to pass his Time but ill who has +so many different Parties to please. When the Mind hovers among such a +Variety of Allurements, one had better settle on a Way of Life that is +not the very best we might have chosen, than grow old without +determining our Choice, and go out of the World as the greatest Part of +Mankind do, before we have resolved how to live in it. There is but one +Method of setting our selves at Rest in this Particular, and that is by +adhering stedfastly to one great End as the chief and ultimate Aim of +all our Pursuits. If we are firmly resolved to live up to the Dictates +of Reason, without any Regard to Wealth, Reputation, or the like +Considerations, any more than as they fall in with our principal Design, +we may go through Life with Steadiness and Pleasure; but if we act by +several broken Views, and will not only be virtuous, but wealthy, +popular, and every thing that has a Value set upon it by the World, we +shall live and die in Misery and Repentance. + +One would take more than ordinary Care to guard ones self against this +particular Imperfection, because it is that which our Nature very +strongly inclines us to; for if we examine ourselves throughly, we shall +find that we are the most changeable Beings in the Universe. In respect +of our Understanding, we often embrace and reject the very same +Opinions; whereas Beings above and beneath us have probably no Opinions +at all, or at least no Wavering and Uncertainties in those they have. +Our Superiors are guided by Intuition, and our Inferiors by Instinct. In +respect of our Wills, we fall into Crimes and recover out of them, are +amiable or odious in the Eyes of our great Judge, and pass our whole +Life in offending and asking Pardon. On the contrary, the Beings +underneath us are not capable of sinning, nor those above us of +repenting. The one is out of the Possibilities of Duty, and the other +fixed in an eternal Course of Sin, or an eternal Course of Virtue. + +There is scarce a State of Life, or Stage in it which does not produce +Changes and Revolutions in the Mind of Man. Our Schemes of Thought in +Infancy are lost in those of Youth; these too take a different Turn in +Manhood, till old Age often leads us back into our former Infancy. A new +Title or an unexpected Success throws us out of ourselves, and in a +manner destroys our Identity. A cloudy Day, or a little Sunshine, have +as great an Influence on many Constitutions, as the most real Blessings +or Misfortunes. A Dream varies our Being, and changes our Condition +while it lasts; and every Passion, not to mention Health and Sickness, +and the greater Alterations in Body and Mind, makes us appear almost +different Creatures. If a Man is so distinguished among other Beings by +this Infirmity, what can we think of such as make themselves remarkable +for it even among their own Species? It is a very trifling Character to +be one of the most variable Beings of the most variable Kind, especially +if we consider that He who is the great Standard of Perfection has in +him no Shadow of Change, but is the same Yesterday, To-day, and for +ever. + +As this Mutability of Temper and Inconsistency with our selves is the +greatest Weakness of human Nature, so it makes the Person who is +remarkable for it in a very particular Manner more ridiculous than any +other Infirmity whatsoever, as it sets him in a greater Variety of +foolish Lights, and distinguishes him from himself by an Opposition of +party-coloured Characters. The most humourous Character in _Horace_ is +founded upon this Unevenness of Temper and Irregularity of Conduct. + + '... Sardus habebat + Ille Tigellius hoc: Cæsar qui cogere posset + Si peteret per amicitiam patris, atque suam, non + Quidquam proficeret: Si collibuisset, ab ovo + Usque ad mala citaret, Io Bacche, modò summâ + Voce, modò hâc, resonat quæ; chordis quatuor ima. + Nil æquale homini fuit illi: Sæpe velut qui + Currebat fugiens hostem: Persæpe velut qui + Junonis sacra ferret: Habebat sæpe ducentos, + Sæpe decem servos: Modò reges atque tetrarchas, + Omnia magna loquens: Modò sit mihi mensa tripes, et + Concha salis puri, et toga, quæ defendere frigus, + Quamvis crassa, queat. Decies centena dedisses + Huic parco paucis contento, quinque diebus + Nil erat in loculis. Noctes vigilabat ad ipsum + Manè: Diem totam stertebat. Nil fuit unquam + Sic impar sibi ...' + + Hor. 'Sat. 3', Lib. 1. + + +Instead of translating this Passage in _Horace_, I shall entertain my +_English_ Reader with the Description of a Parallel Character, that is +wonderfully well finished by Mr. _Dryden_ [3], and raised upon the same +Foundation. + + 'In the first Rank of these did_ Zimri _stand: + A Man so various, that he seem'd to be + Not one, but all Mankind's Epitome. + Stiff in Opinions, always in the wrong; + Was ev'ry thing by Starts, and nothing long; + But, in the Course of one revolving Moon, + Was Chemist, Fidler, Statesman, and Buffoon: + Then all for Women, Painting, Rhiming, Drinking: + Besides ten thousand Freaks that dy'd in thinking. + Blest Madman, who cou'd ev'ry flour employ, + With something New to wish, or to enjoy!' + + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: Honour] + + +[Footnote 3: In his 'Absalom and Achitophel.' The character of Villiers, +Duke of Buckingham.] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 163 Thursday, Sept. 6, 1711 Addison + + + + '... Si quid ego adjuero, curamve levasso, + Quæ nunc te coquit, et versat sub pectore fixa, + Ecquid erit pretii?' + + Enn. ap. Tullium. + + +Enquiries after Happiness, and Rules for attaining it, are not so +necessary and useful to Mankind as the Arts of Consolation, and +supporting [ones [1]] self under Affliction. The utmost we can hope for +in this World is Contentment; if we aim at any thing higher, we shall +meet with nothing but Grief and Disappointments. A Man should direct all +his Studies and Endeavours at making himself easie now, and happy +hereafter. + +The Truth of it is, if all the Happiness that is dispersed through the +whole Race of Mankind in this World were drawn together, and put into +the Possession of any single Man, it would not make a very happy Being. +Though on the contrary, if the Miseries of the whole Species were fixed +in a single Person, they would make a very miserable one. + +I am engaged in this Subject by the following Letter, which, though +subscribed by a fictitious Name, I have reason to believe is not +Imaginary. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, [2] + + 'I am one of your Disciples, and endeavour to live up to your Rules, + which I hope will incline you to pity my Condition: I shall open it to + you in a very few Words. About three Years since a Gentleman, whom, I + am sure, you yourself would have approved, made his Addresses to me. + He had every thing to recommend him but an Estate, so that my Friends, + who all of them applauded his Person, would not for the sake of both + of us favour his Passion. For my own part, I resigned my self up + entirely to the Direction of those who knew the World much better than + my self, but still lived in hopes that some Juncture or other would + make me happy in the Man, whom, in my Heart, I preferred to all the + World; being determined if I could not have him, to have no Body else. + About three Months ago I received a Letter from him, acquainting me, + that by the Death of an Uncle he had a considerable Estate left him, + which he said was welcome to him upon no other Account, but as he + hoped it would remove all Difficulties that lay in the Way to our + mutual Happiness. You may well suppose, Sir, with how much Joy I + received this Letter, which was followed by several others filled with + those Expressions of Love and Joy, which I verily believe no Body felt + more sincerely, nor knew better how to describe than the Gentleman I + am speaking of. But Sir, how shall I be able to tell it you! by the + last Week's Post I received a letter from an intimate Friend of this + unhappy Gentleman, acquainting me, that as he had just settled his + Affairs, and was preparing for his Journey, he fell sick of a Fever + and died. It is impossible to express to you the Distress I am in upon + this Occasion. I can only have Recourse to my Devotions; and to the + reading of good Books for my Consolation; and as I always take a + particular Delight in those frequent Advices and Admonitions which you + give to the Publick, it would be a very great piece of Charity in you + to lend me your Assistance in this Conjuncture. If after the reading + of this Letter you find your self in a Humour, rather to Rally and + Ridicule, than to Comfort me, I desire you would throw it into the + Fire, and think no more of it; but if you are touched with my + Misfortune, which is greater than I know how to bear, your Counsels + may very much Support, and will infinitely Oblige the afflicted + _LEONORA_.' + +A Disappointment in Love is more hard to get over than any other; the +Passion itself so softens and subdues the Heart, that it disables it +from struggling or bearing up against the Woes and Distresses which +befal it. The Mind meets with other Misfortunes in her whole Strength; +she stands collected within her self, and sustains the Shock with all +the Force [which [3]] is natural to her; but a Heart in Love has its +Foundations sapped, and immediately sinks under the Weight of Accidents +that are disagreeable to its Favourite Passion. + +In Afflictions Men generally draw their Consolations out of Books of +Morality, which indeed are of great use to fortifie and strengthen the +Mind against the Impressions of Sorrow. Monsieur St. _Evremont_, who +does not approve of this Method, recommends Authors [who [4]] are apt to +stir up Mirth in the Mind of the Readers, and fancies _Don Quixote_ can +give more Relief to an heavy Heart than _Plutarch_ or _Seneca_, as it is +much easier to divert Grief than to conquer it. This doubtless may have +its Effects on some Tempers. I should rather have recourse to Authors of +a quite contrary kind, that give us Instances of Calamities and +Misfortunes, and shew Human Nature in its greatest Distresses. + +If the Affliction we groan under be very heavy, we shall find some +Consolation in the Society of as great Sufferers as our selves, +especially when we find our Companions Men of Virtue and Merit. If our +Afflictions are light, we shall be comforted by the Comparison we make +between our selves and our Fellow Sufferers. A Loss at Sea, a Fit of +Sickness, or the Death of a Friend, are such Trifles when we consider +whole Kingdoms laid in Ashes, Families put to the Sword, Wretches shut +up in Dungeons, and the like Calamities of Mankind, that we are out of +Countenance for our own Weakness, if we sink under such little Stroaks +of Fortune. + +Let the Disconsolate _Leonora_ consider, that at the very time in which +she languishes for the Loss of her deceased Lover, there are Persons in +several Parts of the World just perishing in a Shipwreck; others crying +out for Mercy in the Terrors of a Death-bed Repentance; others lying +under the Tortures of an Infamous Execution, or the like dreadful +Calamities; and she will find her Sorrows vanish at the Appearance of +those which are so much greater and more astonishing. + +I would further propose to the Consideration of my afflicted Disciple, +that possibly what she now looks upon as the greatest Misfortune, is not +really such in it self. For my own part, I question not but our Souls in +a separate State will look back on their Lives in quite another View, +than what they had of them in the Body; and that what they now consider +as Misfortunes and Disappointments, will very often appear to have been +Escapes and Blessings. + +The Mind that hath any Cast towards Devotion, naturally flies to it in +its Afflictions. + +Whon I was in _France_ I heard a very remarkable Story of two Lovers, +which I shall relate at length in my to-Morrow's Paper, not only because +the Circumstances of it are extraordinary, but because it may serve as +an Illustration to all that can be said on this last Head, and shew the +Power of Religion in abating that particular Anguish which seems to lie +so heavy on _Leonora_. The Story was told me by a Priest, as I travelled +with him in a Stage-Coach. I shall give it my Reader as well as I can +remember, in his own Words, after having premised, that if Consolations +may be drawn from a wrong Religion and a misguided Devotion, they cannot +but flow much more naturally from those which are founded upon Reason, +and established in good Sense. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: one] + + +[Footnote 2: This letter is by Miss Shepheard, the 'Parthenia' of No. +140.] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + + + + + * * * * + + + + + +No. 164. Friday, September 7, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Illa; Quis et me, inquit, miseram, et te perdidit, Orpheu? Jamque + vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte, Invalidasque tibi tendens, + heu! non tua, palmas.' + + Virg. + + +CONSTANTIA was a Woman of extraordinary Wit and Beauty, but very unhappy +in a Father, who having arrived at great Riches by his own Industry, +took delight in nothing but his Money. _Theodosius_ was the younger Son +of a decayed Family of great Parts and Learning, improved by a genteel +and vertuous Education. When he was in the twentieth year of his Age he +became acquainted with _Constantia_, who had not then passed her +fifteenth. As he lived but a few Miles Distance from her Father's House, +he had frequent opportunities of seeing her; and by the Advantages of a +good Person and a pleasing Conversation, made such an Impression in her +Heart as it was impossible for time to [efface [1]]: He was himself no +less smitten with _Constantia_. A long Acquaintance made them still +discover new Beauties in each other, and by Degrees raised in them that +mutual Passion which had an Influence on their following Lives. It +unfortunately happened, that in the midst of this intercourse of Love +and Friendship between _Theodosius_ and _Constantia_, there broke out an +irreparable Quarrel between their Parents, the one valuing himself too +much upon his Birth, and the other upon his Possessions. The Father of +_Constantia_ was so incensed at the Father of _Theodosius_, that he +contracted an unreasonable Aversion towards his Son, insomuch that he +forbad him his House, and charged his Daughter upon her Duty never to +see him more. In the mean time to break off all Communication between +the two Lovers, who he knew entertained secret Hopes of some favourable +Opportunity that should bring them together, he found out a young +Gentleman of a good Fortune and an agreeable Person, whom he pitched +upon as a Husband for his Daughter. He soon concerted this Affair so +well, that he told _Constantia_ it was his Design to marry her to such a +Gentleman, and that her Wedding should be celebrated on such a Day. +_Constantia_, who was over-awed with the Authority of her Father, and +unable to object anything against so advantageous a Match, received the +Proposal with a profound Silence, which her Father commended in her, as +the most decent manner of a Virgin's giving her Consent to an Overture +of that Kind: The Noise of this intended Marriage soon reached +_Theodosius_, who, after a long Tumult of Passions which naturally rise +in a Lover's Heart on such an Occasion, writ the following letter to +_Constantia_. + + + 'The Thought of my _Constantia_, which for some years has been my only + Happiness, is now become a greater Torment to me than I am able to + bear. Must I then live to see you another's? The Streams, the Fields + and Meadows, where we have so often talked together, grow painful to + me; Life it self is become a Burden. May you long be happy in the + World, but forget that there was ever such a Man in it as + _THEODOSIUS_.' + + +This Letter was conveyed to _Constantia_ that very Evening, who fainted +at the Reading of it; and the next Morning she was much more alarmed by +two or three Messengers, that came to her Father's House one after +another to inquire if they had heard any thing of _Theodosius_, who it +seems had left his Chamber about Midnight, and could nowhere be found. +The deep Melancholy, which had hung upon his Mind some Time before, made +them apprehend the worst that could befall him. _Constantia_, who knew +that nothing but the Report of her Marriage could have driven him to +such Extremities, was not to be comforted: She now accused her self for +having so tamely given an Ear to the Proposal of a Husband, and looked +upon the new Lover as the Murderer of _Theodosius:_ In short, she +resolved to suffer the utmost Effects of her Father's Displeasure, +rather than comply with a Marriage which appeared to her so full of +Guilt and Horror. The Father seeing himself entirely rid of +_Theodosius,_ and likely to keep a considerable Portion in his Family, +was not very much concerned at the obstinate Refusal of his Daughter; +and did not find it very difficult to excuse himself upon that Account +to his intended Son-in-law, who had all along regarded this Alliance +rather as a Marriage of Convenience than of Love. _Constantia_ had now +no Relief but in her Devotions and Exercises of Religion, to which her +Afflictions had so entirely subjected her Mind, that after some Years +had abated the Violence of her Sorrows, and settled her Thoughts in a +kind of Tranquillity, she resolved to pass the Remainder of her Days in +a Convent. Her Father was not displeased with [a [2]] Resolution, [which +[3]] would save Money in his Family, and readily complied with his +Daughter's Intentions. Accordingly in the Twenty-fifth Year of her Age, +while her Beauty was yet in all its Height and Bloom, he carried her to +a neighbouring City, in order to look out a Sisterhood of Nuns among +whom to place his Daughter. There was in this Place a Father of a +Convent who was very much renowned for his Piety and exemplary Life; and +as it is usual in the Romish Church for those who are under any great +Affliction, or Trouble of Mind, to apply themselves to the most eminent +Confessors for Pardon and Consolation, our beautiful Votary took the +Opportunity of confessing herself to this celebrated Father. + +We must now return to Theodosius, who, the very Morning that the +above-mentioned Inquiries had been made after him, arrived at a +religious House in the City, where now Constantia resided; and desiring +that Secresy and Concealment of the Fathers of the Convent, which is +very usual upon any extraordinary Occasion, he made himself one of the +Order, with a private Vow never to enquire after _Constantia_; whom he +looked upon as given away to his Rival upon the Day on which, according +to common Fame, their Marriage was to have been solemnized. Having in +his Youth made a good Progress in Learning, that he might dedicate +[himself [4]] more entirely to Religion, he entered into holy Orders, +and in a few Years became renowned for his Sanctity of Life, and those +pious Sentiments which he inspired into all [who [5]] conversed with +him. It was this holy Man to whom _Constantia_ had determined to apply +her self in Confession, tho' neither she nor any other besides the Prior +of the Convent, knew any thing of his Name or Family. The gay, the +amiable _Theodosius_ had now taken upon him the Name of Father +_Francis_, and was so far concealed in a long Beard, a [shaven [3]] +Head, and a religious Habit, that it was impossible to discover the Man +of the World in the venerable Conventual. + +As he was one Morning shut up in his Confessional, _Constantia_ kneeling +by him opened the State of her Soul to him; and after having given him +the History of a Life full of Innocence, she burst out in Tears, and +entred upon that Part of her Story in which he himself had so great a +Share. My Behaviour, says she, has I fear been the Death of a Man who +had no other Fault but that of loving me too much. Heaven only knows how +dear he was to me whilst he liv'd, and how bitter the Remembrance of him +has been to me since his Death. She here paused, and lifted up her Eyes +that streamed with Tears towards the Father; who was so moved with the +Sense of her Sorrows, that he could only command his Voice, which was +broke with Sighs and Sobbings, so far as to bid her proceed. She +followed his Directions, and in a Flood of Tears poured out her Heart +before him. The Father could not forbear weeping aloud, insomuch that in +the Agonies of his Grief the Seat shook under him. _Constantia_, who +thought the good Man was thus moved by his Compassion towards her, and +by the Horror of her Guilt, proceeded with the utmost Contrition to +acquaint him with that Vow of Virginity in which she was going to engage +herself, as the proper Atonement for her Sins, and the only Sacrifice +she could make to the Memory of _Theodosius_. The Father, who by this +time had pretty well composed himself, burst out again in Tears upon +hearing that Name to which he had been so long disused, and upon +receiving this Instance of an unparallel'd Fidelity from one who he +thought had several Years since given herself up to the Possession of +another. Amidst the Interruptions of his Sorrow, seeing his Penitent +overwhelmed with Grief, he was only able to bid her from time to time be +comforted--To tell her that her Sins were forgiven her--That her Guilt +was not so great as she apprehended--That she should not suffer her self +to be afflicted above Measure. After which he recovered himself enough +to give her the Absolution in Form; directing her at the same time to +repair to him again the next Day, that he might encourage her in the +pious Resolution[s] she had taken, and give her suitable Exhortations +for her Behaviour in it. _Constantia_ retired, and the next Morning +renewed her Applications. _Theodosius_ having manned his Soul with +proper Thoughts and Reflections exerted himself on this Occasion in the +best Manner he could to animate his Penitent in the Course of Life she +was entering upon, and wear out of her Mind those groundless Fears and +Apprehensions which had taken Possession of it; concluding with a +Promise to her, that he would from time to time continue his Admonitions +when she should have taken upon her the holy Veil. The Rules of our +respective Orders, says he, will not permit that I should see you, but +you may assure your self not only of having a Place in my Prayers, but +of receiving such frequent Instructions as I can convey to you by +Letters. Go on chearfully in the glorious Course you have undertaken, +and you will quickly find such a Peace and Satisfaction in your Mind, +which it is not in the Power of the World to give. + +_Constantia's_ Heart was so elevated with the Discourse of Father +_Francis_, that the very next Day she entered upon her Vow. As soon as +the Solemnities of her Reception were over, she retired, as it is usual, +with the Abbess into her own Apartment. + +The Abbess had been informed the Night before of all that had passed +between her Noviciate and Father _Francis:_ From whom she now delivered +to her the following Letter. + + 'As the First-fruits of those Joys and Consolations which you may + expect from the Life you are now engaged in, I must acquaint you that + _Theodosius_, whose Death sits so heavy upon your Thoughts, is still + alive; and that the Father, to whom you have confessed your self, was + once that _Theodosius_ whom you so much lament. The love which we have + had for one another will make us more happy in its Disappointment than + it could have done in its Success. Providence has disposed of us for + our Advantage, tho' not according to our Wishes. Consider your + _Theodosius_ still as dead, but assure your self of one who will not + cease to pray for you in Father.' + + _FRANCIS._ + +_Constantia_ saw that the Hand-writing agreed with the Contents of the +Letter: and upon reflecting on the Voice of the Person, the Behaviour, +and above all the extreme Sorrow of the Father during her Confession, +she discovered _Theodosius_ in every Particular. After having wept with +Tears of Joy, It is enough, says she, _Theodosius_ is still in Being: I +shall live with Comfort and die in Peace. + +The Letters which the Father sent her afterwards are yet extant in the +Nunnery where she resided; and are often read to the young Religious, in +order to inspire them with good Resolutions and Sentiments of Virtue. It +so happened, that after _Constantia_ had lived about ten Years in the +Cloyster, a violent Feaver broke out in the Place, which swept away +great Multitudes, and among others _Theodosius._ Upon his Deathbed he +sent his Benediction in a very moving Manner to _Constantia,_ who at +that time was herself so far gone in the same fatal Distemper, that she +lay delirious. Upon the Interval which generally precedes Death in +Sicknesses of this Nature, the Abbess, finding that the Physicians had +given her over, told her that _Theodosius_ was just gone before her, and +that he had sent her his Benediction in his last Moments. _Constantia_ +received it with Pleasure: And now, says she, If I do not ask anything +improper, let me be buried by _Theodosius._ My Vow reaches no farther +than the Grave. What I ask is, I hope, no Violation of it.--She died +soon after, and was interred according to her Request. + +Their Tombs are still to be seen, with a short Latin Inscription over +them to the following Purpose. + +Here lie the Bodies of Father _Francis_ and Sister _Constance. They were +lovely in their Lives, and in their Deaths they were not divided._ + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: deface] + + +[Footnote 2: her] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: himself up] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: shaved] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 165. Saturday, September 8, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Si fortè necesse est, + Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis + Continget: dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter.' [1] + + Hor. + + +I have often wished, that as in our Constitution there are several +Persons whose Business it is to watch over our Laws, our Liberties and +Commerce, certain Men might be set apart as Superintendants of our +Language, to hinder any Words of a Foreign Coin from passing among us; +and in particular to prohibit any _French_ Phrases from becoming Current +in this Kingdom, when those of our own Stamp are altogether as valuable. +The present War has so Adulterated our Tongue with strange Words that it +would be impossible for one of our Great Grandfathers to know what his +Posterity have been doing, were he to read their Exploits in a Modern +News Paper. Our Warriors are very industrious in propagating the +_French_ Language, at the same time that they are so gloriously +successful in beating down their Power. Our Soldiers are Men of strong +Heads for Action, and perform such Feats as they are not able to +express. They want Words in their own Tongue to tell us what it is they +Atchieve, and therefore send us over Accounts of their Performances in a +Jargon of Phrases, which they learn among their Conquered Enemies. They +ought however to be provided with Secretaries, and assisted by our +Foreign Ministers, to tell their Story for them in plain _English_, and +to let us know in our Mother-Tongue what it is our brave Country-Men are +about. The _French_ would indeed be in the right to publish the News of +the present War in _English_ Phrases, and make their Campaigns +unintelligible. Their People might flatter themselves that Things are +not so bad as they really are, were they thus palliated with Foreign +Terms, and thrown into Shades and Obscurity: but the _English_ cannot be +too clear in their Narrative of those Actions, which have raised their +Country to a higher Pitch of Glory than it ever yet arrived at, and +which will be still the more admired the better they are explained. + +For my part, by that time a Siege is carried on two or three Days, I am +altogether lost and bewildered in it, and meet with so many inexplicable +Difficulties, that I scarce know what Side has the better of it, till I +am informed by the Tower Guns that the Place is surrendered. I do indeed +make some Allowances for this Part of the War, Fortifications having +been foreign Inventions, and upon that Account abounding in foreign +Terms. But when we have won Battels [which [2]] may be described in our +own Language, why are our Papers filled with so many unintelligible +Exploits, and the _French_ obliged to lend us a Part of their Tongue +before we can know how they are Conquered? They must be made accessory +to their own Disgrace, as the _Britons_ were formerly so artificially +wrought in the Curtain of the _Roman_ Theatre, that they seemed to draw +it up in order to give the Spectators an Opportunity of seeing their own +Defeat celebrated upon the Stage: For so Mr. _Dryden_ has translated +that Verse in _Virgil_. + + + + [_Purpurea intexti_ [3]] _tollunt auloea Britanni_. + + (Georg. 3, v. 25.) + + + _Which interwoven_ Britains _seem to raise_, + _And shew the Triumph that their Shame displays_. + + +The Histories of all our former Wars are transmitted to us in our +Vernacular Idiom, to use the Phrase of a great Modern Critick. [4] I do +not find in any of our Chronicles, that _Edward_ the Third ever +reconnoitred the Enemy, tho' he often discovered the Posture of the +_French_, and as often vanquished them in Battel. The _Black Prince_ +passed many a River without the help of Pontoons, and filled a Ditch +with Faggots as successfully as the Generals of our Times do it with +Fascines. Our Commanders lose half their Praise, and our People half +their Joy, by means of those hard Words and dark Expressions in which +our News Papers do so much abound. I have seen many a prudent Citizen, +after having read every Article, inquire of his next Neighbour what News +the Mail had brought. + +I remember in that remarkable Year when our Country was delivered from +the greatest Fears and Apprehensions, and raised to the greatest Height +of Gladness it had ever felt since it was a Nation, I mean the Year of +_Blenheim_, I had the Copy of a Letter sent me out of the Country, which +was written from a young Gentleman in the Army to his Father, a Man of a +good Estate and plain Sense: As the Letter was very modishly chequered +with this Modern Military Eloquence, I shall present my Reader with a +Copy of it. + + + _SIR_, + + Upon the Junction of the _French_ and _Bavarian_ Armies they took Post + behind a great Morass which they thought impracticable. Our General + the next Day sent a Party of Horse to reconnoitre them from a little + Hauteur, at about a [Quarter of an Hour's [5]] distance from the Army, + who returned again to the Camp unobserved through several Defiles, in + one of which they met with a Party of _French_ that had been + Marauding, and made them all Prisoners at Discretion. The Day after a + Drum arrived at our Camp, with a Message which he would communicate to + none but the General; he was followed by a Trumpet, who they say + behaved himself very saucily, with a Message from the Duke of + _Bavaria_. The next Morning our Army being divided into two Corps, + made a Movement towards the Enemy: You will hear in the Publick Prints + how we treated them, with the other Circumstances of that glorious + Day. I had the good Fortune to be in that Regiment that pushed the + _Gens d'Arms_. Several _French_ Battalions, who some say were a Corps + de Reserve, made a Show of Resistance; but it only proved a Gasconade, + for upon our preparing to fill up a little Fossé, in order to attack + them, they beat the Chamade, and sent us _Charte Blanche_. Their + Commandant, with a great many other General Officers, and Troops + without number, are made Prisoners of War, and will I believe give you + a Visit in _England_, the Cartel not being yet settled. Not + questioning but these Particulars will be very welcome to you, I + congratulate you upon them, and am your most dutiful Son, &c.' + + +The Father of the young Gentleman upon the Perusal of the Letter found +it contained great News, but could not guess what it was. He immediately +communicated it to the Curate of the Parish, who upon the reading of it, +being vexed to see any thing he could not understand, fell into a kind +of a Passion, and told him that his Son had sent him a Letter that was +neither Fish, nor Flesh, nor good Red-Herring. I wish, says he, the +Captain may be _Compos Mentis_, he talks of a saucy Trumpet, and a Drum +that carries Messages; then who is this _Charte Blanche_? He must either +banter us or he is out of his Senses. The Father, who always looked upon +the Curate as a learned Man, began to fret inwardly at his Son's Usage, +and producing a Letter which he had written to him about three Posts +afore, You see here, says he, when he writes for Mony he knows how to +speak intelligibly enough; there is no Man in England can express +himself clearer, when he wants a new Furniture for his Horse. In short, +the old Man was so puzzled upon the Point, that it might have fared ill +with his Son, had he not seen all the Prints about three Days after +filled with the same Terms of Art, and that _Charles_ only writ like +other Men. + +L. + + + + +[Footnote 1: The motto in the original edition was + + 'Semivirumque bovem Semibovemque virum.' + + Ovid.] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: _Atique_] + + +[Footnote 4: Dr Richard Bentley] + + +[Footnote 5: Mile] + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 166. Monday, September 10, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignis, + Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.' + + Ovid. + + +Aristotle tells us that the World is a Copy or Transcript of those Ideas +which are in the Mind of the first Being, and that those Ideas, which +are in the Mind of Man, are a Transcript of the World: To this we may +add, that Words are the Transcript of those Ideas which are in the Mind +of Man, and that Writing or Printing are the Transcript of words. + +As the Supreme Being has expressed, and as it were printed his Ideas in +the Creation, Men express their Ideas in Books, which by this great +Invention of these latter Ages may last as long as the Sun and Moon, and +perish only in the general Wreck of Nature. Thus _Cowley_ in his Poem on +the Resurrection, mentioning the Destruction of the Universe, has those +admirable Lines. + + '_Now all the wide extended Sky, + And all th' harmonious Worlds on high, + And_ Virgil's _sacred Work shall die_.' + +There is no other Method of fixing those Thoughts which arise and +disappear in the Mind of Man, and transmitting them to the last Periods +of Time; no other Method of giving a Permanency to our Ideas, and +preserving the Knowledge of any particular Person, when his Body is +mixed with the common Mass of Matter, and his Soul retired into the +World of Spirits. Books are the Legacies that a great Genius leaves to +Mankind, which are delivered down from Generation to Generation, as +Presents to the Posterity of those who are yet unborn. + +All other Arts of perpetuating our Ideas continue but a short Time: +Statues can last but a few Thousands of Years, Edifices fewer, and +Colours still fewer than Edifices. _Michael Angelo_, _Fontana_, and +_Raphael_, will hereafter be what _Phidias_, _Vitruvius_, and _Apelles_ +are at present; the Names of great Statuaries, Architects and Painters, +whose Works are lost. The several Arts are expressed in mouldring +Materials: Nature sinks under them, and is not able to support the Ideas +which are imprest upon it. + +The Circumstance which gives Authors an Advantage above all these great +Masters, is this, that they can multiply their Originals; or rather can +make Copies of their Works, to what Number they please, which shall be +as valuable as the Originals themselves. This gives a great Author +something like a Prospect of Eternity, but at the same time deprives him +of those other Advantages which Artists meet with. The Artist finds +greater Returns in Profit, as the Author in Fame. What an Inestimable +Price would a _Virgil_ or a _Homer_, a _Cicero_ or an _Aristotle_ bear, +were their Works like a Statue, a Building, or a Picture, to be confined +only in one Place and made the Property of a single Person? + +If Writings are thus durable, and may pass from Age to Age throughout +the whole Course of Time, how careful should an Author be of committing +any thing to Print that may corrupt Posterity, and poison the Minds of +Men with Vice and Error? Writers of great Talents, who employ their +Parts in propagating Immorality, and seasoning vicious Sentiments with +Wit and Humour, are to be looked upon as the Pests of Society, and the +Enemies of Mankind: They leave Books behind them (as it is said of those +who die in Distempers which breed an Ill-will towards their own Species) +to scatter Infection and destroy their Posterity. They act the +Counterparts of a _Confucius_ or a _Socrates_; and seem to have been +sent into the World to deprave human Nature, and sink it into the +Condition of Brutality. + +I have seen some Roman-Catholick Authors, who tell us that vicious +Writers continue in Purgatory so long as the Influence of their Writings +continues upon Posterity: For Purgatory, say they, is nothing else but a +cleansing us of our Sins, which cannot be said to be done away, so long +as they continue to operate and corrupt Mankind. The vicious Author, say +they, sins after Death, and so long as he continues to sin, so long must +he expect to be punished. Tho' the Roman Catholick Notion of Purgatory +be indeed very ridiculous, one cannot but think that if the Soul after +Death has any Knowledge of what passes in this World, that of an immoral +Writer would receive much more Regret from the Sense of corrupting, than +Satisfaction from the Thought of pleasing his surviving Admirers. + +To take off from the Severity of this Speculation, I shall conclude this +Paper with a Story of an Atheistical Author, who at a time when he lay +dangerously sick, and desired the Assistance of a neighbouring Curate, +confessed to him with great Contrition, that nothing sat more heavy at +his Heart than the Sense of his having seduced the Age by his Writings, +and that their evil Influence was likely to continue even after his +Death. The Curate upon further Examination finding the Penitent in the +utmost Agonies of Despair, and being himself a Man of Learning, told +him, that he hoped his Case was not so desperate as he apprehended, +since he found that he was so very sensible of his Fault, and so +sincerely repented of it. The Penitent still urged the evil Tendency of +his Book to subvert all Religion, and the little Ground of Hope there +could be for one whose Writings would continue to do Mischief when his +Body was laid in Ashes. The Curate, finding no other Way to comfort him, +told him, that he did well in being afflicted for the evil Design with +which he published his Book; but that he ought to be very thankful that +there was no danger of its doing any Hurt: That his Cause was so very +bad, and his Arguments so weak, that he did not apprehend any ill +Effects of it: In short, that he might rest satisfied his Book could do +no more Mischief after his Death, than it had done whilst he was living. +To which he added, for his farther Satisfaction, that he did not believe +any besides his particular Friends and Acquaintance had ever been at the +pains of reading it, or that any Body after his Death would ever enquire +after it. The dying Man had still so much the Frailty of an Author in +him, as to be cut to the Heart with these Consolations; and without +answering the good Man, asked his Friends about him (with a Peevishness +that is natural to a sick Person) where they had picked up such a +Blockhead? And whether they thought him a proper Person to attend one in +his Condition? The Curate finding that the Author did not expect to be +dealt with as a real and sincere Penitent, but as a Penitent of +Importance, after a short Admonition withdrew; not questioning but he +should be again sent for if the Sickness grew desperate. The Author +however recovered, and has since written two or three other Tracts with +the same Spirit, and very luckily for his poor Soul with the same +Success. + +C. + + + + + +* * * * * + + + + + +No. 167. Tuesday, September 11, 1711 Steele + + + + '_Fuit haud ignobilis Argis, + Qui se credebat miros audire tragoedos, + In vacuo lætus sessor plausorque theatro; + Cætera qui vitæ servaret munia recto + More; bonus sanè vicinus, amabilis hospes, + Comis in uxorem; posset qui ignoscere servis, + Et signo læso non insanire lagenæ; + Posset qui rupem et puteum vitare patentem. + Hic ubi cognatorum opibus curisque refectus + Expulit elleboro morbum bilemque meraco, + Et redit ad sese: Pol me occidistis, amici, + Non servastis, ait; cui sic extorta valuptas, + Et demptus per vim mentis gratissimus Error._' + + Hor. + + +The unhappy Force of an Imagination, unguided by the Check of Reason and +Judgment, was the Subject of a former Speculation. My Reader may +remember that he has seen in one of my Papers a Complaint of an +Unfortunate Gentleman, who was unable to contain himself, (when any +ordinary matter was laid before him) from adding a few Circumstances to +enliven plain Narrative. That Correspondent was a Person of too warm a +Complexion to be satisfied with things merely as they stood in Nature, +and therefore formed Incidents which should have happened to have +pleased him in the Story. The same ungoverned Fancy which pushed that +Correspondent on, in spite of himself, to relate publick and notorious +Falsehoods, makes the Author of the following Letter do the same in +Private; one is a Prating, the other a Silent Liar. + +There is little pursued in the Errors of either of these Worthies, but +mere present Amusement: But the Folly of him who lets his Fancy place +him in distant Scenes untroubled and uninterrupted, is very much +preferable to that of him who is ever forcing a Belief, and defending +his Untruths with new Inventions. But I shall hasten to let this Liar in +Soliloquy, who calls himself a CASTLE-BUILDER, describe himself with the +same Unreservedness as formerly appeared in my Correspondent +above-mentioned. If a Man were to be serious on this Subject, he might +give very grave Admonitions to those who are following any thing in this +Life, on which they think to place their Hearts, and tell them that they +are really CASTLE-BUILDERS. Fame, Glory, Wealth, Honour, have in the +Prospect pleasing Illusions; but they who come to possess any of them +will find they are Ingredients towards Happiness, to be regarded only in +the second Place; and that when they are valued in the first Degree, +they are as dis-appointing as any of the Phantoms in the following +Letter. + + + _Sept._ 6, 1711. + + _Mr._ SPECTATOR, + + 'I am a Fellow of a very odd Frame of Mind, as you will find by the + Sequel; and think myself Fool enough to deserve a Place in your Paper. + I am unhappily far gone in Building, and am one of that Species of Men + who are properly denominated Castle-Builders, who scorn to be beholden + to the Earth for a Foundation, or dig in the Bowels of it for + Materials; but erect their Structures in the most unstable of + Elements, the Air, Fancy alone laying the Line, marking the Extent, + and shaping the Model. It would be difficult to enumerate what august + Palaces and stately Porticoes have grown under my forming Imagination, + or what verdant Meadows and shady Groves have started into Being, by + the powerful Feat of a warm Fancy. A Castle-builder is even just what + he pleases, and as such I have grasped imaginary Scepters, and + delivered uncontroulable Edicts, from a Throne to which conquered + Nations yielded Obeysance. I have made I know not how many Inroads + into _France_, and ravaged the very Heart of that Kingdom; I have + dined in the _Louvre_, and drank Champaign at _Versailles;_ and I + would have you take Notice, I am not only able to vanquish a People + already cowed and accustomed to Flight, but I could, _Almanzor_-like, + [1] drive the _British_ General from the Field, were I less a + Protestant, or had ever been affronted by the Confederates. There is + no Art or Profession, whose most celebrated Masters I have not + eclipsed. Where-ever I have afforded my Salutary Preference, Fevers + have ceased to burn, and Agues to shake the Human Fabrick. When an + Eloquent Fit has been upon me, an apt Gesture and proper Cadence has + animated each Sentence, and gazing Crowds have found their Passions + work'd up into Rage, or soothed into a Calm. I am short, and not very + well made; yet upon Sight of a fine Woman, I have stretched into + proper Stature, and killed with a good Air and Mein. These are the gay + Phantoms that dance before my waking Eyes and compose my Day-Dreams. I + should be the most contented happy Man alive, were the Chimerical + Happiness which springs from the Paintings of the Fancy less fleeting + and transitory. But alas! it is with Grief of Mind I tell you, the + least Breath of Wind has often demolished my magnificent Edifices, + swept away my Groves, and left no more Trace of them than if they had + never been. My Exchequer has sunk and vanished by a Rap on my Door, + the Salutation of a Friend has cost me a whole Continent, and in the + same Moment I have been pulled by the Sleeve, my Crown has fallen from + my Head. The ill Consequence of these Reveries is inconceivably great, + seeing the loss of imaginary Possessions makes Impressions of real + Woe. Besides, bad Oeconomy is visible and apparent in Builders of + invisible Mansions. My Tenant's Advertisements of Ruins and + Dilapidations often cast a Damp on my Spirits, even in the Instant + when the Sun, in all his Splendor, gilds my Eastern Palaces. Add to + this the pensive Drudgery in Building, and constant grasping Aerial + Trowels, distracts and shatters the Mind, and the fond Builder of + _Babells_ is often cursed with an incoherent Diversity and Confusion + of Thoughts. I do not know to whom I can more properly apply my self + for Relief from this Fantastical Evil, than to your self; whom I + earnestly implore to accommodate me with a Method how to settle my + Head and cool my Brain-pan. A Dissertation on Castle-Building may not + only be serviceable to my self, but all Architects, who display their + Skill in the thin Element. Such a Favour would oblige me to make my + next Soliloquy not contain the Praises of my dear Self but of the + SPECTATOR, who shall, by complying with this, make me.' + + _His Obliged, Humble Servant._ + Vitruvius. + + + +[Footnote 1: "(unreadable on original page) in Dryden's 'Conquest of +Granada.'"] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +No. 168. Wednesday, September 12, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... _Pectus Præceptis format amicis_.' + + Hor. + + +It would be Arrogance to neglect the Application of my Correspondents so +far as not sometimes to insert their Animadversions upon my Paper; that +of this Day shall be therefore wholly composed of the Hints which they +have sent me. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I Send you this to congratulate your late Choice of a Subject, for + treating on which you deserve publick Thanks; I mean that on those + licensed Tyrants the Schoolmasters. If you can disarm them of their + Rods, you will certainly have your old Age reverenced by all the young + Gentlemen of _Great-Britain_ who are now between seven and seventeen + Years. You may boast that the incomparably wise _Quintilian_ and you + are of one Mind in this Particular. + + '_Si cui est_ (says he) _mens tam illiberalis ut objurgatione non + corrigatur, is etiam ad plagas, ut pessimo quæque mancipia, + durabitur. [1] + + If any Child be of so disingenuous a Nature, as not to stand + corrected by Reproof, he, like the very worst of Slaves, will be + hardned even against Blows themselves.' + + And afterwards, + + 'Pudet dicere in quæ probra nefandi homines isto cædendi jure + abutantur_, + + i. e. _I blush to say how shamefully those wicked Men abuse the + Power of Correction_.' + + I was bred myself, Sir, in a very great School, of which the Master + was a _Welchman_, but certainly descended from a _Spanish_ Family, as + plainly appeared from his Temper as well as his Name. [2] I leave you + to judge what sort of a Schoolmaster a _Welchman_ ingrafted on a + _Spaniard_ would make. So very dreadful had he made himself to me, + that altho' it is above twenty Years since I felt his heavy Hand, yet + still once a Month at least I dream of him, so strong an Impression + did he make on my Mind. 'Tis a Sign he has fully terrified me waking, + who still continues to haunt me sleeping. + + And yet I may say without Vanity, that the Business of the School was + what I did without great Difficulty; and I was not remarkably unlucky; + and yet such was the Master's Severity that once a Month, or oftner, I + suffered as much as would have satisfied the Law of the Land for a + _Petty Larceny_. + + Many a white and tender Hand, which the fond Mother has passionately + kissed a thousand and a thousand times, have I seen whipped till it + was covered with Blood: perhaps for smiling, or for going a Yard and + half out of a Gate, or for writing an O for an A, or an A for an O: + These were our great Faults! Many a brave and noble Spirit has been + there broken; others have run from thence and were never heard of + afterwards. + + It is a worthy Attempt to undertake the Cause of distrest Youth; and + it is a noble Piece of _Knight-Errantry_ to enter the Lists against so + many armed Pedagogues. 'Tis pity but we had a Set of Men, polite in + their Behaviour and Method of Teaching, who should be put into a + Condition of being above flattering or fearing the Parents of those + they instruct. We might then possibly see Learning become a Pleasure, + and Children delighting themselves in that which now they abhor for + coming upon such hard Terms to them: What would be a still greater + Happiness arising from the Care of such Instructors, would be, that we + should have no more Pedants, nor any bred to Learning who had not + Genius for it. I am, with the utmost Sincerity, _SIR, Your most + affectionate humble Servant_. + + + _Richmond, Sept._ 5_th_, 1711. + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I am a Boy of fourteen Years of Age, and have for this last Year been + under the Tuition of a Doctor of Divinity, who has taken the School of + this Place under his Care. [3] From the Gentleman's great Tenderness + to me and Friendship to my Father, I am very happy in learning my Book + with Pleasure. We never leave off our Diversions any farther than to + salute him at Hours of Play when he pleases to look on. It is + impossible for any of us to love our own Parents better than we do + him. He never gives any of us an harsh Word, and we think it the + greatest Punishment in the World when he will not speak to any of us. + My Brother and I are both together inditing this Letter: He is a Year + older than I am, but is now ready to break his Heart that the Doctor + has not taken any Notice of him these three Days. If you please to + print this he will see it, and, we hope, taking it for my Brother's + earnest Desire to be restored to his Favour, he will again smile upon + him. + _Your most obedient Servant_, + T. S. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + You have represented several sorts of _Impertinents_ singly, I wish + you would now proceed, and describe some of them in Sets. It often + happens in publick Assemblies, that a Party who came thither together, + or whose Impertinencies are of an equal Pitch, act in Concert, and are + so full of themselves as to give Disturbance to all that are about + them. Sometimes you have a Set of Whisperers, who lay their Heads + together in order to sacrifice every Body within their Observation; + sometimes a Set of Laughers, that keep up an insipid Mirth in their + own Corner, and by their Noise and Gestures shew they have no Respect + for the rest of the Company. You frequently meet with these Sets at + the Opera, the Play, the Water-works, [4] and other publick Meetings, + where their whole Business is to draw off the Attention of the + Spectators from the Entertainment, and to fix it upon themselves; and + it is to be observed that the Impertinence is ever loudest, when the + Set happens to be made up of three or four Females who have got what + you call a Woman's Man among them. + + I am at a loss to know from whom People of Fortune should learn this + Behaviour, unless it be from the Footmen who keep their Places at a + new Play, and are often seen passing away their Time in Sets at + _All-fours_ in the Face of a full House, and with a perfect Disregard + to People of Quality sitting on each Side of them. + + For preserving therefore the Decency of publick Assemblies, methinks + it would be but reasonable that those who Disturb others should pay at + least a double Price for their Places; or rather Women of Birth and + Distinction should be informed that a Levity of Behaviour in the Eyes + of People of Understanding degrades them below their meanest + Attendants; and Gentlemen should know that a fine Coat is a Livery, + when the Person who wears it discovers no higher Sense than that of a + Footman. + I am _SIR_, + _Your most humble Servant._ + + + + _Bedfordshire, Sept.._ 1, 1711 + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I am one of those whom every Body calls a Pocher, and sometimes go out + to course with a Brace of Greyhounds, a Mastiff, and a Spaniel or two; + and when I am weary with Coursing, and have killed Hares enough, go to + an Ale-house to refresh my self. I beg the Favour of you (as you set + up for a Reformer) to send us Word how many Dogs you will allow us to + go with, how many Full-Pots of Ale to drink, and how many Hares to + kill in a Day, and you will do a great Piece of Service to all the + Sportsmen: Be quick then, for the Time of Coursing is come on. + + _Yours in Haste_, + T. Isaac Hedgeditch. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Instit. Orat.' Bk. I. ch. 3.] + + +[Footnote 2: Dr. Charles Roderick, Head Master of Eton.] + + +[Footnote 3: Dr. Nicholas Brady, Tate's colleague in versification of +the Psalms. He was Rector of Clapham and Minister of Richmond, where he +had the school. He died in 1726, aged 67.] + + +[Footnote 4: The Water Theatre, invented by Mr. Winstanley, and +exhibited by his widow at the lower end of Piccadilly.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 169. Thursday, Sept. 13, 1711. Addison + + + + '_Sic vita erat: facile omnes perferre ac pati: + Cum quibus erat cunque una, his sese dedere, + Eorum obsequi studiis: advorsus nemini; + Nunquam præponens se aliis: Ita facillime + Sine invidia invenias laudem._' + + Ter. And. + + +Man is subject to innumerable Pains and Sorrows by the very Condition of +Humanity, and yet, as if Nature had not sown Evils enough in Life, we +are continually adding Grief to Grief, and aggravating the common +Calamity by our cruel Treatment of one another. Every Man's natural +Weight of Afflictions is still made more heavy by the Envy, Malice, +Treachery, or Injustice of his Neighbour. At the same time that the +Storm beats upon the whole Species, we are falling foul upon one +another. + +Half the Misery of Human Life might be extinguished, would Men alleviate +the general Curse they lie under, by mutual Offices of Compassion, +Benevolence, and Humanity. There is nothing therefore which we ought +more to encourage in our selves and others, than that Disposition of +Mind which in our Language goes under the Title of Good-nature, and +which I shall chuse for the Subject of this Day's Speculation. + +Good-nature is more agreeable in Conversation than Wit, and gives a +certain Air to the Countenance which is more amiable than Beauty. It +shows Virtue in the fairest Light, takes off in some measure from the +Deformity of Vice, and makes even Folly and Impertinence supportable. + +There is no Society or Conversation to be kept up in the World without +Good-nature, or something which must bear its Appearance, and supply its +Place. For this Reason Mankind have been forced to invent a kind of +Artificial Humanity, which is what we express by the Word +_Good-Breeding_. For if we examine thoroughly the Idea of what we call +so, we shall find it to be nothing else but an Imitation and Mimickry of +Good-nature, or in other Terms, Affability, Complaisance and Easiness of +Temper reduced into an Art. + +These exterior Shows and Appearances of Humanity render a Man +wonderfully popular and beloved when they are founded upon a real +Good-nature; but without it are like Hypocrisy in Religion, or a bare +Form of Holiness, which, when it is discovered, makes a Man more +detestable than professed Impiety. + +Good-nature is generally born with us: Health, Prosperity and kind +Treatment from the World are great Cherishers of it where they find it; +but nothing is capable of forcing it up, where it does not grow of it +self. It is one of the Blessings of a happy Constitution, which +Education may improve but not produce. + +Xenophon [1] in the Life of his Imaginary Prince, whom he describes as a +Pattern for Real ones, is always celebrating the _Philanthropy_ or +Good-nature of his Hero, which he tells us he brought into the World +with him, and gives many remarkable Instances of it in his Childhood, as +well as in all the several Parts of his Life. Nay, on his Death-bed, he +describes him as being pleased, that while his Soul returned to him [who +[2]] made it, his Body should incorporate with the great Mother of all +things, and by that means become beneficial to Mankind. For which +Reason, he gives his Sons a positive Order not to enshrine it in Gold or +Silver, but to lay it in the Earth as soon as the Life was gone out of +it. + +An Instance of such an Overflowing of Humanity, such an exuberant Love +to Mankind, could not have entered into the Imagination of a Writer, who +had not a Soul filled with great Ideas, and a general Benevolence to +Mankind. + +In that celebrated Passage of _Salust_, [3] where _Cæsar_ and _Cato_ are +placed in such beautiful, but opposite Lights; _Cæsar's_ Character is +chiefly made up of Good-nature, as it shewed itself in all its Forms +towards his Friends or his Enemies, his Servants or Dependants, the +Guilty or the Distressed. As for _Cato's_ Character, it is rather awful +than amiable. Justice seems most agreeable to the Nature of God, and +Mercy to that of Man. A Being who has nothing to Pardon in himself, may +reward every Man according to his Works; but he whose very best Actions +must be seen with Grains of Allowance, cannot be too mild, moderate, and +forgiving. For this reason, among all the monstrous Characters in Human +Nature, there is none so odious, nor indeed so exquisitely Ridiculous, +as that of a rigid severe Temper in a Worthless Man. + +This Part of Good-nature, however, which consists in the pardoning and +overlooking of Faults, is to be exercised only in doing our selves +Justice, and that too in the ordinary Commerce and Occurrences of Life; +for in the publick Administrations of Justice, Mercy to one may be +Cruelty to others. + +It is grown almost into a Maxim, that Good-natured Men are not always +Men of the most Wit. This Observation, in my Opinion, has no Foundation +in Nature. The greatest Wits I have conversed with are Men eminent for +their Humanity. I take therefore this Remark to have been occasioned by +two Reasons. First, Because Ill-nature among ordinary Observers passes +for Wit. A spiteful Saying gratifies so many little Passions in those +who hear it, that it generally meets with a good Reception. The Laugh +rises upon it, and the Man who utters it is looked upon as a shrewd +Satyrist. This may be one Reason, why a great many pleasant Companions +appear so surprisingly dull, when they have endeavoured to be Merry in +Print; the Publick being more just than Private Clubs or Assemblies, in +distinguishing between what is Wit and what is Ill-nature. + +Another Reason why the Good-natured Man may sometimes bring his Wit in +Question, is, perhaps, because he is apt to be moved with Compassion for +those Misfortunes or Infirmities, which another would turn into +Ridicule, and by that means gain the Reputation of a Wit. The +Ill-natured Man, though but of equal Parts, gives himself a larger Field +to expatiate in; he exposes those Failings in Human Nature which the +other would cast a Veil over, laughs at Vices which the other either +excuses or conceals, gives utterance to Reflections which the other +stifles, falls indifferently upon Friends or Enemies, exposes the Person +[who [4]] has obliged him, and, in short, sticks at nothing that may +establish his Character of a Wit. It is no Wonder therefore he succeeds +in it better than the Man of Humanity, as a Person who makes use of +indirect Methods, is more likely to grow Rich than the Fair Trader. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Cyropædia', Bk. viii. ch. 6.] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Catiline', c. 54.] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE + +HENRY BOYLE, ESQ. [1] + +_SIR_, + +As the profest Design of this Work is to entertain its Readers in +general, without giving Offence to any particular Person, it would be +difficult to find out so proper a Patron for it as Your Self, there +being none whose Merit is more universally acknowledged by all Parties, +and who has made himself more Friends and fewer Enemies. Your great +Abilities, and unquestioned Integrity, in those high Employments which +You have passed through, would not have been able to have raised You +this general Approbation, had they not been accompanied with that +Moderation in an high Fortune, and that Affability of Manners, which are +so conspicuous through all Parts of your Life. Your Aversion to any +Ostentatious Arts of setting to Show those great Services which you have +done the Publick, has not likewise a little contributed to that +Universal Acknowledgment which is paid You by your Country. + +The Consideration of this Part of Your Character, is that which hinders +me from enlarging on those Extraordinary Talents, which have given You +so great a Figure in the _British_ Senate, as well as on that Elegance +and Politeness which appear in Your more retired Conversation. I should +be unpardonable, if, after what I have said, I should longer detain You +with an Address of this Nature: I cannot, however, conclude it without +owning those great Obligations which You have laid upon, + +_SIR, + +Your most obedient, + +humble Servant_, + +THE SPECTATOR. + + + +[Footnote 1: Henry Boyle, to whom the third volume of the Spectator is +dedicated, was the youngest son of Charles, Lord Clifford; one of the +family founded by the Richard, Earl of Cork, who bought Raleigh's +property in Ireland. + +From March, 1701, to February, 1707-8, Henry Boyle was King William's +Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was then, till September, 1710, one of +the principal Secretaries of State. He had materially helped Addison by +negotiating between him and Lord Godolphin respecting the celebration of +the Battle of Blenheim. On the accession of George I. Henry Boyle became +Lord Carleton and President of the Council. He died in 1724, and had his +Life written by Addison's cousin Budgell.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 170. Friday, September 14, 1711. Addison. + + + 'In amore hæc omnia insunt vitía: injuriæ, + Suspiciones, inimicitiæ, induciæ, + Bellum, pax rursum ...' + + Ter. Eun. + + +Upon looking over the Letters of my female Correspondents, I find +several from Women complaining of jealous Husbands, and at the same time +protesting their own Innocence; and desiring my Advice on this Occasion. +I shall therefore take this Subject into my Consideration, and the more +willingly, because I find that the Marquis of _Hallifax_, who in his +_Advice to a Daughter_ [1] has instructed a Wife how to behave her self +towards a false, an intemperate, a cholerick, a sullen, a covetous, or a +silly Husband, has not spoken one Word of a Jealous Husband. + +_Jealousy is that Pain which a Man feels from the Apprehension that he +is not equally beloved by the Person whom he entirely loves._ Now, +because our inward Passions and Inclinations can never make themselves +visible, it is impossible for a jealous Man to be thoroughly cured of +his Suspicions. His Thoughts hang at best in a State of Doubtfulness and +Uncertainty; and are never capable of receiving any Satisfaction on the +advantageous Side; so that his Enquiries are most successful when they +discover nothing: His Pleasure arises from his Disappointments, and his +Life is spent in Pursuit of a Secret that destroys his Happiness if he +chance to find it. + +An ardent Love is always a strong Ingredient in this Passion; for the +same Affection which stirs up the jealous Man's Desires, and gives the +Party beloved so beautiful a Figure in his Imagination, makes him +believe she kindles the same Passion in others, and appears as amiable +to all Beholders. And as Jealousy thus arises from an extraordinary +Love, it is of so delicate a Nature, that it scorns to take up with any +thing less than an equal Return of Love. Not the warmest Expressions of +Affection, the softest and most tender Hypocrisy, are able to give any +Satisfaction, where we are not persuaded that the Affection is real and +the Satisfaction mutual. For the jealous Man wishes himself a kind of +Deity to the Person he loves: He would be the only Pleasure of her +Senses, the Employment of her Thoughts; and is angry at every thing she +admires, or takes Delight in, besides himself. + +Phædria's Request to his Mistress, upon his leaving her for three Days, +is inimitably beautiful and natural. + + Cum milite isto præsens, absens ut sies: + Dies, noctesque me ames: me desideres: + Me somnies: me exspectes: de me cogites: + Me speres: me te oblectes: mecum tola sis: + Meus fac sis postremo animus, quando ego sum tuus. + + Ter. Eun. [2] + +The Jealous Man's Disease is of so malignant a Nature, that it converts +all he takes into its own Nourishment. A cool Behaviour sets him on the +Rack, and is interpreted as an instance of Aversion or Indifference; a +fond one raises his Suspicions, and looks too much like Dissimulation +and Artifice. If the Person he loves be cheerful, her Thoughts must be +employed on another; and if sad, she is certainly thinking on himself. +In short, there is no Word or Gesture so insignificant, but it gives him +new Hints, feeds his Suspicions, and furnishes him with fresh Matters of +Discovery: So that if we consider the effects of this Passion, one would +rather think it proceeded from an inveterate Hatred than an excessive +Love; for certainly none can meet with more Disquietude and Uneasiness +than a suspected Wife, if we except the jealous Husband. + +But the great Unhappiness of this Passion is, that it naturally tends to +alienate the Affection which it is so solicitous to engross; and that +for these two Reasons, because it lays too great a Constraint on the +Words and Actions of the suspected Person, and at the same time shews +you have no honourable Opinion of her; both of which are strong Motives +to Aversion. + +Nor is this the worst Effect of Jealousy; for it often draws after it a +more fatal Train of Consequences, and makes the Person you suspect +guilty of the very Crimes you are so much afraid of. It is very natural +for such who are treated ill and upbraided falsely, to find out an +intimate Friend that will hear their Complaints, condole their +Sufferings, and endeavour to sooth and asswage their secret Resentments. +Besides, Jealousy puts a Woman often in Mind of an ill Thing that she +would not otherwise perhaps have thought of, and fills her Imagination +with such an unlucky Idea, as in Time grows familiar, excites Desire, +and loses all the Shame and Horror which might at first attend it. Nor +is it a Wonder if she who suffers wrongfully in a Man's Opinion of her, +and has therefore nothing to forfeit in his Esteem, resolves to give him +reason for his Suspicions, and to enjoy the Pleasure of the Crime, since +she must undergo the Ignominy. Such probably were the Considerations +that directed the wise Man in his Advice to Husbands; _Be not jealous +over the Wife of thy Bosom, and teach her not an evil Lesson against thy +self._ Ecclus. [3] + +And here, among the other Torments which this Passion produces, we may +usually observe that none are greater Mourners than jealous Men, when +the Person [who [4]] provoked their Jealousy is taken from them. Then it +is that their Love breaks out furiously, and throws off all the Mixtures +of Suspicion [which [5]] choaked and smothered it before. The beautiful +Parts of the Character rise uppermost in the jealous Husband's Memory, +and upbraid him with the ill Usage of so divine a Creature as was once +in his Possession; whilst all the little Imperfections, that were +[before [6]] so uneasie to him, wear off from his Remembrance, and shew +themselves no more. + +We may see by what has been said, that Jealousy takes the deepest Root +in Men of amorous Dispositions; and of these we may find three Kinds who +are most over-run with it. + +The First are those who are conscious to themselves of an Infirmity, +whether it be Weakness, Old Age, Deformity, Ignorance, or the like. +These Men are so well acquainted with the unamiable Part of themselves, +that they have not the Confidence to think they are really beloved; and +are so distrustful of their own Merits, that all Fondness towards them +puts them out of Countenance, and looks like a Jest upon their Persons. +They grow suspicious on their first looking in a Glass, and are stung +with Jealousy at the sight of a Wrinkle. A handsome Fellow immediately +alarms them, and every thing that looks young or gay turns their +thoughts upon their Wives. + +A Second Sort of Men, who are most liable to this Passion, are those of +cunning, wary, and distrustful Tempers. It is a Fault very justly found +in Histories composed by Politicians, that they leave nothing to Chance +or Humour, but are still for deriving every Action from some Plot and +Contrivance, for drawing up a perpetual Scheme of Causes and Events, and +preserving a constant Correspondence between the Camp and the +Council-Table. And thus it happens in the Affairs of Love with Men of +too refined a Thought. They put a Construction on a Look, and find out a +Design in a Smile; they give new Senses and Significations to Words and +Actions; and are ever tormenting themselves with Fancies of their own +raising: They generally act in a Disguise themselves, and therefore +mistake all outward Shows and Appearances for Hypocrisy in others; so +that I believe no Men see less of the Truth and Reality of Things, than +these great Refiners upon Incidents, [who [7]] are so wonderfully subtle +and overwise in their Conceptions. + +Now what these Men fancy they know of Women by Reflection, your lewd and +vicious Men believe they have learned by Experience. They have seen the +poor Husband so misled by Tricks and Artifices, and in the midst of his +Enquiries so lost and bewilder'd in a crooked Intreague, that they still +suspect an Under-Plot in every female Action; and especially where they +see any Resemblance in the Behaviour of two Persons, are apt to fancy it +proceeds from the same Design in both. These Men therefore bear hard +upon the suspected Party, pursue her close through all her Turnings and +Windings, and are too well acquainted with the Chace, to be slung off by +any false Steps or Doubles: Besides, their Acquaintance and Conversation +has lain wholly among the vicious Part of Womankind, and therefore it is +no Wonder they censure all alike, and look upon the whole Sex as a +Species of Impostors. But if, notwithstanding their private Experience, +they can get over these Prejudices, and entertain a favourable Opinion +of some _Women_; yet their own loose Desires will stir up new Suspicions +from another Side, and make them believe all _Men_ subject to the same +Inclinations with themselves. + +Whether these or other Motives are most predominant, we learn from the +modern Histories of _America_, as well as from our own Experience in +this Part of the World, that Jealousy is no Northern Passion, but rages +most in those Nations that lie nearest the Influence of the Sun. It is a +Misfortune for a Woman to be born between the Tropicks; for there lie +the hottest Regions of Jealousy, which as you come Northward cools all +along with the Climate, till you scarce meet with any thing like it in +the Polar Circle. Our own Nation is very temperately situated in this +respect; and if we meet with some few disordered with the Violence of +this Passion, they are not the proper Growth of our Country, but are +many Degrees nearer the Sun in their Constitutions than in their +Climate. + +After this frightful Account of Jealousy, and the Persons [who [8]] are +most subject to it, it will be but fair to shew by what means the +Passion may be best allay'd, and those who are possessed with it set at +Ease. Other Faults indeed are not under the Wife's Jurisdiction, and +should, if possible, escape her Observation; but Jealousy calls upon her +particularly for its Cure, and deserves all her Art and Application in +the Attempt: Besides, she has this for her Encouragement, that her +Endeavours will be always pleasing, and that she will still find the +Affection of her Husband rising towards her in proportion as his Doubts +and Suspicions vanish; for, as we have seen all along, there is so great +a Mixture of Love in Jealousy as is well worth separating. But this +shall be the Subject of another Paper. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Miscellanies' by the late lord Marquis of Halifax (George +Saville, who died in 1695), 1704, pp. 18-31.] + +[Footnote 2: + + 'When you are in company with that Soldier, behave as if you were + absent: but continue to love me by Day and by Night: want me; dream of + me; expect me; think of me; wish for me; delight in me: be wholly with + me: in short, be my very Soul, as I am yours.'] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Ecclus'. ix. I.] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: formerly] + + +[Footnote 7: that] + + +[Footnote 8: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 171. Saturday, Sept. 15, 1711. Addison. + + + + 'Credula res amor est ...' + + Ovid. Met. + + +Having in my Yesterday's Paper discovered the Nature of Jealousie, and +pointed out the Persons who are most subject to it, I must here apply my +self to my fair Correspondents, who desire to live well with a Jealous +Husband, and to ease his Mind of its unjust Suspicions. + +The first Rule I shall propose to be observed is, that you never seem to +dislike in another what the Jealous Man is himself guilty of, or to +admire any thing in which he himself does not excel. A Jealous Man is +very quick in his Applications, he knows how to find a double Edge in an +Invective, and to draw a Satyr on himself out of a Panegyrick on +another. He does not trouble himself to consider the Person, but to +direct the Character; and is secretly pleased or confounded as he finds +more or less of himself in it. The Commendation of any thing in another, +stirs up his Jealousy, as it shews you have a Value for others, besides +himself; but the Commendation of that which he himself wants, inflames +him more, as it shews that in some Respects you prefer others before +him. Jealousie is admirably described in this View by _Horace_ in his +Ode to _Lydia_ [; [1]] + + _Quum tu, Lydia, Telephi + Cervicem roseam, et cerea Telephi + Laudas brachia, væ meum + Fervens difficili bile tumet jecur: + Tunc nec mens mihi, nec color + Certâ sede manet; humor et in genas + Furtim labitur, arguens + Quam lentis penitus macerer ignibus. + + When_ Telephus _his youthful Charms, + His rosie Neck and winding Arms, + With endless Rapture you recite, + And in the pleasing Name delight; + My Heart, inflam'd by jealous Heats, + With numberless Resentments beats; + From my pale Cheek the Colour flies, + And all the Man within me dies: + By Turns my hidden Grief appears + In rising Sighs and falling Tears, + That shew too well the warm Desires, + The silent, slow, consuming Fires, + Which on my inmost Vitals prey, + And melt my very Soul away_. + +The Jealous Man is not indeed angry if you dislike another, but if you +find those Faults which are to be found in his own Character, you +discover not only your Dislike of another, but of himself. In short, he +is so desirous of ingrossing all your Love, that he is grieved at the +want of any Charm, which he believes has Power to raise it; and if he +finds by your Censures on others, that he is not so agreeable in your +Opinion as he might be, he naturally concludes you could love him better +if he had other Qualifications, and that by Consequence your Affection +does not rise so high as he thinks it ought. If therefore his Temper be +grave or sullen, you must not be too much pleased with a Jest, or +transported with any thing that is gay and diverting. If his Beauty be +none of the best, you must be a professed Admirer of Prudence, or any +other Quality he is Master of, or at least vain enough to think he is. + +In the next place, you must be sure to be free and open in your +Conversation with him, and to let in Light upon your Actions, to unravel +all your Designs, and discover every Secret however trifling or +indifferent. A jealous Husband has a particular Aversion to Winks and +Whispers, and if he does not see to the Bottom of every thing, will be +sure to go beyond it in his Fears and Suspicions. He will always expect +to be your chief Confident, and where he finds himself kept out of a +Secret, will believe there is more in it than there should be. And here +it is of great concern, that you preserve the Character of your +Sincerity uniform and of a piece: for if he once finds a false Gloss put +upon any single Action, he quickly suspects all the rest; his working +Imagination immediately takes a false Hint, and runs off with it into +several remote Consequences, till he has proved very ingenious in +working out his own Misery. + +If both these Methods fail, the best way will be to let him see you are +much cast down and afflicted for the ill Opinion he entertains of you, +and the Disquietudes he himself suffers for your Sake. There are many +who take a kind of barbarous Pleasure in the Jealousy of those [who [2]] +love them, that insult over an aking Heart, and triumph in their Charms +which are able to excite so much Uneasiness. + + 'Ardeat ipsa licet tormentis gaudet amantis'. + + Juv. + +But these often carry the Humour so far, till their affected Coldness +and Indifference quite kills all the Fondness of a Lover, and are then +sure to meet in their Turn with all the Contempt and Scorn that is due +to so insolent a Behaviour. On the contrary, it is very probable a +melancholy, dejected Carriage, the usual effects of injured Innocence, +may soften the jealous Husband into Pity, make him sensible of the Wrong +he does you, and work out of his Mind all those Fears and Suspicions +that make you both unhappy. At least it will have this good Effect, that +he will keep his Jealousy to himself, and repine in private, either +because he is sensible it is a Weakness, and will therefore hide it from +your Knowledge, or because he will be apt to fear some ill Effect it may +produce, in cooling your Love towards him, or diverting it to another. + +There is still another Secret that can never fail, if you can once get +it believ'd, and what is often practis'd by Women of greater Cunning +than Virtue: This is to change Sides for a while with the jealous Man, +and to turn his own Passion upon himself; to take some Occasion of +growing Jealous of him, and to follow the Example he himself hath set +you. This Counterfeited Jealousy will bring him a great deal of +Pleasure, if he thinks it real; for he knows experimentally how much +Love goes along with [this Passion, [3]] and will [besides feel [4]] +something like the Satisfaction of a Revenge, in seeing you undergo all +his own Tortures. But this, indeed, is an Artifice so difficult, and at +the same time so dis-ingenuous, that it ought never to be put in +Practice, but by such as have Skill enough to cover the Deceit, and +Innocence to render it excusable. + +I shall conclude this Essay with the Story of _Herod_ and _Mariamne_, as +I have collected it out of _Josephus_; [5] which may serve almost as an +Example to whatever can be said on this Subject. + +_Mariamne_ had all the Charms that Beauty, Birth, Wit and Youth could +give a Woman, and _Herod_ all the Love that such Charms are able to +raise in a warm and amorous Disposition. In the midst of this his +Fondness for _Mariamne_, he put her Brother to Death, as he did her +Father not many Years after. The Barbarity of the Action was represented +to _Mark Antony_, who immediately summoned _Herod_ into _Egypt_, to +answer for the Crime that was there laid to his Charge. _Herod_ +attributed the Summons to _Antony's_ Desire of _Mariamne_, whom +therefore, before his Departure, he gave into the Custody of his Uncle +_Joseph_, with private Orders to put her to Death, if any such Violence +was offered to himself. This _Joseph_ was much delighted with +_Mariamne's_ Conversation, and endeavoured, with all his Art and +Rhetorick, to set out the Excess of _Herod's_ Passion for her; but when +he still found her Cold and Incredulous, he inconsiderately told her, as +a certain Instance of her Lord's Affection, the private Orders he had +left behind him, which plainly shewed, according to _Joseph's_ +Interpretation, that he could neither Live nor Die without her. This +Barbarous Instance of a wild unreasonable Passion quite put out, for a +time, those little Remains of Affection she still had for her Lord: Her +Thoughts were so wholly taken up with the Cruelty of his Orders, that +she could not consider the Kindness that produced them, and therefore +represented him in her Imagination, rather under the frightful Idea of a +Murderer than a Lover. _Herod_ was at length acquitted and dismissed by +_Mark Antony_, when his Soul was all in Flames for his _Mariamne_; but +before their Meeting, he was not a little alarm'd at the Report he had +heard of his Uncle's Conversation and Familiarity with her in his +Absence. This therefore was the first Discourse he entertained her with, +in which she found it no easy matter to quiet his Suspicions. But at +last he appeared so well satisfied of her Innocence, that from +Reproaches and Wranglings he fell to Tears and Embraces. Both of them +wept very tenderly at their Reconciliation, and _Herod_ poured out his +whole Soul to her in the warmest Protestations of Love and Constancy: +when amidst all his Sighs and Languishings she asked him, whether the +private Orders he left with his Uncle _Joseph_ were an Instance of such +an inflamed Affection. The Jealous King was immediately roused at so +unexpected a Question, and concluded his Uncle must have been too +Familiar with her, before he would have discovered such a Secret. In +short, he put his Uncle to Death, and very difficultly prevailed upon +himself to spare _Mariamne_. + +After this he was forced on a second Journey into _Egypt_, when he +committed his Lady to the Care of _Sohemus_, with the same private +Orders he had before given his Uncle, if any Mischief befel himself. In +the mean while _Mariamne_ so won upon _Sohemus_ by her Presents and +obliging Conversation, that she drew all the Secret from him, with which +_Herod_ had intrusted him; so that after his Return, when he flew to her +with all the Transports of Joy and Love, she received him coldly with +Sighs and Tears, and all the Marks of Indifference and Aversion. This +Reception so stirred up his Indignation, that he had certainly slain her +with his own Hands, had not he feared he himself should have become the +greater Sufferer by it. It was not long after this, when he had another +violent Return of Love upon him; _Mariamne_ was therefore sent for to +him, whom he endeavoured to soften and reconcile with all possible +conjugal Caresses and Endearments; but she declined his Embraces, and +answered all his Fondness with bitter Invectives for the Death of her +Father and her Brother. This Behaviour so incensed _Herod_, that he very +hardly refrained from striking her; when in the Heat of their Quarrel +there came in a Witness, suborn'd by some of _Mariamne's_ Enemies, who +accused her to the King of a Design to poison him. _Herod_ was now +prepared to hear any thing in her Prejudice, and immediately ordered her +Servant to be stretch'd upon the Rack; who in the Extremity of his +Tortures confest, that his Mistress's Aversion to the King arose from +[something [6]] _Sohemus_ had told her; but as for any Design of +poisoning, he utterly disowned the least Knowledge of it. This +Confession quickly proved fatal to _Sohemus_, who now lay under the same +Suspicions and Sentence that _Joseph_ had before him on the like +Occasion. Nor would _Herod_ rest here; but accused her with great +Vehemence of a Design upon his Life, and by his Authority with the +Judges had her publickly Condemned and Executed. _Herod_ soon after her +Death grew melancholy and dejected, retiring from the Publick +Administration of Affairs into a solitary Forest, and there abandoning +himself to all the black Considerations, which naturally arise from a +Passion made up of Love, Remorse, Pity and Despair, he used to rave for +his _Mariamne_, and to call upon her in his distracted Fits; and in all +probability would soon have followed her, had not his Thoughts been +seasonably called off from so sad an Object by Publick Storms, which at +that Time very nearly threatned him. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: ", part of which I find Translated to my Hand."] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: it] + + +[Footnote 4: receive] + + +[Footnote 5: 'Antiquities of the Jews', Bk. xv. ch. iii. § 5, 6, 9; ch. +vii. § 1, 2, &c.] + + +[Footnote 6: some thing that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 172. Monday, September 17, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Non solum Scientia, quæ est remota a Justitia, Calliditas potius + quam Sapientia est appellanda; verum etiam Animus paratus ad + periculum, si suâ cupiditate, non utilitate communi impellitur, + Audaciæ potius nomen habeat, quam Fortitudinis.' + + Plato apnd Tull. + + +There can be no greater Injury to humane Society than that good Talents +among Men should be held honourable to those who are endowed with them +without any Regard how they are applied. The Gifts of Nature and +Accomplishments of Art are valuable, but as they are exerted in the +Interest of Virtue, or governed by the Rules of Honour. We ought to +abstract our Minds from the Observation of any Excellence in those we +converse with, till we have taken some Notice, or received some good +Information of the Disposition of their Minds; otherwise the Beauty of +their Persons, or the Charms of their Wit, may make us fond of those +whom our Reason and Judgment will tell us we ought to abhor. + +When we suffer our selves to be thus carried away by meer Beauty, or +meer Wit, _Omniamante_, with all her Vice, will bear away as much +of our Good-will as the most innocent Virgin or discreetest Matron; and +there cannot be a more abject Slavery in this World, than to doat upon +what we think we ought to contemn: Yet this must be our Condition in all +the Parts of Life, if we suffer our selves to approve any Thing but what +tends to the Promotion of what is good and honourable. If we would take +true Pains with our selves to consider all Things by the Light of Reason +and Justice, tho' a Man were in the Height of Youth and amorous +Inclinations, he would look upon a Coquet with the same Contempt or +Indifference as he would upon a Coxcomb: The wanton Carriage in a Woman, +would disappoint her of the Admiration which she aims at; and the vain +Dress or Discourse of a Man would destroy the Comeliness of his Shape, +or Goodness of his Understanding. I say the Goodness of his +Understanding, for it is no less common to see Men of Sense commence +Coxcombs, than beautiful Women become immodest. When this happens in +either, the Favour we are naturally inclined to give to the good +Qualities they have from Nature, should abate in Proportion. But however +just it is to measure the Value of Men by the Application of their +Talents, and not by the Eminence of those Qualities abstracted from +their Use; I say, however just such a Way of judging is, in all Ages as +well as this, the Contrary has prevailed upon the Generality of Mankind. +How many lewd Devices have been preserved from one Age to another, which +had perished as soon as they were made, if Painters and Sculptors had +been esteemed as much for the Purpose as the Execution of their Designs? +Modest and well-governed Imaginations have by this Means lost the +Representations of Ten Thousand charming Portraitures, filled with +Images of innate Truth, generous Zeal, couragious Faith, and tender +Humanity; instead of which, Satyrs, Furies, and Monsters are recommended +by those Arts to a shameful Eternity. + +The unjust Application of laudable Talents, is tolerated, in the general +Opinion of Men, not only in such Cases as are here mentioned, but also +in Matters which concern ordinary Life. If a Lawyer were to be esteemed +only as he uses his Parts in contending for Justice, and were +immediately despicable when he appeared in a Cause which he could not +but know was an unjust one, how honourable would his Character be? And +how honourable is it in such among us, who follow the Profession no +otherwise than as labouring to protect the Injured, to subdue the +Oppressor, to imprison the careless Debtor, and do right to the painful +Artificer? But many of this excellent Character are overlooked by the +greater Number; who affect covering a weak Place in a Client's Title, +diverting the Course of an Enquiry, or finding a skilful Refuge to +palliate a Falsehood: Yet it is still called Eloquence in the latter, +though thus unjustly employed; but Resolution in an Assassin is +according to Reason quite as laudable, as Knowledge and Wisdom exercised +in the Defence of an ill Cause. + +Were the Intention stedfastly considered, as the Measure of Approbation, +all Falsehood would soon be out of Countenance; and an Address in +imposing upon Mankind, would be as contemptible in one State of Life as +another. A Couple of Courtiers making Professions of Esteem, would make +the same Figure under Breach of Promise, as two Knights of the Post +convicted of Perjury. But Conversation is fallen so low in point of +Morality, that as they say in a Bargain, _Let the Buyer look to +it_; so in Friendship, he is the Man in Danger who is most apt to +believe: He is the more likely to suffer in the Commerce, who begins +with the Obligation of being the more ready to enter into it. + +But those Men only are truly great, who place their Ambition rather in +acquiring to themselves the Conscience of worthy Enterprizes, than in +the Prospect of Glory which attends them. These exalted Spirits would +rather be secretly the Authors of Events which are serviceable to +Mankind, than, without being such, to have the publick Fame of it. Where +therefore an eminent Merit is robbed by Artifice or Detraction, it does +but encrease by such Endeavours of its Enemies: The impotent Pains which +are taken to sully it, or diffuse it among a Crowd to the Injury of a +single Person, will naturally produce the contrary Effect; the Fire will +blaze out, and burn up all that attempt to smother what they cannot +extinguish. + +There is but one thing necessary to keep the Possession of true Glory, +which is, to hear the Opposers of it with Patience, and preserve the +Virtue by which it was acquired. When a Man is thoroughly perswaded that +he ought neither to admire, wish for, or pursue any thing but what is +exactly his Duty, it is not in the Power of Seasons, Persons, or +Accidents to diminish his Value: He only is a great Man who can neglect +the Applause of the Multitude, and enjoy himself independent of its +Favour. This is indeed an arduous Task; but it should comfort a glorious +Spirit that it is the highest Step to which human Nature can arrive. +Triumph, Applause, Acclamation, are dear to the Mind of Man; but it is +still a more exquisite Delight to say to your self, you have done well, +than to hear the whole human Race pronounce you glorious, except you +your self can join with them in your own Reflections. A Mind thus equal +and uniform may be deserted by little fashionable Admirers and +Followers, but will ever be had in Reverence by Souls like it self. The +Branches of the Oak endure all the Seasons of the Year, though its +Leaves fall off in Autumn; and these too will be restored with the +returning Spring. + +T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 173. Tuesday, September 18, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Remove fera monstra, tuægue + Saxificos vultus, quæcunque ea, tolle Medusæ.' + + Ovid. Met. + +In a late Paper I mention'd the Project of an Ingenious Author for the +erecting of several Handicraft Prizes to be contended for by our +_British_ Artizans, and the Influence they might have towards the +Improvement of our several Manufactures. I have since that been very +much surprized by the following Advertisement which I find in the +'Post-Boy' of the 11th Instant, and again repeated in the 'Post-Boy' of +the 15th. + +On the 9th of October next will be run for upon Coleshill-Heath in +Warwickshire, a Plate of 6 Guineas Value, 3 Heats, by any Horse, Mare or +Gelding that hath not won above the Value of £5, the winning Horse to be +sold for £10, to carry 10 Stone Weight, if 14 Hands high; if above or +under to carry or be allowed Weight for Inches, and to be entered Friday +the 5th at the Swan in Coleshill, before Six in the Evening. Also a +Plate of less Value to be run for by Asses. The same Day a Gold Ring to +be Grinn'd for by Men. + +The first of these Diversions, that is to be exhibited by the £10 +Race-Horses, may probably have its Use; but the two last, in which the +Asses and Men are concerned, seem to me altogether extraordinary and +unaccountable. Why they should keep Running Asses at _Coleshill_, or how +making Mouths turns to account in _Warwickshire_, more than in any other +Parts of _England_, I cannot comprehend. I have looked over all the +Olympic Games, and do not find any thing in them like an Ass-Race, or a +Match at Grinning. However it be, I am informed that several Asses are +now kept in Body-Cloaths, and sweated every Morning upon the Heath, and +that all the Country-Fellows within ten Miles of the _Swan_, grinn an +Hour or two in their Glasses every Morning, in order to qualify +themselves for the 9th of _October_. The Prize, which is proposed to be +Grinn'd for, has raised such an Ambition among the Common People of +Out-grinning one another, that many very discerning Persons are afraid +it should spoil most of the Faces in the Country; and that a +_Warwickshire_ Man will be known by his Grinn, as Roman-Catholicks +imagine a _Kentish_ Man is by his Tail. The Gold Ring which is made the +Prize of Deformity, is just the Reverse of the Golden Apple that was +formerly made the Prize of Beauty, and should carry for its Posy the old +Motto inverted. + + 'Detur tetriori'. + +Or to accommodate it to the Capacity of the Combatants, + + _The frightfull'st Grinner + Be the Winner_. + +In the mean while I would advise a _Dutch_ Painter to be present at this +great Controversy of Faces, in order to make a Collection of the most +remarkable Grinns that shall be there exhibited. + +I must not here omit an Account which I lately received of one of these +Grinning Matches from a Gentleman, who, upon reading the above-mentioned +Advertisement, entertained a Coffee-house with the following Narrative. + +Upon the taking of _Namur_ [1], amidst other publick Rejoicings made on +that Occasion, there was a Gold Ring given by a Whig Justice of Peace to +be grinn'd for. The first Competitor that entered the Lists, was a black +swarthy _French Man_, who accidentally passed that way, and being a Man +naturally of a wither'd Look, and hard Features, promised himself good +Success. He was placed upon a Table in the great Point of View, and +looking upon the Company like _Milton's_ Death, + + _Grinn'd horribly [2] + a Ghastly Smile ..._ + +His Muscles were so drawn together on each side of his Face, that he +shew'd twenty Teeth at a Grinn, and put the County in some pain, lest a +Foreigner should carry away the Honour of the Day; but upon a farther +Tryal they found he was Master only of the merry Grinn. + +The next that mounted the Table was a Malecontent in those Days, and a +great Master in the whole Art of Grinning, but particularly excelled in +the angry Grinn. He did his Part so well, that he is said to have made +half a dozen Women miscarry; but the Justice being apprised by one who +stood near him, that the Fellow who Grinned in his Face was a +_Jacobite_, and being unwilling that a Disaffected Person should win the +Gold Ring, and be looked upon as the best Grinner in the Country, he +ordered the Oaths to be tendered unto him upon his quitting the Table, +which the Grinner refusing, he was set aside as an unqualified Person. +There were several other Grotesque Figures that presented themselves, +which it would be too tedious to describe. I must not however omit a +Ploughman, who lived in the farther Part of the Country, and being very +lucky in a Pair of long Lanthorn-Jaws, wrung his face into such a +hideous Grimace that every Feature of it appeared under a different +Distortion. The whole Company stood astonished at such a complicated +Grinn, and were ready to assign the Prize to him, had it not been proved +by one of his Antagonists, that he had practised with Verjuice for some +Days before, and had a Crab found upon him at the very time of Grinning; +upon which the best Judges of Grinning declared it as their Opinion, +that he was not to be looked upon as a fair Grinner, and therefore +ordered him to be set aside as a Cheat. + +The Prize, it seems, fell at length upon a Cobler, _Giles Gorgon_ by +Name, who produced several new Grinns of his own Invention, having been +used to cut Faces for many Years together over his Last. At the very +first Grinn he cast every Human Feature out of his Countenance; at the +second he became the Face of a Spout; at the third a Baboon, at the +fourth the Head of a Base-Viol, and at the fifth a Pair of Nut-Crackers. +The whole Assembly wondered at his Accomplishments, and bestowed the +Ring on him unanimously; but, what he esteemed more than all the rest, a +Country Wench, whom he had wooed in vain for above five Years before, +was so charmed with his Grinns, and the Applauses which he received on +all Sides, that she Married him the Week following, and to this Day +wears the Prize upon her Finger, the Cobler having made use of it as his +Wedding-Ring. + +This Paper might perhaps seem very impertinent, if it grew serious in +the Conclusion. I would nevertheless leave it to the Consideration of +those who are the Patrons of this monstrous Tryal of Skill, whether or +no they are not guilty, in some measure, of an Affront to their Species, +in treating after this manner the _Human Face Divine_, and turning that +Part of us, which has so great an Image impressed upon it, into the +Image of a Monkey; whether the raising such silly Competitions among the +Ignorant, proposing Prizes for such useless Accomplishments, filling the +common People's Heads with such Senseless Ambitions, and inspiring them +with such absurd Ideas of Superiority and Preheminence, has not in it +something Immoral as well as Ridiculous. [3] + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Sept. 1, 1695.] + + +[Footnote 2: _horridly_. Neither is quite right. + + 'Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile.' + +P. L., Bk. II. 1. 864.] + + +[Footnote 3: Two volumes of Original Letters sent to the Tatler and +Spectator and not inserted, were published by Charles Lillie in 1725. In +Vol. II. (pp. 72, 73), is a letter from Coleshill, informing the +Spectator that in deference to his opinion, and chiefly through the +mediation of some neighbouring ladies, the Grinning Match had been +abandoned, and requesting his advice as to the disposal of the Grinning +Prize.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 174. Wednesday, September 19, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Hæc memini et victum frustra contendere Thyrsin.' + + Virg. + + +There is scarce any thing more common than Animosities between Parties +that cannot subsist but by their Agreement: this was well represented in +the Sedition of the Members of the humane Body in the old _Roman_ Fable. +It is often the Case of lesser confederate States against a superior +Power, which are hardly held together, though their Unanimity is +necessary for their common Safety: and this is always the Case of the +landed and trading Interest of _Great Britain_: the Trader is fed by the +Product of the Land, and the landed Man cannot be clothed but by the +Skill of the Trader; and yet those Interests are ever jarring. + +We had last Winter an Instance of this at our Club, in Sir ROGER DE +COVERLEY and Sir ANDREW FREEPORT, between whom there is generally a +constant, though friendly, Opposition of Opinions. It happened that one +of the Company, in an Historical Discourse, was observing, that +_Carthaginian_ Faith [1] was a proverbial Phrase to intimate Breach of +Leagues. Sir ROGER said it could hardly be otherwise: That the +_Carthaginians_ were the greatest Traders in the World; and as Gain is +the chief End of such a People, they never pursue any other: The Means +to it are never regarded; they will, if it comes easily, get Money +honestly; but if not, they will not scruple to attain it by Fraud or +Cozenage: And indeed, what is the whole Business of the Trader's +Account, but to over-reach him who trusts to his Memory? But were that +not so, what can there great and noble be expected from him whose +Attention is for ever fixed upon ballancing his Books, and watching over +his Expences? And at best, let Frugality and Parsimony be the Virtues of +the Merchant, how much is his punctual Dealing below a Gentleman's +Charity to the Poor, or Hospitality among his Neighbours? + +CAPTAIN SENTRY observed Sir ANDREW very diligent in hearing Sir ROGER, +and had a mind to turn the Discourse, by taking notice in general, from +the highest to the lowest Parts of human Society, there was a secret, +tho' unjust, Way among Men, of indulging the Seeds of ill Nature and +Envy, by comparing their own State of Life to that of another, and +grudging the Approach of their Neighbour to their own Happiness; and on +the other Side, he who is the less at his Ease, repines at the other +who, he thinks, has unjustly the Advantage over him. Thus the Civil and +Military Lists look upon each other with much ill Nature; the Soldier +repines at the Courtier's Power, and the Courtier rallies the Soldier's +Honour; or, to come to lower Instances, the private Men in the Horse and +Foot of an Army, the Carmen and Coachmen in the City Streets, mutually +look upon each other with ill Will, when they are in Competition for +Quarters or the Way, in their respective Motions. + +It is very well, good Captain, interrupted Sir ANDREW: You may attempt +to turn the Discourse if you think fit; but I must however have a Word +or two with Sir ROGER, who, I see, thinks he has paid me off, and been +very severe upon the Merchant. I shall not, continued he, at this time +remind Sir ROGER of the great and noble Monuments of Charity and Publick +Spirit, which have been erected by Merchants since the Reformation, but +at present content my self with what he allows us, Parsimony and +Frugality. If it were consistent with the Quality of so antient a +Baronet as Sir ROGER, to keep an Account, or measure Things by the most +infallible Way, that of Numbers, he would prefer our Parsimony to his +Hospitality. If to drink so many Hogsheads is to be Hospitable, we do +not contend for the Fame of that Virtue; but it would be worth while to +consider, whether so many Artificers at work ten Days together by my +Appointment, or so many Peasants made merry on Sir ROGER'S Charge, are +the Men more obliged? I believe the Families of the Artificers will +thank me, more than the Households of the Peasants shall Sir ROGER. Sir +ROGER gives to his Men, but I place mine above the Necessity or +Obligation of my Bounty. I am in very little Pain for the _Roman_ +Proverb upon the _Carthaginian_ Traders; the _Romans_ were their +professed Enemies: I am only sorry no _Carthaginian_ Histories have come +to our Hands; we might have been taught perhaps by them some Proverbs +against the _Roman_ Generosity, in fighting for and bestowing other +People's Goods. But since Sir ROGER has taken Occasion from an old +Proverb to be out of Humour with Merchants, it should be no Offence to +offer one not quite so old in their Defence. When a Man happens to break +in _Holland_, they say of him that _he has not kept true Accounts_. This +Phrase, perhaps, among us, would appear a soft or humorous way of +speaking, but with that exact Nation it bears the highest Reproach; for +a Man to be Mistaken in the Calculation of his Expence, in his Ability +to answer future Demands, or to be impertinently sanguine in putting his +Credit to too great Adventure, are all Instances of as much Infamy as +with gayer Nations to be failing in Courage or common Honesty. + +Numbers are so much the Measure of every thing that is valuable, that it +is not possible to demonstrate the Success of any Action, or the +Prudence of any Undertaking, without them. I say this in Answer to what +Sir ROGER is pleased to say, That little that is truly noble can be +expected from one who is ever poring on his Cashbook, or ballancing his +Accounts. When I have my Returns from abroad, I can tell to a Shilling, +by the Help of Numbers, the Profit or Loss by my Adventure; but I ought +also to be able to shew that I had Reason for making it, either from my +own Experience or that of other People, or from a reasonable Presumption +that my Returns will be sufficient to answer my Expence and Hazard; and +this is never to be done without the Skill of Numbers. For Instance, if +I am to trade to _Turkey_, I ought beforehand to know the Demand of our +Manufactures there, as well as of their Silks in _England_, and the +customary Prices that are given for both in each Country. I ought to +have a clear Knowledge of these Matters beforehand, that I may presume +upon sufficient Returns to answer the Charge of the Cargo I have fitted +out, the Freight and Assurance out and home, the Custom to the Queen, +and the Interest of my own Money, and besides all these Expences a +reasonable Profit to my self. Now what is there of Scandal in this +Skill? What has the Merchant done, that he should be so little in the +good Graces of Sir ROGER? He throws down no Man's Enclosures, and +tramples upon no Man's Corn; he takes nothing from the industrious +Labourer; he pays the poor Man for his Work; he communicates his Profit +with Mankind; by the Preparation of his Cargo and the Manufacture of his +Returns, he furnishes Employment and Subsistence to greater Numbers than +the richest Nobleman; and even the Nobleman is obliged to him for +finding out foreign Markets for the Produce of his Estate, and for +making a great Addition to his Rents; and yet 'tis certain, that none of +all these Things could be done by him without the Exercise of his Skill +in Numbers. + +This is the Oeconomy of the Merchant; and the Conduct of the Gentleman +must be the same, unless by scorning to be the Steward, he resolves the +Steward shall be the Gentleman. The Gentleman, no more than the +Merchant, is able, without the Help of Numbers, to account for the +Success of any Action, or the Prudence of any Adventure. If, for +Instance, the Chace is his whole Adventure, his only Returns must be the +Stag's Horns in the great Hall, and the Fox's Nose upon the Stable Door. +Without Doubt Sir ROGER knows the full Value of these Returns; and if +beforehand he had computed the Charges of the Chace, a Gentleman of his +Discretion would certainly have hanged up all his Dogs, he would never +have brought back so many fine Horses to the Kennel, he would never have +gone so often, like a Blast, over Fields of Corn. If such too had been +the Conduct of all his Ancestors, he might truly have boasted at this +Day, that the Antiquity of his Family had never been sullied by a Trade; +a Merchant had never been permitted with his whole Estate to purchase a +Room for his Picture in the Gallery of the COVERLEYS, or to claim his +Descent from the Maid of Honour. But 'tis very happy for Sir ROGER that +the Merchant paid so dear for his Ambition. 'Tis the Misfortune of many +other Gentlemen to turn out of the Seats of their Ancestors, to make way +for such new Masters as have been more exact in their Accounts than +themselves; and certainly he deserves the Estate a great deal better, +who has got it by his Industry, than he who has lost it by his +Negligence. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Punica fides.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 175. Thursday, September 20, 1711. Budgell. + + + + 'Proximus à tectis ignis defenditur ægre:' + + Ov. 'Rem. Am.' + + +I shall this Day entertain my Readers with two or three Letters I have +received from my Correspondents: The first discovers to me a Species of +Females which have hitherto escaped my Notice, and is as follows. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am a young Gentleman of a competent Fortune, and a sufficient Taste + of Learning, to spend five or six Hours every Day very agreeably among + my Books. That I might have nothing to divert me from my Studies, and + to avoid the Noises of Coaches and Chair-men, I have taken Lodgings in + a very narrow Street, not far from _Whitehall_; but it is my + Misfortune to be so posted, that my Lodgings are directly opposite to + those of a _Jezebel_. You are to know, Sir, that a _Jezebel_ (so + call'd by the Neighbourhood from displaying her pernicious Charms at + her Window) appears constantly dress'd at her Sash, and has a thousand + little Tricks and Fooleries to attract the Eyes of all the idle young + Fellows in the Neighbourhood. I have seen more than six Persons at + once from their several Windows observing the _Jezebel_ I am now + complaining of. I at first looked on her my self with the highest + Contempt, could divert my self with her Airs for half an Hour, and + afterwards take up my _Plutarch_ with great Tranquillity of Mind; but + was a little vexed to find that in less than a Month she had + considerably stoln upon my Time, so that I resolved to look at her no + more. But the _Jezebel_, who, as I suppose, might think it a + Diminution to her Honour, to have the Number of her Gazers lessen'd, + resolved not to part with me so, and began to play so many new Tricks + at her Window, that it was impossible for me to forbear observing her. + I verily believe she put her self to the Expence of a new Wax Baby on + purpose to plague me; she us'd to dandle and play with this Figure as + impertinently as if it had been a real Child: sometimes she would let + fall a Glove or a Pin Cushion in the Street, and shut or open her + Casement three or four times in a Minute. When I had almost wean'd my + self from this, she came in her Shift-Sleeves, and dress'd at the + Window. I had no Way left but to let down my Curtains, which I + submitted to, though it considerably darkned my Room, and was pleased + to think that I had at last got the better of her; but was surpriz'd + the next Morning to hear her talking out of her Window quite cross the + Street, with another Woman that lodges over me: I am since informed, + that she made her a Visit, and got acquainted with her within three + Hours after the Fall of my Window Curtains. + + Sir, I am plagued every Moment in the Day one way or other in my own + Chambers; and the _Jezebel_ has the Satisfaction to know, that, tho' I + am not looking at her, I am list'ning to her impertinent Dialogues + that pass over my Head. I would immediately change my Lodgings, but + that I think it might look like a plain Confession that I am + conquer'd; and besides this, I am told that most Quarters of the Town + are infested with these Creatures. If they are so, I am sure 'tis such + an Abuse, as a Lover of Learning and Silence ought to take notice of. + + _I am, SIR,_ + _Yours, &c._' + + +I am afraid, by some Lines in this Letter, that my young Student is +touched with a Distemper which he hardly seems to dream of and is too +far gone in it to receive Advice. However, I shall animadvert in due +time on the Abuse which he mentions, having my self observed a Nest of +_Jezebels_ near the _Temple_, who make it their Diversion to draw up the +Eyes of young Templars, that at the same time they may see them stumble +in an unlucky Gutter which runs under the Window. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I have lately read the Conclusion of your forty-seventh Speculation + upon _Butts_ with great Pleasure, and have ever since been thoroughly + perswaded that one of those Gentlemen is extreamly necessary to + enliven Conversation. I had an Entertainment last Week upon the Water + for a Lady to whom I make my Addresses, with several of our Friends of + both Sexes. To divert the Company in general, and to shew my Mistress + in particular my Genius for Raillery, I took one of the most + celebrated _Butts_ in Town along with me. It is with the utmost Shame + and Confusion that I must acquaint you with the Sequel of my + Adventure: As soon as we were got into the Boat, I played a Sentence + or two at my _Butt_ which I thought very smart, when my ill Genius, + who I verily believe inspir'd him purely for my Destruction, suggested + to him such a Reply, as got all the Laughter on his Side. I was + clashed at so unexpected a Turn; which the _Butt_ perceiving, resolved + not to let me recover my self, and pursuing his Victory, rallied and + tossed me in a most unmerciful and barbarous manner 'till we came to + _Chelsea_. I had some small Success while we were eating Cheese-Cakes; + but coming Home, he renewed his Attacks with his former good Fortune, + and equal Diversion to the whole Company. In short, Sir, I must + ingenuously own that I was never so handled in all my Life; and to + compleat my Misfortune, I am since told that the _Butt_, flushed with + his late Victory, has made a Visit or two to the dear Object of my + Wishes, so that I am at once in danger of losing all my Pretensions to + Wit, and my Mistress [into [1]] the Bargain. This, Sir, is a true + Account of my present Troubles, which you are the more obliged to + assist me in, as you were your self in a great measure the Cause of + them, by recommending to us an Instrument, and not instructing us at + the same time how to play upon it. + + I have been thinking whether it might not be highly convenient, that + all _Butts_ should wear an Inscription affixed to some Part of their + Bodies, shewing on which Side they are to be come at, and that if any + of them are Persons of unequal Tempers, there should be some Method + taken to inform the World at what Time it is safe to attack them, and + when you had best to let them alone. But, submitting these Matters to + your more serious Consideration, + + _I am, SIR,_ + _Yours, &c._' + + +I have, indeed, seen and heard of several young Gentlemen under the same +Misfortune with my present Correspondent. The best Rule I can lay down +for them to avoid the like Calamities for the future, is thoroughly to +consider not only _Whether their Companions are weak_, but _Whether +themselves are Wits_. + +The following Letter comes to me from _Exeter_, and being credibly +informed that what it contains is Matter of Fact, I shall give it my +Reader as it was sent me. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + _Exeter, Sept_. 7. + + 'You were pleased in a late Speculation to take notice of the + Inconvenience we lie under in the Country, in not being able to keep + Pace with the Fashion: But there is another Misfortune which we are + subject to, and is no less grievous than the former, which has + hitherto escaped your Observation. I mean, the having Things palmed + upon us for _London_ Fashions, which were never once heard of there. + + A Lady of this Place had some time since a Box of the newest Ribbons + sent down by the Coach: Whether it was her own malicious Invention, or + the Wantonness of a _London_ Milliner, I am not able to inform you; + but, among the rest, there was one Cherry-coloured Ribbon, consisting + of about half a Dozen Yards, made up in the Figure of a small + Head-Dress. The foresaid Lady had the Assurance to affirm, amidst a + Circle of Female Inquisitors, who were present at the opening of the + Box, that this was the newest Fashion worn at Court. Accordingly the + next _Sunday_ we had several Females, who came to Church with their + Heads dress'd wholly in Ribbons, and looked like so many Victims ready + to be Sacrificed. This is still a reigning Mode among us. At the same + time we have a Set of Gentlemen who take the Liberty to appear in all + Publick Places without any Buttons to their Coats, which they supply + with several little Silver Hasps, tho' our freshest Advices from + _London_ make no mention of any such Fashion; and we are something shy + of affording Matter to the Button-Makers for a second Petition. [2] + + + What I would humbly propose to the Publick is, that there may be a + Society erected in _London_, to consist of the most skilful Persons of + both Sexes, for the _Inspection of Modes and Fashions_; and that + hereafter no Person or Persons shall presume to appear singularly + habited in any Part of the Country, without a Testimonial from the + foresaid Society, that their Dress is answerable to the Mode at + _London_. By this means, Sir, we shall know a little whereabout we + are. + + If you could bring this Matter to bear, you would very much oblige + great Numbers of your Country Friends, and among the rest, + + _Your very Humble Servant_, + Jack Modish. + + + X. + + + + [Footnote 1: in] + + +[Footnote 2: In 1609 the Button-Makers sent a petition to Parliament, +which produced the Act of the 8th year of Anne (1709), framed because + + 'the maintenance and subsistence of many thousands of men, women and + children depends upon the making of silk, mohair, gimp, and thread + buttons, and button-holes with the needle,' and these have been ruined + by 'a late unforeseen practice of making and binding button-holes with + cloth, serge,' &c.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 176. Friday, September 21, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Parvula, pumilio, [Greek: charít_on mia], lota merum Sal.' + + Luc. + + +There are in the following Letter Matters, which I, a Batchelor, cannot +be supposed to be acquainted with; therefore shall not pretend to +explain upon it till further Consideration, but leave the Author of the +Epistle to express his Condition his own Way. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR. + + 'I do not deny but you appear in many of your Papers to understand + Human Life pretty well; but there are very many Things which you + cannot possibly have a true Notion of, in a single Life; these are + such as respect the married State; otherwise I cannot account for your + having overlooked a very good Sort of People, which are commonly + called in Scorn the _Henpeckt_. You are to understand that I am one of + those innocent Mortals who suffer Derision under that Word for being + governed by the best of Wives. It would be worth your Consideration to + enter into the Nature of Affection it self, and tell us, according to + your Philosophy, why it is that our Dears shall do what they will with + us, shall be froward, ill-natured, assuming, sometimes whine, at + others rail, then swoon away, then come to Life, have the Use of + Speech to the greatest Fluency imaginable, and then sink away again, + and all because they fear we do not love them enough: that is, the + poor things love us so heartily, that they cannot think it possible we + should be able to love them in so great a Degree, which makes them + take on so. I say, Sir, a true good-natured Man, whom Rakes and + Libertines call _Hen-peckt_, shall fall into all these different Moods + with his dear Life, and at the same time see they are wholly put on; + and yet not be hard-hearted enough to tell the dear good Creature that + she is an Hypocrite. This sort of good Man is very frequent in the + populous and wealthy City of _London_, and is the true _Hen-peckt_ + Man; the kind Creature cannot break through his Kindnesses so far as + to come to an Explanation with the tender Soul, and therefore goes on + to comfort her when nothing ails her, to appease her when she is not + angry, and to give her his Cash when he knows she does not want it; + rather than be uneasy for a whole Month, which is computed by + hard-hearted Men the Space of Time which a froward Woman takes to come + to her self, if you have Courage to stand out. + + There are indeed several other Species of the _Hen-peckt_, and in my + Opinion they are certainly the best Subjects the Queen has; and for + that Reason I take it to be your Duty to keep us above Contempt. + + I do not know whether I make my self understood in the Representation + of an Hen-peckt Life, but I shall take leave to give you an Account of + my self, and my own Spouse. You are to know that I am reckoned no + Fool, have on several Occasions been tried whether I will take ill + Usage, and yet the Event has been to my Advantage; and yet there is + not such a Slave in _Turkey_ as I am to my Dear. She has a good Share + of Wit, and is what you call a very pretty agreeable Woman. I + perfectly doat on her, and my Affection to her gives me all the + Anxieties imaginable but that of Jealousy. My being thus confident of + her, I take, as much as I can judge of my Heart, to be the Reason, + that whatever she does, tho' it be never so much against my + Inclination, there is still left something in her Manner that is + amiable. She will sometimes look at me with an assumed Grandeur, and + pretend to resent that I have not had Respect enough for her Opinion + in such an Instance in Company. I cannot but smile at the pretty Anger + she is in, and then she pretends she is used like a Child. In a Word, + our great Debate is, which has the Superiority in point of + Understanding. She is eternally forming an Argument of Debate; to + which I very indolently answer, Thou art mighty pretty. To this she + answers, All the World but you think I have as much Sense as your + self. I repeat to her, Indeed you are pretty. Upon this there is no + Patience; she will throw down any thing about her, stamp and pull off + her Head-Cloaths. Fie, my Dear, say I; how can a Woman of your Sense + fall into such an intemperate Rage? This is an Argument which never + fails. Indeed, my Dear, says she, you make me mad sometimes, so you + do, with the silly Way you have of treating me like a pretty Idiot. + Well, what have I got by putting her into good Humour? Nothing, but + that I must convince her of my good Opinion by my Practice; and then I + am to give her Possession of my little Ready Money, and, for a Day and + half following, dislike all she dislikes, and extol every thing she + approves. I am so exquisitely fond of this Darling, that I seldom see + any of my Friends, am uneasy in all Companies till I see her again; + and when I come home she is in the Dumps, because she says she is sure + I came so soon only because I think her handsome. I dare not upon this + Occasion laugh; but tho' I am one of the warmest Churchmen in the + Kingdom, I am forced to rail at the Times, because she is a violent + Whig. Upon this we talk Politicks so long, that she is convinc'd I + kiss her for her Wisdom. It is a common Practice with me to ask her + some Question concerning the Constitution, which she answers me in + general out of _Harington's Oceana_ [1]: Then I commend her strange + Memory, and her Arm is immediately lock'd in mine. While I keep her in + this Temper she plays before me, sometimes dancing in the Midst of the + Room, sometimes striking an Air at her Spinnet, varying her Posture + and her Charms in such a Manner that I am in continual Pleasure: She + will play the Fool if I allow her to be wise; but if she suspects I + like her for [her] Trifling, she immediately grows grave. + + These are the Toils in which I am taken, and I carry off my Servitude + as well as most Men; but my Application to you is in Behalf of the + _Hen-peckt_ in general, and I desire a Dissertation from you in + Defence of us. You have, as I am informed, very good Authorities in + our Favour, and hope you will not omit the mention of the Renowned + _Socrates_, and his Philosophick Resignation to his Wife _Xantippe_. + This would be a very good Office to the World in general, for the + _Hen-peckt_ are powerful in their Quality and Numbers, not only in + Cities but in Courts; in the latter they are ever the most obsequious, + in the former the most wealthy of all Men. When you have considered + Wedlock throughly, you ought to enter into the Suburbs of Matrimony, + and give us an Account of the Thraldom of kind Keepers and irresolute + Lovers; the Keepers who cannot quit their Fair Ones tho' they see + their approaching Ruin; the Lovers who dare not marry, tho' they know + they never shall be happy without the Mistresses whom they cannot + purchase on other Terms. + + What will be a great Embellishment to your Discourse, will be, that + you may find Instances of the Haughty, the Proud, the Frolick, the + Stubborn, who are each of them in secret downright Slaves to their + Wives or Mistresses. I must beg of you in the last Place to dwell upon + this, That the Wise and Valiant in all Ages have been _Hen-peckt_: and + that the sturdy Tempers who are not Slaves to Affection, owe that + Exemption to their being enthralled by Ambition, Avarice, or some + meaner Passion. I have ten thousand thousand Things more to say, but + my Wife sees me Writing, and will, according to Custom, be consulted, + if I do not seal this immediately. + + _Yours_, + T. Nathaniel Henroost.' + + + +[Footnote 1: The 'Oceana' is an ideal of an English Commonwealth, +written by James Harrington, after the execution of Charles I. It was +published in 1656, having for a time been stopped at press by Cromwell's +government. After the Restoration, Harrington was sent to the Tower by +Charles II. on a false accusation of conspiracy. Removed to Plymouth, he +there lost his health and some part of his reason, which he did not +regain before his death, in 1677, at the age of 66. His book argues that +Empire follows the balance of property, which, since Henry VII.'s time, +had been daily falling into the scale of the Commons from that of the +King and Lords. In the 'Oceana' other theories of government are +discussed before Harrington elaborates his own, and English history +appears under disguise of names, William the Conqueror being called +Turbo; King John, Adoxus; Richard II., Dicotome; Henry VII., Panurgus; +Henry VIII., Coraunus; Queen Elizabeth, Parthenia; James I., Morpheus; +and Oliver Cromwell, Olphaus Megaletor. Scotland is Marpesia, and +Ireland, Panopæa. A careful edition of Harrington's 'Oceana' and other +of his works, edited by John Toland, had been produced in 1700.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 177. Saturday, September 22, 1711. Addison. + + + '... Quis enim bonus, aut face dignus + Arcanâ, qualem Cereris vult esse sacerdos, + Ulla aliena sibi credat mala?' + + Juv. + + +In one of my last Week's Papers I treated of Good-Nature, as it is the +Effect of Constitution; I shall now speak of it as it is a Moral Virtue. +The first may make a Man easy in himself and agreeable to others, but +implies no Merit in him that is possessed of it. A Man is no more to be +praised upon this Account, than because he has a regular Pulse or a good +Digestion. This Good-Nature however in the Constitution, which Mr. +_Dryden_ somewhere calls a _Milkiness of Blood_, [1] is an admirable +Groundwork for the other. In order therefore to try our Good-Nature, +whether it arises from the Body or the Mind, whether it be founded in +the Animal or Rational Part of our Nature; in a word, whether it be such +as is entituled to any other Reward, besides that secret Satisfaction +and Contentment of Mind which is essential to it, and the kind Reception +it procures us in the World, we must examine it by the following Rules. + +First, whether it acts with Steadiness and Uniformity in Sickness and in +Health, in Prosperity and in Adversity; if otherwise, it is to be looked +upon as nothing else but an Irradiation of the Mind from some new Supply +of Spirits, or a more kindly Circulation of the Blood. _Sir Francis +Bacon_ mentions a cunning Solicitor, [who [2]] would never ask a Favour +of a great Man before Dinner; but took care to prefer his Petition at a +Time when the Party petitioned had his Mind free from Care, and his +Appetites in good Humour. Such a transient temporary Good-Nature as +this, is not that _Philanthropy_, that Love of Mankind, which deserves +the Title of a Moral Virtue. + +The next way of a Man's bringing his Good-Nature to the Test, is, to +consider whether it operates according to the Rules of Reason and Duty: +For if, notwithstanding its general Benevolence to Mankind, it makes no +Distinction between its Objects, if it exerts it self promiscuously +towards the Deserving and Undeserving, if it relieves alike the Idle and +the Indigent, if it gives it self up to the first Petitioner, and lights +upon any one rather by Accident than Choice, it may pass for an amiable +Instinct, but must not assume the Name of a Moral Virtue. + +The third Tryal of Good-Nature will be, the examining ourselves, whether +or no we are able to exert it to our own Disadvantage, and employ it on +proper Objects, notwithstanding any little Pain, Want, or Inconvenience +which may arise to our selves from it: In a Word, whether we are willing +to risque any Part of our Fortune, our Reputation, our Health or Ease, +for the Benefit of Mankind. Among all these Expressions of Good-Nature, +I shall single out that which goes under the general Name of Charity, as +it consists in relieving the Indigent; that being a Tryal of this Kind +which offers itself to us almost at all Times and in every Place. + +I should propose it as a Rule to every one who is provided with any +Competency of Fortune more than sufficient for the Necessaries of Life, +to lay aside a certain Proportion of his Income for the Use of the Poor. +This I would look upon as an Offering to him who has a Right to the +whole, for the Use of those whom, in the Passage hereafter mentioned, he +has described as his own Representatives upon Earth. At the same time we +should manage our Charity with such Prudence and Caution, that we may +not hurt our own Friends or Relations, whilst we are doing Good to those +who are Strangers to us. + +This may possibly be explained better by an Example than by a Rule. + +_Eugenius_ is a Man of an universal Good-Nature, and generous beyond the +Extent of his Fortune; but withal so prudent in the Oeconomy of his +Affairs, that what goes out in Charity is made up by good Management. +_Eugenius_ has what the World calls Two hundred Pounds a Year; but never +values himself above Ninescore, as not thinking he has a Right to the +Tenth Part, which he always appropriates to charitable Uses. To this Sum +he frequently makes other voluntary Additions, insomuch that in a good +Year, for such he accounts those in which he has been able to make +greater Bounties than ordinary, he has given above twice that Sum to the +Sickly and Indigent. _Eugenius_ prescribes to himself many particular +Days of Fasting and Abstinence, in order to increase his private Bank of +Charity, and sets aside what would be the current Expences of those +Times for the Use of the Poor. He often goes afoot where his Business +calls him, and at the End of his Walk has given a Shilling, which in his +ordinary Methods of Expence would have gone for Coach-Hire, to the first +Necessitous Person that has fallen in his way. I have known him, when he +has been going to a Play or an Opera, divert the Money which was +designed for that Purpose, upon an Object of Charity whom he has met +with in the Street; and afterwards pass his Evening in a Coffee-House, +or at a Friend's Fire-side, with much greater Satisfaction to himself +than he could have received from the most exquisite Entertainments of +the Theatre. By these means he is generous, without impoverishing +himself, and enjoys his Estate by making it the Property of others. + +There are few Men so cramped in their private Affairs, who may not be +charitable after this manner, without any Disadvantage to themselves, or +Prejudice to their Families. It is but sometimes sacrificing a Diversion +or Convenience to the Poor, and turning the usual Course of our Expences +into a better Channel. This is, I think, not only the most prudent and +convenient, but the most meritorious Piece of Charity, which we can put +in practice. By this Method we in some measure share the Necessities of +the Poor at the same time that we relieve them, and make ourselves not +only [their Patrons, [3]] but their Fellow Sufferers. + +Sir _Thomas Brown_, in the last Part of his _Religio Medici_, in which +he describes his Charity in several Heroick Instances, and with a noble +Heat of Sentiments, mentions that Verse in the Proverbs of _Solomon, He +that giveth to the Poor, lendeth to the Lord_. [4] + + 'There is more Rhetorick in that one Sentence, says he, than in a + Library of Sermons; and indeed if those Sentences were understood by + the Reader, with the same Emphasis as they are delivered by the + Author, we needed not those Volumes of Instructions, but might be + honest by an Epitome. [5]' + +This Passage in Scripture is indeed wonderfully persuasive; but I think +the same Thought is carried much further in the New Testament, where our +Saviour tells us in a most pathetick manner, that he shall hereafter +regard the Cloathing of the Naked, the Feeding of the Hungry, and the +Visiting of the Imprisoned, as Offices done to himself, and reward them +accordingly. [6] Pursuant to those Passages in Holy Scripture, I have +somewhere met with the Epitaph of a charitable Man, which has very much +pleased me. I cannot recollect the Words, but the Sense of it is to this +Purpose; What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I +gave away remains with me. [7] + +Since I am thus insensibly engaged in Sacred Writ, I cannot forbear +making an Extract of several Passages which I have always read with +great Delight in the Book of _Job_. It is the Account which that Holy +Man gives of his Behaviour in the Days of his Prosperity, and, if +considered only as a human Composition, is a finer Picture of a +charitable and good-natured Man than is to be met with in any other +Author. + + _Oh that I were as in Months past, as in the Days when God preserved + me: When his Candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I + walked through darkness: When the Almighty was yet with me: when my + Children were about me: When I washed my steps with butter, and the + rock poured out rivers of oyl. + + When the Ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the Eye saw me, it + gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the + fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him + that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the Widow's Heart + to sing for joy. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; + I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched + out. Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my Soul + grieved for the poor? Let me be weighed in an even ballance, that God + may know mine Integrity. If I did despise the cause of my man-servant + or my maid-servant when they contended with me: What then shall I do + when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did + not he that made me in the womb, make him? and did not one fashion us + in the womb? If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have + caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel myself + alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof: If I have seen any + perish for want of cloathing, or any poor without covering: If his + loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece + of my sheep: If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless, when I + saw my help in the gate; then let mine arm fall from my + shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. If I have + rejoiced at the Destruction of him that hated me, or lift up myself + when evil found him: (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin, by + wishing a curse to his soul). The stranger did not lodge in the + street; but I opened my doors to the traveller. If my land cry against + me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain: If I have eaten the + Fruits thereof without mony, or have caused the owners thereof to lose + their Life; Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of + barley_. [8] + + + +[Footnote 1: Cleomenes to Pantheus, + + 'Would I could share thy Balmy, even Temper, + And Milkiness of Blood.' + +'Cleomenes', Act i. sc. I.] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: the Patrons of the Indigent] + + +[Footnote 4: 'Proverbs' xix. 17.] + + +[Footnote 5: 'Rel. Med.' Part II. sect. 13.] + + +[Footnote 6: 'Matt.' xxi. 31, &c.] + + +[Footnote 7: The Epitaph was in St. George's Church at Doncaster, and +ran thus: + + 'How now, who is heare? + I Robin of Doncastere + And Margaret my feare. + That I spent, that I had; + That I gave, that I have; + That I left, that I lost.'] + + +[Footnote 8: 'Job' xxix. 2, &c.; xxx. 25, &c.; xxxi. 6, &c.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 178. Monday, September 24, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Comis in uxorem ...' + + Hor. + +I cannot defer taking Notice of this Letter. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + I am but too good a Judge of your Paper of the 15th Instant, which is + a Master-piece; I mean that of Jealousy: But I think it unworthy of + you to speak of that Torture in the Breast of a Man, and not to + mention also the Pangs of it in the Heart of a Woman. You have very + Judiciously, and with the greatest Penetration imaginable, considered + it as Woman is the Creature of whom the Diffidence is raised; but not + a Word of a Man who is so unmerciful as to move Jealousy in his Wife, + and not care whether she is so or not. It is possible you may not + believe there are such Tyrants in the World; but alas, I can tell you + of a Man who is ever out of Humour in his Wife's Company, and the + pleasantest Man in the World every where else; the greatest Sloven at + home when he appears to none but his Family, and most exactly + well-dressed in all other Places. Alas, Sir, is it of Course, that to + deliver one's self wholly into a Man's Power without Possibility of + Appeal to any other Jurisdiction but to his own Reflections, is so + little an Obligation to a Gentleman, that he can be offended and fall + into a Rage, because my Heart swells Tears into my Eyes when I see him + in a cloudy Mood? I pretend to no Succour, and hope for no Relief but + from himself; and yet he that has Sense and Justice in every thing + else, never reflects, that to come home only to sleep off an + Intemperance, and spend all the Time he is there as if it were a + Punishment, cannot but give the Anguish of a jealous Mind. He always + leaves his Home as if he were going to Court, and returns as if he + were entring a Gaol. I could add to this, that from his Company and + his usual Discourse, he does not scruple being thought an abandoned + Man, as to his Morals. Your own Imagination will say enough to you + concerning the Condition of me his Wife; and I wish you would be so + good as to represent to him, for he is not ill-natured, and reads you + much, that the Moment I hear the Door shut after him, I throw myself + upon my Bed, and drown the Child he is so fond of with my Tears, and + often frighten it with my Cries; that I curse my Being; that I run to + my Glass all over bathed in Sorrows, and help the Utterance of my + inward Anguish by beholding the Gush of my own Calamities as my Tears + fall from my Eyes. This looks like an imagined Picture to tell you, + but indeed this is one of my Pastimes. Hitherto I have only told you + the general Temper of my Mind, but how shall I give you an Account of + the Distraction of it? Could you but conceive how cruel I am one + Moment in my Resentment, and at the ensuing Minute, when I place him + in the Condition my Anger would bring him to, how compassionate; it + would give you some Notion how miserable I am, and how little I + deserve it. When I remonstrate with the greatest Gentleness that is + possible against unhandsome Appearances, and that married Persons are + under particular Rules; when he is in the best Humour to receive this, + I am answered only, That I expose my own Reputation and Sense if I + appear jealous. I wish, good Sir, you would take this into serious + Consideration, and admonish Husbands and Wives what Terms they ought + to keep towards each other. Your Thoughts on this important Subject + will have the greatest Reward, that which descends on such as feel the + Sorrows of the Afflicted. Give me leave to subscribe my self, + Your unfortunate humble Servant, + CELINDA. + +I had it in my Thoughts, before I received the Letter of this Lady, to +consider this dreadful Passion in the Mind of a Woman; and the Smart she +seems to feel does not abate the Inclination I had to recommend to +Husbands a more regular Behaviour, than to give the most exquisite of +Torments to those who love them, nay whose Torment would be abated if +they did not love them. + +It is wonderful to observe how little is made of this inexpressible +Injury, and how easily Men get into a Habit of being least agreeable +where they are most obliged to be so. But this Subject deserves a +distinct Speculation, and I shall observe for a Day or two the Behaviour +of two or three happy Pair I am acquainted with, before I pretend to +make a System of Conjugal Morality. I design in the first Place to go a +few Miles out of Town, and there I know where to meet one who practises +all the Parts of a fine Gentleman in the Duty of an Husband. When he was +a Batchelor much Business made him particularly negligent in his Habit; +but now there is no young Lover living so exact in the Care of his +Person. One who asked why he was so long washing his Mouth, and so +delicate in the Choice and Wearing of his Linen, was answered, Because +there is a Woman of Merit obliged to receive me kindly, and I think it +incumbent upon me to make her Inclination go along with her Duty. + +If a Man would give himself leave to think, he would not be so +unreasonable as to expect Debauchery and Innocence could live in +Commerce together; or hope that Flesh and Blood is capable of so strict +an Allegiance, as that a fine Woman must go on to improve her self 'till +she is as good and impassive as an Angel, only to preserve a Fidelity to +a Brute and a Satyr. The Lady who desires me for her Sake to end one of +my Papers with the following Letter, I am persuaded, thinks such a +Perseverance very impracticable. + + _Husband_, + Stay more at home. I know where you visited at Seven of [the] Clock on + _Thursday_ Evening. The Colonel whom you charged me to see no more, is + in Town. + _Martha Housewife_. + + +T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 179. Tuesday, September 25, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Centuriæ seniorum agitant expertia frugis: + Celsi prætereunt austera Poemata Rhamnes. + Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci, + Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo ...' + + Hor. + + +I may cast my Readers under two general Divisions, the _Mercurial_ and +the _Saturnine_. The first are the gay Part of my Disciples, who require +Speculations of Wit and Humour; the others are those of a more solemn +and sober Turn, who find no Pleasure but in Papers of Morality and sound +Sense. The former call every thing that is Serious, Stupid; the latter +look upon every thing as Impertinent that is Ludicrous. Were I always +Grave, one half of my Readers would fall off from me: Were I always +Merry, I should lose the other. I make it therefore my Endeavour to find +out Entertainments of both Kinds, and by that means perhaps consult the +Good of both, more than I should do, did I always write to the +particular Taste of either. As they neither of them know what I proceed +upon, the sprightly Reader, who takes up my Paper in order to be +diverted, very often finds himself engaged unawares in a serious and +profitable Course of Thinking; as on the contrary, the thoughtful Man, +who perhaps may hope to find something Solid, and full of deep +Reflection, is very often insensibly betrayed into a Fit of Mirth. In a +word, the Reader sits down to my Entertainment without knowing his Bill +of Fare, and has therefore at least the Pleasure of hoping there may be +a Dish to his Palate. + +I must confess, were I left to my self, I should rather aim at +Instructing than Diverting; but if we will be useful to the World, we +must take it as we find it. Authors of professed Severity discourage the +looser Part of Mankind from having any thing to do with their Writings. +A man must have Virtue in him, before he will enter upon the reading of +a _Seneca_ or an _Epictetus_. The very Title of a Moral Treatise has +something in it austere and shocking to the Careless and Inconsiderate. + +For this Reason several unthinking Persons fall in my way, who would +give no Attention to Lectures delivered with a Religious Seriousness or +a Philosophick Gravity. They are insnared into Sentiments of Wisdom and +Virtue when they do not think of it; and if by that means they arrive +only at such a Degree of Consideration as may dispose them to listen to +more studied and elaborate Discourses, I shall not think my Speculations +useless. I might likewise observe, that the Gloominess in which +sometimes the Minds of the best Men are involved, very often stands in +need of such little Incitements to Mirth and Laughter, as are apt to +disperse Melancholy, and put our Faculties in good Humour. To which some +will add, that the _British_ Climate, more than any other, makes +Entertainments of this Nature in a manner necessary. + +If what I have here said does not recommend, it will at least excuse the +Variety of my Speculations. I would not willingly Laugh but in order to +Instruct, or if I sometimes fail in this Point, when my Mirth ceases to +be Instructive, it shall never cease to be Innocent. A scrupulous +Conduct in this Particular has, perhaps, more Merit in it than the +Generality of Readers imagine; did they know how many Thoughts occur in +a Point of Humour, which a discreet Author in Modesty suppresses; how +many Stroaks in Raillery present themselves, which could not fail to +please the ordinary Taste of Mankind, but are stifled in their Birth by +reason of some remote Tendency which they carry in them to corrupt the +Minds of those who read them; did they know how many Glances of +Ill-nature are industriously avoided for fear of doing Injury to the +Reputation of another, they would be apt to think kindly of those +Writers who endeavour to make themselves Diverting, without being +Immoral. One may apply to these Authors that Passage in _Waller_, [1] + + + 'Poets lose half the Praise they would have got, + Were it but known what they discreetly blot'. + +As nothing is more easy than to be a Wit, with all the above-mentioned +Liberties, it requires some Genius and Invention to appear such without +them. + +What I have here said is not only in regard to the Publick, but with an +Eye to my particular Correspondent who has sent me the following Letter, +which I have castrated in some Places upon these Considerations. + + + _SIR_, + + 'Having lately seen your Discourse upon a Match of Grinning, I cannot + forbear giving you an Account of a Whistling Match, which, with many + others, I was entertained with about three Years since at the _Bath_. + The Prize was a Guinea, to be conferred upon the ablest Whistler, that + is, on him who could whistle clearest, and go through his Tune without + Laughing, [to] which at the same time he was [provoked [2]] by the + antick Postures of a _Merry-Andrew_, who was to stand upon the Stage + and play his Tricks in the Eye of the Performer. There were three + Competitors for the Ring. The first was a Plow-man of a very promising + Aspect; his Features were steady, and his Muscles composed in so + inflexible a Stupidity, that upon his first Appearance every one gave + the Guinea for lost. The Pickled Herring however found the way to + shake him; for upon his Whistling a Country Jigg, this unlucky Wag + danced to it with such a Variety of Distortions and Grimaces, that the + Country-man could not forbear smiling upon him, and by that means + spoiled his Whistle, and lost the Prize. + + The next that mounted the Stage was an Under-Citizen of the _Bath_, a + Person remarkable among the inferior People of that Place for his + great Wisdom and his Broad Band. He contracted his Mouth with much + Gravity, and, that he might dispose his Mind to be more serious than + ordinary, began the Tune of _The Children in the Wood_, and went + through part of it with good Success; when on a sudden the Wit at his + Elbow, who had appeared wonderfully grave and attentive for some time, + gave him a Touch upon the left Shoulder, and stared him in the Face + with so bewitching a Grin, that the Whistler relaxed his Fibres into a + kind of Simper, and at length burst out into an open Laugh. The third + who entered the Lists was a Foot-man, who in Defiance of the + _Merry-Andrew_, and all his Arts, whistled a _Scotch_ Tune and an + _Italian_ Sonata, with so settled a Countenance, that he bore away the + Prize, to the great Admiration of some Hundreds of Persons, who, as + well as my self, were present at this Trial of Skill. Now, Sir, I + humbly conceive, whatever you have determined of the Grinners, the + Whistlers ought to be encouraged, not only as their Art is practised + without Distortion, but as it improves Country Musick, promotes + Gravity, and teaches ordinary People to keep their Countenances, if + they see any thing ridiculous in their Betters; besides that it seems + an Entertainment very particularly adapted to the _Bath_, as it is + usual for a Rider to whistle to his Horse when he would make his + Waters pass. + + _I am, Sir, &c_. + + + _POSTSCRIPT_. + + After having despatched these two important Points of Grinning and + Whistling, I hope you will oblige the World with some Reflections upon + Yawning, as I have seen it practised on a Twelfth-Night among other + _Christmas_ Gambols at the House of a very worthy Gentleman, who + always entertains his Tenants at that time of the Year. They Yawn for + a _Cheshire_ Cheese, and begin about Midnight, when the whole Company + is disposed to be drowsie. He that Yawns widest, and at the same time + so naturally as to produce the most Yawns among his Spectators, + carries home the Cheese. If you handle this Subject as you ought, I + question not but your Paper will set half the Kingdom a Yawning, tho' + I dare promise you it will never make any Body fall asleep. + + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Upon Roscommon's Tr. of Horace's 'Art of Poetry'.] + + +[Footnote 2: provoked to] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 180. Wednesday, September 26, 1711. Steele. + + + '... Delirant Reges, plectuntur Achivi.' + + Hor. + + + +The following Letter [1] has so much Weight and good Sense, that I +cannot forbear inserting it, tho' it relates to an hardened Sinner, whom +I have very little Hopes of reforming, _viz. Lewis_ XIV. of _France_. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Amidst the Variety of Subjects of which you have treated, I could + wish it had fallen in your way to expose the Vanity of Conquests. This + Thought would naturally lead one to the _French_ King, who has been + generally esteemed the greatest Conqueror of our Age, 'till her + Majesty's Armies had torn from him so many of his Countries, and + deprived him of the Fruit of all his former Victories. For my own + Part, if I were to draw his Picture, I should be for taking him no + lower than to the Peace of _Reswick_ [2], just at the End of his + Triumphs, and before his Reverse of Fortune: and even then I should + not forbear thinking his Ambition had been vain and unprofitable to + himself and his People. + + As for himself, it is certain he can have gained nothing by his + Conquests, if they have not rendered him Master of more Subjects, more + Riches, or greater Power. What I shall be able to offer upon these + Heads, I resolve to submit to your Consideration. + + To begin then with his Increase of Subjects. From the Time he came of + Age, and has been a Manager for himself, all the People he had + acquired were such only as he had reduced by his Wars, and were left + in his Possession by the Peace; he had conquered not above one third + Part of _Flanders_, and consequently no more than one third Part of + the Inhabitants of that Province. + + About 100 Years ago the Houses in that Country were all Numbered, and + by a just Computation the Inhabitants of all Sorts could not then + exceed 750000 Souls. And if any Man will consider the Desolation by + almost perpetual Wars, the numerous Armies that have lived almost ever + since at Discretion upon the People, and how much of their Commerce + has removed for more Security to other Places, he will have little + Reason to imagine that their Numbers have since increased; and + therefore with one third Part of that Province that Prince can have + gained no more than one third Part of the Inhabitants, or 250000 new + Subjects, even tho' it should be supposed they were all contented to + live still in their native Country. and transfer their Allegiance to a + new Master. + + The Fertility of this Province, its convenient Situation for Trade and + Commerce, its Capacity for furnishing Employment and Subsistence to + great Numbers, and the vast Armies that have been maintained here, + make it credible that the remaining two Thirds of _Flanders_ are equal + to all his other Conquests; and consequently by all he cannot have + gained more than 750000 new Subjects, Men, Women and Children, + especially if a Deduction shall be made of such as have retired from + the Conqueror to live under their old Masters. + + It is Time now to set his Loss against his Profit, and to shew for the + new Subjects he had acquired, how many old ones he had lost in the + Acquisition: I think that in his Wars he has seldom brought less into + the Field in all Places than 200000 fighting Men, besides what have + been left in Garrisons; and I think the common Computation is, that of + an Army, at the latter End of a Campaign, without Sieges or Battle, + scarce Four Fifths can be mustered of those that came into the Field + at the Beginning of the Year. His Wars at several Times till the last + Peace have held about 20 Years; and if 40000 yearly lost, or a fifth + Part of his Armies, are to be multiplied by 20, he cannot have lost + less than 800000 of his old Subjects, all able-body'd Men; a greater + Number than the new Subjects he had acquired. + + But this Loss is not all: Providence seems to have equally divided the + whole Mass of Mankind into different Sexes, that every Woman may have + her Husband, and that both may equally contribute to the Continuance + of the Species. It follows then, that for all the Men that have been + lost, as many Women must have lived single, and it were but Charity to + believe they have not done all the Service they were capable of doing + in their Generation. In so long a Course of Years great part of them + must have died, and all the rest must go off at last without leaving + any Representatives behind. By this Account he must have lost not only + 800000 Subjects, but double that Number, and all the Increase that was + reasonably to be expected from it. + + It is said in the last War there was a Famine in his Kingdom, which + swept away two Millions of his People. This is hardly credible: If the + loss was only of one fifth Part of that Sum, it was very great. But + 'tis no wonder there should be Famine, where so much of the People's + Substance is taken away for the King's Use, that they have not + sufficient left to provide against Accidents: where so many of the Men + are taken from the Plough to serve the King in his Wars, and a great + part of the Tillage is left to the weaker Hands of so many Women and + Children. Whatever was the Loss, it must undoubtedly be placed to the + Account of his Ambition. + + And so must also the Destruction or Banishment of 3 or 400000 of his + reformed Subjects; he could have no other Reasons for valuing those + Lives so very cheap, but only to recommend himself to the Bigotry of + the _Spanish_ Nation. + + How should there be Industry in a Country where all Property is + precarious? What Subject will sow his Land that his Prince may reap + the whole Harvest? Parsimony and Frugality must be Strangers to such a + People; for will any Man save to-day what he has Reason to fear will + be taken from him to-morrow? And where is the Encouragement for + marrying? Will any Man think of raising Children, without any + Assurance of Cloathing for their Backs, or so much as Food for their + Bellies? And thus by his fatal Ambition he must have lessened the + Number of his Subjects not only by Slaughter and Destruction, but by + preventing their very Births, he has done as much as was possible + towards destroying Posterity itself. + + Is this then the great, the invincible _Lewis?_ This the immortal Man, + the _tout-puissant_, or the Almighty, as his Flatterers have called + him? Is this the Man that is so celebrated for his Conquests? For + every Subject he has acquired, has he not lost three that were his + Inheritance? Are not his Troops fewer, and those neither so well fed, + or cloathed, or paid, as they were formerly, tho' he has now so much + greater Cause to exert himself? And what can be the Reason of all + this, but that his Revenue is a great deal less, his Subjects are + either poorer, or not so many to be plundered by constant Taxes for + his Use? + + It is well for him he had found out a Way to steal a Kingdom; if he + had gone on conquering as he did before, his Ruin had been long since + finished. This brings to my Mind a saying of King _Pyrrhus_, after he + had a second time beat the _Romans_ in a pitched Battle, and was + complimented by his Generals; _Yes_, says he, _such another Victory + and I am quite undone_. And since I have mentioned _Pyrrhus_, I will + end with a very good, though known Story of this ambitious mad Man. + When he had shewn the utmost Fondness for his Expedition against the + _Romans, Cyneas_ his chief Minister asked him what he proposed to + himself by this War? Why, says _Pyrrhus_, to conquer the _Romans_, and + reduce all _Italy_ to my Obedience. What then? says _Cyneas_. To pass + over into _Sicily_, says _Pyrrhus_, and then all the _Sicilians_ must + be our Subjects. And what does your Majesty intend next? Why truly, + says the King, to conquer _Carthage_, and make myself Master of all + _Africa_. And what, Sir, says the Minister is to be the End of all + your Expeditions? Why then, says the King, for the rest of our Lives + we'll sit down to good Wine. How, Sir, replied Cyneas, to better than + we have now before us? Have we not already as much as we can drink? + [3] + + Riot and Excess are not the becoming Characters of Princes: but if + Pyrrhus and Lewis had debauched like Vitellius, they had been less + hurtful to their People.' + + Your humble Servant, + + T. PHILARITHMUS. + + + +[Footnote 1: The letter is, with other contributions not now traceable +to him, by Henry Martyn, son of Edward Martyn, Esq., of Melksham, Wilts. +He was bred to the bar, but his health did not suffer him to practise. +He has been identified with the Cottilus of No. 143 of the Spectator. In +1713 Henry Martyn opposed the ratification of the Treaty of Commerce +made with France at the Peace of Utrecht in a Paper called 'The British +Merchant, or Commerce Preserved,' which was a reply to Defoe's +'Mercator, or Commerce Retrieved.' Martyn's paper is said to have been a +principal cause of the rejection of the Treaty, and to have procured him +the post of Inspector-General of Imports and Exports. He died at +Blackheath, March 25, 1721, leaving one son, who became Secretary to the +Commissioners of Excise. As an intimate friend of Steele's, it has been +thought that Henry Martyn suggested a trait or two in the Sir Andrew +Freeport of the Spectator's Club.] + + +[Footnote 2: Sept. 20, 1696.] + + + +[Footnote 3: These anecdotes are from Plutarch's 'Life of Pyrrhus'.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 181. Thursday, September 27, 1711. Addison. + + + 'His lacrymis vitam damus, et miserescimus ultrò.' + + Virg. + + +I am more pleased with a Letter that is filled with Touches of Nature +than of Wit. The following one is of this Kind. + + + SIR, + + 'Among all the Distresses which happen in Families, I do not remember + that you have touched upon the Marriage of Children without the + Consent of their Parents. I am one of [these [1]] unfortunate Persons. + I was about Fifteen when I took the Liberty to choose for my self; and + have ever since languished under the Displeasure of an inexorable + Father, who, though he sees me happy in the best of Husbands, and + blessed with very fine Children, can never be prevailed upon to + forgive me. He was so kind to me before this unhappy Accident, that + indeed it makes my Breach of Duty, in some measure, inexcusable; and + at the same Time creates in me such a Tenderness towards him, that I + love him above all things, and would die to be reconciled to him. I + have thrown myself at his Feet, and besought him with Tears to pardon + me; but he always pushes me away, and spurns me from him; I have + written several Letters to him, but he will neither open nor receive + them. About two Years ago I sent my little Boy to him, dressed in a + new Apparel; but the Child returned to me crying, because he said his + Grandfather would not see him, and had ordered him to be put out of + his House. My Mother is won over to my Side, but dares not mention me + to my Father for fear of provoking him. About a Month ago he lay sick + upon his Bed, and in great Danger of his Life: I was pierced to the + Heart at the News, and could not forbear going to inquire after his + Health. My Mother took this Opportunity of speaking in my Behalf: she + told him with abundance of Tears, that I was come to see him, that I + could not speak to her for weeping, and that I should certainly break + my Heart if he refus'd at that Time to give me his Blessing, and be + reconciled to me. He was so far from relenting towards me, that he bid + her speak no more of me, unless she had a mind to disturb him in his + last Moments; for, Sir, you must know that he has the Reputation of an + honest and religious Man, which makes my Misfortune so much the + greater. God be thanked he is since recovered: But his severe Usage + has given me such a Blow, that I shall soon sink under it, unless I + may be relieved by any Impressions which the reading of this in your + Paper may make upon him. + + _I am, &c._ + + +Of all Hardnesses of Heart there is none so inexcusable as that of +Parents towards their Children. An obstinate, inflexible, unforgiving +Temper is odious upon all Occasions; but here it is unnatural. The Love, +Tenderness, and Compassion, which are apt to arise in us towards those +[who [2]] depend upon us, is that by which the whole World of Life is +upheld. The Supreme Being, by the transcendent Excellency and Goodness +of his Nature, extends his Mercy towards all his Works; and because his +Creatures have not such a spontaneous Benevolence and Compassion towards +those who are under their Care and Protection, he has implanted in them +an Instinct, that supplies the Place of this inherent Goodness. I have +illustrated this kind of Instinct in former Papers, and have shewn how +it runs thro' all the Species of brute Creatures, as indeed the whole +Animal Creation subsists by it. + +This Instinct in Man is more general and uncircumscribed than in Brutes, +as being enlarged by the Dictates of Reason and Duty. For if we consider +our selves attentively, we shall find that we are not only inclined to +love those who descend from us, but that we bear a kind of [Greek: +atorgáe], or natural Affection, to every thing which relies upon us for +its Good and Preservation. Dependance is a perpetual Call upon Humanity, +and a greater Incitement to Tenderness and Pity than any other Motive +whatsoever. + +The Man therefore who, notwithstanding any Passion or Resentment, can +overcome this powerful Instinct, and extinguish natural Affection, +debases his Mind even below Brutality, frustrates, as much as in him +lies, the great Design of Providence, and strikes out of his Nature one +of the most Divine Principles that is planted in it. + +Among innumerable Arguments [which [3]] might be brought against such an +unreasonable Proceeding, I shall only insist on one. We make it the +Condition of our Forgiveness that we forgive others. In our very Prayers +we desire no more than to be treated by this kind of Retaliation. The +Case therefore before us seems to be what they call a Case in Point; the +Relation between the Child and Father being what comes nearest to that +between a Creature and its Creator. If the Father is inexorable to the +Child who has offended, let the Offence be of never so high a Nature, +how will he address himself to the Supreme Being under the tender +Appellation of a Father, and desire of him such a Forgiveness as he +himself refuses to grant? + +To this I might add many other religious, as well as many prudential +Considerations; but if the last mentioned Motive does not prevail, I +despair of succeeding by any other, and shall therefore conclude my +Paper with a very remarkable Story, which is recorded in an old +Chronicle published by Freher, among the Writers of the German History. +[4] + +Eginhart, who was Secretary to Charles the Great, became exceeding +popular by his Behaviour in that Post. His great Abilities gain'd him +the Favour of his Master, and the Esteem of the whole Court. Imma, the +Daughter of the Emperor, was so pleased with his Person and +Conversation, that she fell in Love with him. As she was one of the +greatest Beauties of the Age, Eginhart answer'd her with a more than +equal Return of Passion. They stifled their Flames for some Time, under +Apprehension of the fatal Consequences that might ensue. Eginhart at +length resolving to hazard all, rather than be deprived of one whom his +Heart was so much set upon, conveyed himself one Night into the +Princess's Apartment, and knocking gently at the Door, was admitted as a +Person [who [5]] had something to communicate to her from the Emperor. +He was with her in private most Part of the Night; but upon his +preparing to go away about Break of Day, he observed that there had +fallen a great Snow during his Stay with the Princess. This very much +perplexed him, lest the Prints of his Feet in the Snow might make +Discoveries to the King, who often used to visit his Daughter in the +Morning. He acquainted the Princess Imma with his Fears; who, after some +Consultations upon the Matter, prevailed upon him to let her carry him +through the Snow upon her own Shoulders. It happened, that the Emperor +not being able to sleep, was at that time up and walking in his Chamber, +when upon looking through the Window he perceived his Daughter tottering +under her Burden, and carrying his first Minister across the Snow; which +she had no sooner done, but she returned again with the utmost Speed to +her own Apartment. The Emperor was extreamly troubled and astonished at +this Accident; but resolved to speak nothing of it till a proper +Opportunity. In the mean time, Eginhart knowing that what he had done +could not be long a Secret, determined to retire from Court; and in +order to it begged the Emperor that he would be pleased to dismiss him, +pretending a kind of Discontent at his not having been rewarded for his +long Services. The Emperor would not give a direct Answer to his +Petition, but told him he would think of it, and [appointed [6]] a +certain Day when he would let him know his Pleasure. He then called +together the most faithful of his Counsellors, and acquainting them with +his Secretary's Crime, asked them their Advice in so delicate an Affair. +They most of them gave their Opinion, that the Person could not be too +severely punished who had thus dishonoured his Master. Upon the whole +Debate, the Emperor declared it was his Opinion, that Eginhart's +Punishment would rather encrease than diminish the Shame of his Family, +and that therefore he thought it the most adviseable to wear out the +Memory of the Fact, by marrying him to his Daughter. Accordingly +Eginhart was called in, and acquainted by the Emperor, that he should no +longer have any Pretence of complaining his Services were not rewarded, +for that the Princess Imma should be given [him [7]] in Marriage, with a +Dower suitable to her Quality; which was soon after performed +accordingly. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: those] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: Marquard Freher, who died at Heidelberg in 1614, aged 49, +was Counsellor to the Elector Palatine, and Professor of Jurisprudence +at Heidelberg, until employed by the Elector (Frederick IV) as his +Minister in Poland, and at other courts. The chief of many works of his +were, on the Monetary System of the Ancient Romans and of the German +Empire in his day, a History of France, a collection of Writers on +Bohemian History, and another of Writers on German History, Rerum +Germanicarum Scriptores, in three volumes. It is from a Chronicle of the +monastery of Lorsch (or Laurisheim), in Hesse Darmstadt, under the year +805, in the first volume of the last-named collection, that the story +about Eginhart was taken by Bayle, out of whose Dictionary Addison got +it. Bayle, indeed, specially recommends it as good matter for a story. +Imma, the chronicle says, had been betrothed to the Grecian Emperor.] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: fixed on] + + +[Footnote 7: to him] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 182. Friday, September 28, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Plus aloës quàm mellis habet ...' + + Juv. + + +As all Parts of humane Life come under my Observation, my Reader must +not make uncharitable Inferences from my speaking knowingly of that Sort +of Crime which is at present treated of. He will, I hope, suppose I know +it only from the Letters of Correspondents, two of which you shall have +as follow. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'It is wonderful to me that among the many Enormities which you have + treated of, you have not mentioned that of Wenching, and particularly + the Insnaring Part; I mean, that it is a Thing very fit for your Pen, + to expose the Villany of the Practice of deluding Women. You are to + know, Sir, that I myself am a Woman who have been one of the Unhappy + that have fallen into this Misfortune, and that by the Insinuation of + a very worthless Fellow, who served others in the same Manner both + before my Ruin and since that Time. I had, as soon as the Rascal left + me, so much Indignation and Resolution, as not to go upon the Town, as + the Phrase is, but took to Work for my Living in an obscure Place, out + of the Knowledge of all with whom I was before acquainted. + + It is the ordinary Practice and Business of Life with a Set of idle + Fellows about this Town, to write Letters, send Messages, and form + Appointments with little raw unthinking Girls, and leave them after + Possession of them, without any Mercy, to Shame, Infamy, Poverty, and + Disease. Were you to read the nauseous Impertinences which are written + on these Occasions, and to see the silly Creatures sighing over them, + it could not but be Matter of Mirth as well as Pity. A little Prentice + Girl of mine has been for some time applied to by an Irish Fellow, who + dresses very fine, and struts in a laced Coat, and is the Admiration + of Seamstresses who are under Age in Town. Ever since I have had some + Knowledge of the Matter, I have debarred my Prentice from Pen, Ink and + Paper. But the other Day he bespoke some Cravats of me: I went out of + the Shop, and left his Mistress to put them up into a Band-box in + order to be sent to him when his Man called. When I came into the Shop + again, I took occasion to send her away, and found in the Bottom of + the Box written these Words, Why would you ruin a harmless Creature + that loves you? then in the Lid, There is no resisting Strephon: I + searched a little farther, and found in the Rim of the Box, At Eleven + of clock at Night come in an Hackney-Coach at the End of our Street. + This was enough to alarm me; I sent away the things, and took my + Measures accordingly. An Hour or two before the appointed Time I + examined my young Lady, and found her Trunk stuffed with impertinent + Letters, and an old Scroll of Parchment in Latin, which her Lover had + sent her as a Settlement of Fifty Pounds a Year: Among other things, + there was also the best Lace I had in my Shop to make him a Present + for Cravats. I was very glad of this last Circumstance, because I + could very conscientiously swear against him that he had enticed my + Servant away, and was her Accomplice in robbing me: I procured a + Warrant against him accordingly. Every thing was now prepared, and the + tender Hour of Love approaching, I, who had acted for myself in my + Youth the same senseless Part, knew how to manage accordingly. + Therefore after having locked up my Maid, and not being so much unlike + her in Height and Shape, as in a huddled way not to pass for her, I + delivered the Bundle designed to be carried off to her Lover's Man, + who came with the Signal to receive them. Thus I followed after to the + Coach, where when I saw his Master take them in, I cryed out, Thieves! + Thieves! and the Constable with his Attendants seized my expecting + Lover. I kept my self unobserved till I saw the Crowd sufficiently + encreased, and then appeared to declare the Goods to be mine; and had + the Satisfaction to see my Man of Mode put into the Round-House, with + the stolen Wares by him, to be produced in Evidence against him the + next Morning. This Matter is notoriously known to be Fact; and I have + been contented to save my Prentice, and take a Year's Rent of this + mortified Lover, not to appear further in the Matter. This was some + Penance; but, Sir, is this enough for a Villany of much more + pernicious Consequence than the Trifles for which he was to have been + indicted? Should not you, and all Men of any Parts or Honour, put + things upon so right a Foot, as that such a Rascal should not laugh at + the Imputation of what he was really guilty, and dread being accused + of that for which he was arrested? + + In a word, Sir, it is in the Power of you, and such as I hope you are, + to make it as infamous to rob a poor Creature of her Honour as her + Cloaths. I leave this to your Consideration, only take Leave (which I + cannot do without sighing) to remark to you, that if this had been the + Sense of Mankind thirty Years ago, I should have avoided a Life spent + in Poverty and Shame. + + I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant, Alice Threadneedle. + + + + _Round-House, Sept. 9_. + + _Mr._ SPECTATOR, + + 'I am a Man of Pleasure about Town, but by the Stupidity of a dull + Rogue of a Justice of Peace, and an insolent Constable, upon the Oath + of an old Harridan, am imprisoned here for Theft, when I designed only + Fornication. The Midnight Magistrate, as he conveyed me along, had you + in his Mouth, and said, this would make a pure Story for the + SPECTATOR. I hope, Sir, you won't pretend to Wit, and take the Part of + dull Rogues of Business. The World is so altered of late Years, that + there was not a Man who would knock down a Watchman in my Behalf, but + I was carried off with as much Triumph as if I had been a Pick-pocket. + At this rate, there is an end of all the Wit and Humour in the World. + The Time was when all the honest Whore-masters in the Neighbourhood + would have rose against the Cuckolds to my Rescue. If Fornication is + to be scandalous, half the fine things that have been writ by most of + the Wits of the last Age may be burnt by the common Hangman. Harkee, + [Mr.] SPEC, do not be queer; after having done some things pretty + well, don't begin to write at that rate that no Gentleman can read + thee. Be true to Love, and burn your _Seneca_. You do not expect me to + write my Name from hence, but I am + _Your unknown humble, &c_.' + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 183. Saturday, September 29, 1711. Addison. + + + [Greek: + + "Idmen pseúdea pollà légein etymoisin homoia, + Idmen d' eut' ethél_omen alaethéa mytháesasthai". + + Hesiod.] + + +Fables were the first Pieces of Wit that made their Appearance in the +World, and have been still highly valued, not only in Times of the +greatest Simplicity, but among the most polite Ages of Mankind. +_Jotham's_ Fable of the Trees [1] is the oldest that is extant, and as +beautiful as any which have been made since that Time. _Nathan's_ Fable +of the poor Man and his Lamb [2] is likewise more ancient than any that +is extant, besides the above-mentioned, and had so good an Effect, as to +convey Instruction to the Ear of a King without offending it, and to +bring the Man after God's own Heart to a right Sense of his Guilt and +his Duty. We find _Æsop_ in the most distant Ages of _Greece_; and if we +look into the very Beginnings of the Commonwealth of _Rome_, we see a +Mutiny among the Common People appeased by a Fable of the Belly and the +Limbs, [3] which was indeed very proper to gain the Attention of an +incensed Rabble, at a Time when perhaps they would have torn to Pieces +any Man who had preached the same Doctrine to them in an open and direct +Manner. As Fables took their Birth in the very Infancy of Learning, they +never flourished more than when Learning was at its greatest Height. To +justify this Assertion, I shall put my Reader in mind of _Horace_, the +greatest Wit and Critick in the _Augustan_ Age; and of _Boileau_, the +most correct Poet among the Moderns: Not to mention _La Fontaine_, who +by this Way of Writing is come more into Vogue than any other Author of +our Times. + +The Fables I have here mentioned are raised altogether upon Brutes and +Vegetables, with some of our own Species mixt among them, when the Moral +hath so required. But besides this kind of Fable, there is another in +which the Actors are Passions, Virtues, Vices, and other imaginary +Persons of the like Nature. Some of the ancient Criticks will have it, +that the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer are Fables of this Nature: and that +the several Names of Gods and Heroes are nothing else but the Affections +of the Mind in a visible Shape and Character. Thus they tell us, that +Achilles, in the first Iliad, represents Anger, or the Irascible Part of +Human Nature; That upon drawing his Sword against his Superior in a full +Assembly, _Pallas_ is only another Name for Reason, which checks and +advises him upon that Occasion; and at her first Appearance touches him +upon the Head, that Part of the Man being looked upon as the Seat of +Reason. And thus of the rest of the Poem. As for the Odyssey, I think it +is plain that _Horace_ considered it as one of these Allegorical Fables, +by the Moral which he has given us of several Parts of it. The greatest +_Italian_ Wits have applied themselves to the Writing of this latter +kind of Fables: As _Spencer's Fairy-Queen_ is one continued Series of +them from the Beginning to the End of that admirable Work. If we look +into the finest Prose Authors of Antiquity, such as _Cicero_, _Plato_, +_Xenophon_, and many others, we shall find that this was likewise their +Favourite Kind of Fable. I shall only further observe upon it, that the +first of this Sort that made any considerable Figure in the World, was +that of _Hercules_ meeting with Pleasure and Virtue; which was invented +by _Prodicus_, who lived before _Socrates_, and in the first Dawnings of +Philosophy. He used to travel through _Greece_ by vertue of this Fable, +which procured him a kind Reception in all the Market-towns, where he +never failed telling it as soon as he had gathered an Audience about +him. [4] + +After this short Preface, which I have made up of such Materials as my +Memory does at present suggest to me, before I present my Reader with a +Fable of this Kind, which I design as the Entertainment of the present +Paper, I must in a few Words open the Occasion of it. + +In the Account which _Plato_ gives us of the Conversation and Behaviour +of _Socrates_, the Morning he was to die, he tells the following +Circumstance. + +When Socrates his Fetters were knocked off (as was usual to be done on +the Day that the condemned Person was to be executed) being seated in +the midst of his Disciples, and laying one of his Legs over the other, +in a very unconcerned Posture, he began to rub it where it had been +galled by the Iron; and whether it was to shew the Indifference with +which he entertained \the Thoughts of his approaching Death, or (after +his usual Manner) to take every Occasion of Philosophizing upon some +useful Subject, he observed the Pleasure of that Sensation which now +arose in those very Parts of his Leg, that just before had been so much +pained by the Fetter. Upon this he reflected on the Nature of Pleasure +and Pain in general, and how constantly they succeeded one another. To +this he added, That if a Man of a good Genius for a Fable were to +represent the Nature of Pleasure and Pain in that Way of Writing, he +would probably join them together after such a manner, that it would be +impossible for the one to come into any Place without being followed by +the other. [5] + +It is possible, that if Plato had thought it proper at such a Time to +describe Socrates launching out into a Discourse [which [6]] was not of +a piece with the Business of the Day, he would have enlarged upon this +Hint, and have drawn it out into some beautiful Allegory or Fable. But +since he has not done it, I shall attempt to write one myself in the +Spirit of that Divine Author. + +_There were two Families which from the Beginning of the World were as +opposite to each other as Light and Darkness. The one of them lived in +Heaven, and the other in Hell. The youngest Descendant of the first +Family was Pleasure, who was the Daughter of Happiness, who was the +Child of Virtue, who was the Offspring of the Gods. These, as I said +before, had their Habitation in Heaven. The youngest of the opposite +Family was Pain, who was the Son of Misery, who was the Child of Vice, +who was the Offspring of the Furies. The Habitation of this Race of +Beings was in Hell. + +The middle Station of Nature between these two opposite Extremes was the +Earth, which was inhabited by Creatures of a middle Kind, neither so +Virtuous as the one, nor so Vicious as the other, but partaking of the +good and bad Qualities of these two opposite Families._ Jupiter +_considering that this Species commonly called Man, was too virtuous to +be miserable, and too vicious to be happy; that he might make a +Distinction between the Good and the Bad, ordered the two youngest of +the above-mentioned Families, Pleasure who was the Daughter of +Happiness, and Pain who was the Son of Misery, to meet one another upon +this Part of Nature which lay in the half-Way between them, having +promised to settle it upon them both, provided they could agree upon the +Division of it, so as to share Mankind between them. + +Pleasure and Pain were no sooner met in their new Habitation, but they +immediately agreed upon this Point, that Pleasure should take Possession +of the Virtuous, and Pain of the Vicious Part of that Species which was +given up to them. But upon examining to which of them any Individual +they met with belonged, they found each of them had a Right to him; for +that, contrary to what they had seen in their old Places of Residence, +there was no Person so Vicious who had not some Good in him, nor any +Person so Virtuous who had not in him some Evil. The Truth of it is, +they generally found upon Search, that in the most vicious Man Pleasure +might lay a Claim to an hundredth Part, and that in the most virtuous +Man Pain might come in for at least two Thirds. This they saw would +occasion endless Disputes between them, unless they could come to some +Accommodation. To this end there was a Marriage proposed between them, +and at length concluded: By this means it is that we find Pleasure and +Pain are such constant Yoke-fellows, and that they either make their +Visits together, or are never far asunder. If Pain comes into an Heart, +he is quickly followed by Pleasure; and if Pleasure enters, you may be +sure Pain is not far off. + +But notwithstanding this Marriage was very convenient for the two +Parties, it did not seem to answer the Intention of_ Jupiter _in sending +them among Mankind. To remedy therefore this Inconvenience, it was +stipulated between them by Article, and confirmed by the Consent of each +Family, that notwithstanding they here possessed the Species +indifferently; upon the Death of every single Person, if he was found to +have in him a certain Proportion of Evil, he should be dispatched into +the infernal Regions by a Passport from Pain, there to dwell with +Misery, Vice and the Furies. Or on the contrary, if he had in him a +certain Proportion of Good, he should be dispatched into Heaven by a +Passport from Pleasure, there to dwell with Happiness, Virtue and the +Gods._ + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'Judges' ix. 8--15.] + + +[Footnote 2: '2 Sam.' xii. 1--4.] + + +[Footnote 3: 'Livy,' Bk. II. sec. 32.] + + +[Footnote 4: Xenophon's 'Memorabilia Socratis, Bk. II.] + + +[Footnote 5: 'Phaedon', § 10.] + + +[Footnote 6: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 184. Monday, October 1, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum ...' + + Hor. + + + +When a Man has discovered a new Vein of Humour, it often carries him +much further than he expected from it. My Correspondents take the Hint I +give them, and pursue it into Speculations which I never thought of at +my first starting it. This has been the Fate of my Paper on the Match of +Grinning, which has already produced a second Paper on parallel +Subjects, and brought me the following Letter by the last Post. I shall +not premise any thing to it further than that it is built on Matter of +Fact, and is as follows. + + + SIR, + + 'You have already obliged the World with a Discourse upon Grinning, + and have since proceeded to Whistling, from whence you [at length came + [1]] to Yawning; from this, I think, you may make a very natural + Transition to Sleeping. I therefore recommend to you for the Subject + of a Paper the following Advertisement, which about two Months ago was + given into every Body's Hands, and may be seen with some Additions in + the Daily Courant of August the Ninth. + + 'Nicholas Hart, [2] who slept last Year in St. Bartholomew's + Hospital, intends to sleep this Year at the Cock and Bottle in + Little-Britain.' + + Having since inquired into the Matter of Fact, I find that the + above-mentioned Nicholas Hart is every Year seized with a periodical + Fit of Sleeping, which begins upon the Fifth of August, and ends on + the Eleventh of the same Month: That + + On the First of that Month he grew dull; + On the Second, appeared drowsy; + On the Third, fell a yawning; + On the Fourth, began to nod; + On the Fifth, dropped asleep; + On the Sixth, was heard to snore; + On the Seventh, turned himself in his Bed; + On the Eighth, recovered his former Posture; + On the Ninth fell a stretching; + On the Tenth about Midnight, awaked; + On the Eleventh in the Morning called for a little Small-Beer. + + This Account I have extracted out of the Journal of this sleeping + Worthy, as it has been faithfully kept by a Gentleman of + _Lincoln's-Inn_, who has undertaken to be his Historiographer. I have + sent it to you, not only as it represents the Actions of _Nicholas + Hart_, but as it seems a very natural Picture of the Life of many an + honest _English_ Gentleman, whose whole History very often consists of + Yawning, Nodding, Stretching, Turning, Sleeping, Drinking, and the + like extraordinary Particulars. I do not question, Sir, that, if you + pleased, you could put out an Advertisement not unlike [the [3]] + above-mentioned, of several Men of Figure; that Mr. _John_ such-a-one, + Gentleman, or _Thomas_ such-a-one, Esquire, who slept in the Country + last Summer, intends to sleep in Town this Winter. The worst of it is, + that the drowsy Part of our Species is chiefly made up of very honest + Gentlemen, who live quietly among their Neighbours, without ever + disturbing the publick Peace: They are Drones without Stings. I could + heartily wish, that several turbulent, restless, ambitious Spirits, + would for a while change Places with these good Men, and enter + themselves into _Nicholas Hart's_ Fraternity. Could one but lay asleep + a few busy Heads which I could name, from the First of _November_ next + to the First of _May_ ensuing, [4] I question not but it would very + much redound to the Quiet of particular Persons, as well as to the + Benefit of the Publick. + + But to return to _Nicholas Hart_: I believe, Sir, you will think it a + very extraordinary Circumstance for a Man to gain his Livelihood by + Sleeping, and that Rest should procure a Man Sustenance as well as + Industry; yet so it is that Nicholas got last Year enough to support + himself for a Twelvemonth. I am likewise informed that he has this + Year had a very comfortable Nap. The Poets value themselves very much + for sleeping on Parnassus, but I never heard they got a Groat by it: + On the contrary, our Friend Nicholas gets more by Sleeping than he + could by Working, and may be more properly said, than ever Homer was, + to have had Golden Dreams. Fuvenal indeed mentions a drowsy Husband + who raised an Estate by Snoring, but then he is represented to have + slept what the common People call a Dog's Sleep; or if his Sleep was + real, his Wife was awake, and about her Business. Your Pen, [which + [5]] loves to moralize upon all Subjects, may raise something, + methinks, on this Circumstance also, and point out to us those Sets of + Men, who instead of growing rich by an honest Industry, recommend + themselves to the Favours of the Great, by making themselves agreeable + Companions in the Participations of Luxury and Pleasure. + + I must further acquaint you, Sir, that one of the most eminent Pens in + Grub-street is now employed in Writing the Dream of this miraculous + Sleeper, which I hear will be of a more than ordinary Length, as it + must contain all the Particulars that are supposed to have passed in + his Imagination during so long a Sleep. He is said to have gone + already through three Days and [three] Nights of it, and to have + comprised in them the most remarkable Passages of the four first + Empires of the World. If he can keep free from Party-Strokes, his Work + may be of Use; but this I much doubt, having been informed by one of + his Friends and Confidents, that he has spoken some things of Nimrod + with too great Freedom. + + I am ever, Sir, &c. + + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: are at length come] + + +[Footnote 2: Nicholas Hart, born at Leyden, was at this time 22 years +old, one of ten children of a learned mathematician who for two years +had been a tutor to King William. Nicholas was a sailor from the age of +twelve, and no scholar, although he spoke French, Dutch, and English. He +was a patient at St. Bartholomew's for stone and gravel some weeks +before, and on the 3rd of August, 1711, set his mark to an account of +himself, when he expected to fall asleep on the fifth of August, two +days later. His account was also signed by 'William Hill, Sen. No. I. +Lincoln's Inn,' the 'Gentleman of 'Lincoln's Inn,' presently alluded to.] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: That is, when Parliament is sitting.] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 185. Tuesday, October 2, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Tantæne Animis coelestibus Iræ?' + + Virg. + + +There is nothing in which Men more deceive themselves than in what the +World calls Zeal. There are so many Passions which hide themselves under +it, and so many Mischiefs arising from it, that some have gone so far as +to say it would have been for the Benefit of Mankind if it had never +been reckoned in the Catalogue of Virtues. It is certain, where it is +once Laudable and Prudential, it is an hundred times Criminal and +Erroneous; nor can it be otherwise, if we consider that it operates with +equal Violence in all Religions, however opposite they may be to one +another, and in all the Subdivisions of each Religion in particular. + +We are told by some of the Jewish Rabbins, that the first Murder was +occasioned by a religious Controversy; and if we had the whole History +of Zeal from the Days of Cain to our own Times, we should see it filled +with so many Scenes of Slaughter and Bloodshed, as would make a wise Man +very careful how he suffers himself to be actuated by such a Principle, +when it only regards Matters of Opinion and Speculation. + +I would have every Zealous Man examine his Heart thoroughly, and, I +believe, he will often find, that what he calls a Zeal for his Religion, +is either Pride, Interest, or Ill-nature. [A Man who [1]] differs from +another in Opinion, sets himself above him in his own Judgment, and in +several Particulars pretends to be the wiser Person. This is a great +Provocation to the proud Man, and gives a very keen Edge to what he +calls his Zeal. And that this is the Case very often, we may observe +from the Behaviour of some of the most zealous for Orthodoxy, who have +often great Friendships and Intimacies with vicious immoral Men, +provided they do but agree with them in the same Scheme of Belief. The +Reason is, Because the vicious Believer gives the Precedency to the +virtuous Man, and allows the good Christian to be the worthier Person, +at the same time that he cannot come up to his Perfections. This we find +exemplified in that trite Passage which we see quoted in almost every +System of Ethicks, tho' upon another Occasion. + + '... Video meliora proboque, + Deteriora sequor ...' + + (Ov.) + +On the contrary, it is certain, if our Zeal were true and genuine, we +should be much more angry with a Sinner than a Heretick; since there are +several Cases [which [2]] may excuse the latter before his great Judge, +but none [which [3]] can excuse the former. + +Interest is likewise a great Inflamer, and sets a Man on Persecution +under the colour of Zeal. For this Reason we find none are so forward to +promote the true Worship by Fire and Sword, as those who find their +present Account in it. But I shall extend the Word Interest to a larger +Meaning than what is generally given it, as it relates to our Spiritual +Safety and Welfare, as well as to our Temporal. A Man is glad to gain +Numbers on his Side, as they serve to strengthen him in his private +Opinions. Every Proselyte is like a new Argument for the Establishment +of his Faith. It makes him believe that his Principles carry Conviction +with them, and are the more likely to be true, when he finds they are +conformable to the Reason of others, as well as to his own. And that +this Temper of Mind deludes a Man very often into an Opinion of his +Zeal, may appear from the common Behaviour of the Atheist, who maintains +and spreads his Opinions with as much Heat as those who believe they do +it only out of Passion for God's Glory. + +Ill-nature is another dreadful Imitator of Zeal. Many a good Man may +have a natural Rancour and Malice in his Heart, [which [4]] has been in +some measure quelled and subdued by Religion; but if it finds any +Pretence of breaking out, which does not seem to him inconsistent with +the Duties of a Christian, it throws off all Restraint, and rages in its +full Fury. Zeal is therefore a great Ease to a malicious Man, by making +him believe he does God Service, whilst he is gratifying the Bent of a +perverse revengeful Temper. For this Reason we find, that most of the +Massacres and Devastations, [which [5]] have been in the World, have +taken their Rise from a furious pretended Zeal. + +I love to see a Man zealous in a good Matter, and especially when his +Zeal shews it self for advancing Morality, and promoting the Happiness +of Mankind: But when I find the Instruments he works with are Racks and +Gibbets, Gallies and Dungeons; when he imprisons Mens Persons, +confiscates their Estates, ruins their Families, and burns the Body to +save the Soul, I cannot stick to pronounce of such a one, that (whatever +he may think of his Faith and Religion) his Faith is vain, and his +Religion unprofitable. + +After having treated of these false Zealots in Religion, I cannot +forbear mentioning a monstrous Species of Men, who one would not think +had any Existence in Nature, were they not to be met with in ordinary +Conversation, I mean the Zealots in Atheism. One would fancy that these +Men, tho' they fall short, in every other Respect, of those who make a +Profession of Religion, would at least outshine them in this Particular, +and be exempt from that single Fault which seems to grow out of the +imprudent Fervours of Religion: But so it is, that Infidelity is +propagated with as much Fierceness and Contention, Wrath and +Indignation, as if the Safety of Mankind depended upon it. There is +something so ridiculous and perverse in this kind of Zealots, that one +does not know how to set them out in their proper Colours. They are a +Sort of Gamesters [who [6]] are eternally upon the Fret, though they +play for nothing. They are perpetually teizing their Friends to come +over to them, though at the same time they allow that neither of them +shall get any thing by the Bargain. In short, the Zeal of spreading +Atheism is, if possible, more absurd than Atheism it self. + +Since I have mentioned this unaccountable Zeal which appears in Atheists +and Infidels, I must further observe that they are likewise in a most +particular manner possessed with the Spirit of Bigotry. They are wedded +to Opinions full of Contradiction and Impossibility, and at the same +time look upon the smallest Difficulty in an Article of Faith as a +sufficient Reason for rejecting it. Notions that fall in with the common +Reason of Mankind, that are conformable to the Sense of all Ages and all +Nations, not to mention their Tendency for promoting the Happiness of +Societies, or of particular Persons, are exploded as Errors and +Prejudices; and Schemes erected in their stead that are altogether +monstrous and irrational, and require the most extravagant Credulity to +embrace them. I would fain ask one of these bigotted Infidels, supposing +all the great Points of Atheism, as the casual or eternal Formation of +the World, the Materiality of a thinking Substance, the Mortality of the +Soul, the fortuitous Organization of the Body, the Motions and +Gravitation of Matter, with the like Particulars, were laid together and +formed [into [7]] a kind of Creed, according to the Opinions of the most +celebrated Atheists; I say, supposing such a Creed as this were formed, +and imposed upon any one People in the World, whether it would not +require an infinitely greater Measure of Faith, than any Set of Articles +which they so violently oppose. Let me therefore advise this Generation +of Wranglers, for their own and for the publick Good, to act at least so +consistently with themselves, as not to burn with Zeal for Irreligion, +and with Bigotry for Nonsense. + +C. + + + +[Footnote 1: The Man that] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnote 5: that] + + +[Footnote 6: that] + + +[Footnote 7: in] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 186. Wednesday, October 3, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Coelum ipsum petimus stultitiâ.' + + Hor. + + +Upon my Return to my Lodgings last Night I found a Letter from my worthy +Friend the Clergyman, whom I have given some Account of in my former +Papers. He tells me in it that he was particularly pleased with the +latter Part of my Yesterday's Speculation; and at the same time enclosed +the following Essay, which he desires me to publish as the Sequel of +that Discourse. It consists partly of uncommon Reflections, and partly +of such as have been already used, but now set in a stronger Light. + + + 'A Believer may be excused by the most hardened Atheist for + endeavouring to make him a Convert, because he does it with an Eye to + both their Interests. The Atheist is inexcusable who tries to gain + over a Believer, because he does not propose the doing himself or the + Believer any Good by such a Conversion. + + The Prospect of a future State is the secret Comfort and Refreshment + of my Soul; it is that which makes Nature look gay about me; it + doubles all my Pleasures, and supports me under all my Afflictions. I + can look at Disappointments and Misfortunes, Pain and Sickness, Death + itself, and, what is worse than Death, the Loss of those who are + dearest to me, with Indifference, so long as I keep in view the + Pleasures of Eternity, and the State of Being in which there will be + no Fears nor Apprehensions, Pains nor Sorrows, Sickness nor + Separation. Why will any Man be so impertinently Officious as to tell + me all this is only Fancy and Delusion? Is there any Merit in being + the Messenger of ill News? If it is a Dream, let me enjoy it, since it + makes me both the happier and better Man. + + I must confess I do not know how to trust a Man [who [1]] believes + neither Heaven nor Hell, or, in other Words, a future State of Rewards + and Punishments. Not only natural Self-love, but Reason directs us to + promote our own Interest above all Things. It can never be for the + Interest of a Believer to do me a Mischief, because he is sure upon + the Balance of Accompts to find himself a Loser by it. On the + contrary, if he considers his own Welfare in his Behaviour towards me, + it will lead him to do me all the Good he can, and at the same Time + restrain him from doing me any Injury. An Unbeliever does not act like + a reasonable Creature, if he favours me contrary to his present + Interest, or does not distress me when it turns to his present + Advantage. Honour and Good-nature may indeed tie up his Hands; but as + these would be very much strengthened by Reason and Principle, so + without them they are only Instincts, or wavering unsettled Notions, + [which [2]] rest on no Foundation. + + Infidelity has been attack'd with so good Success of late Years, that + it is driven out of all its Out-works. The Atheist has not found his + Post tenable, and is therefore retired into Deism, and a Disbelief of + revealed Religion only. But the Truth of it is, the greatest Number of + this Set of Men, are those who, for want of a virtuous Education, or + examining the Grounds of Religion, know so very little of the Matter + in Question, that their Infidelity is but another Term for their + Ignorance. + + As Folly and Inconsiderateness are the Foundations of Infidelity, the + great Pillars and Supports of it are either a Vanity of appearing + wiser than the rest of Mankind, or an Ostentation of Courage in + despising the Terrors of another World, which have so great an + Influence on what they call weaker Minds; or an Aversion to a Belief + that must cut them off from many of those Pleasures they propose to + themselves, and fill them with Remorse for many of those they have + already tasted. + + The great received Articles of the Christian Religion have been so + clearly proved, from the Authority of that Divine Revelation in which + they are delivered, that it is impossible for those who have Ears to + hear, and Eyes to see, not to be convinced of them. But were it + possible for any thing in the Christian Faith to be erroneous, I can + find no ill Consequences in adhering to it. The great Points of the + Incarnation and Sufferings of our Saviour produce naturally such + Habits of Virtue in the Mind of Man, that I say, supposing it were + possible for us to be mistaken in them, the Infidel himself must at + least allow that no other System of Religion could so effectually + contribute to the heightning of Morality. They give us great Ideas of + the Dignity of human Nature, and of the Love which the Supreme Being + bears to his Creatures, and consequently engage us in the highest Acts + of Duty towards our Creator, our Neighbour, and our selves. How many + noble Arguments has Saint Paul raised from the chief Articles of our + Religion, for the advancing of Morality in its three great Branches? + To give a single Example in each Kind: What can be a stronger Motive + to a firm Trust and Reliance on the Mercies of our Maker, than the + giving us his Son to suffer for us? What can make us love and esteem + even the most inconsiderable of Mankind more than the Thought that + Christ died for him? Or what dispose us to set a stricter Guard upon + the Purity of our own Hearts, than our being Members of Christ, and a + Part of the Society of which that immaculate Person is the Head? But + these are only a Specimen of those admirable Enforcements of Morality, + which the Apostle has drawn from the History of our blessed Saviour. + + If our modern Infidels considered these Matters with that Candour and + Seriousness which they deserve, we should not see them act with such a + Spirit of Bitterness, Arrogance, and Malice: They would not be raising + such insignificant Cavils, Doubts, and Scruples, as may be started + against every thing that is not capable of mathematical Demonstration; + in order to unsettle the Minds of the Ignorant, disturb the publick + Peace, subvert Morality, and throw all things into Confusion and + Disorder. If none of these Reflections can have any Influence on them, + there is one that perhaps may, because it is adapted to their Vanity, + by which they seem to be guided much more than their Reason. I would + therefore have them consider, that the wisest and best of Men, in all + Ages of the World, have been those who lived up to the Religion of + their Country, when they saw nothing in it opposite to Morality, and + [to] the best Lights they had of the Divine Nature. Pythagoras's first + Rule directs us to worship the Gods as it is ordained by Law, for that + is the most natural Interpretation of the Precept. [3] Socrates, who + was the most renowned among the Heathens both for Wisdom and Virtue, + in his last Moments desires his Friends to offer a Cock to + Æsculapius; [4] doubtless out of a submissive Deference to the + established Worship of his Country. Xenophon tells us, that his Prince + (whom he sets forth as a Pattern of Perfection), when he found his + Death approaching, offered Sacrifices on the Mountains to the Persian + Jupiter, and the Sun, according to the Custom of the Persians; for + those are the Words of the Historian. [5] Nay, the Epicureans and + Atomical Philosophers shewed a very remarkable Modesty in this + Particular; for though the Being of a God was entirely repugnant to + their Schemes of natural Philosophy, they contented themselves with + the Denial of a Providence, asserting at the same Time the Existence + of Gods in general; because they would not shock the common Belief of + Mankind, and the Religion of their Country.' + + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: that] + + +[Footnote 3: Which is motto to No. 112.] + + +[Footnote 4: Phædon.] + + +[Footnote 5: Cyropædia, Bk. viii.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 187. Thursday, October 4, 1711. Steele. + + + '... Miseri quibus + Intentata nites ...' + + Hor. + + +The Intelligence given by this Correspondent is so important and useful, +in order to avoid the Persons he speaks of, that I shall insert his +Letter at length. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I do not know that you have ever touched upon a certain species of + Women, whom we ordinarily call Jilts. You cannot possibly go upon a + more useful Work, than the Consideration of these dangerous Animals. + The Coquet is indeed one Degree towards the Jilt; but the Heart of the + former is bent upon admiring her self, and giving false Hopes to her + Lovers; but the latter is not contented to be extreamly amiable, but + she must add to that Advantage a certain Delight in being a Torment to + others. Thus when her Lover is in the full Expectation of Success, the + Jilt shall meet him with a sudden Indifference, and Admiration in her + Face at his being surprised that he is received like a Stranger, and a + Cast of her Head another Way with a pleasant Scorn of the Fellow's + Insolence. It is very probable the Lover goes home utterly astonished + and dejected, sits down to his Scrutore, sends her word in the most + abject Terms, That he knows not what he has done; that all which was + desirable in this Life is so suddenly vanished from him, that the + Charmer of his Soul should withdraw the vital Heat from the Heart + which pants for her. He continues a mournful Absence for some time, + pining in Secret, and out of Humour with all things which he meets + with. At length he takes a Resolution to try his Fate, and explain + with her resolutely upon her unaccountable Carriage. He walks up to + her Apartment, with a thousand Inquietudes and Doubts in what Manner + he shall meet the first Cast of her Eye; when upon his first + Appearance she flies towards him, wonders where he has been, accuses + him of his Absence, and treats him with a Familiarity as surprising as + her former Coldness. This good Correspondence continues till the Lady + observes the Lover grows happy in it, and then she interrupts it with + some new Inconsistency of Behaviour. For (as I just now said) the + Happiness of a Jilt consists only in the Power of making others + uneasy. But such is the Folly of this Sect of Women, that they carry + on this pretty skittish Behaviour, till they have no charms left to + render it supportable. Corinna, that used to torment all who conversed + with her with false Glances, and little heedless unguarded Motions, + that were to betray some Inclination towards the Man she would + ensnare, finds at present all she attempts that way unregarded; and is + obliged to indulge the Jilt in her Constitution, by laying Artificial + Plots, writing perplexing Letters from unknown Hands, and making all + the young Fellows in Love with her, till they find out who she is. + Thus as before she gave Torment by disguising her Inclination, she is + now obliged to do it by hiding her Person. + + As for my own Part, Mr, SPECTATOR, it has been my unhappy Fate to be + jilted from my Youth upward; and as my Taste has been very much + towards Intreague, and having Intelligence with Women of Wit, my whole + Life has passed away in a Series of Impositions. I shall, for the + Benefit of the present Race of young Men, give some Account of my + Loves. I know not whether you have ever heard of the famous Girl about + Town called Kitty: This Creature (for I must take Shame upon my self) + was my Mistress in the Days when Keeping was in Fashion. Kitty, under + the Appearance of being Wild, Thoughtless, and Irregular in all her + Words and Actions, concealed the most accomplished Jilt of her Time. + Her Negligence had to me a Charm in it like that of Chastity, and Want + of Desires seemed as great a Merit as the Conquest of them. The Air + she gave herself was that of a Romping Girl, and whenever I talked to + her with any Turn of Fondness, she would immediately snatch off my + Perriwig, try it upon herself in the Glass, clap her Arms a Kimbow, + draw my Sword, and make Passes on the Wall, take off my Cravat, and + seize it to make some other Use of the Lace, or run into some other + unaccountable Rompishness, till the Time I had appointed to pass away + with her was over. I went from her full of Pleasure at the Reflection + that I had the keeping of so much Beauty in a Woman, who, as she was + too heedless to please me, was also too inattentive to form a Design + to wrong me. Long did I divert every Hour that hung heavy upon me in + the Company of this Creature, whom I looked upon as neither Guilty or + Innocent, but could laugh at my self for my unaccountable Pleasure in + an Expence upon her, till in the End it appeared my pretty Insensible + was with Child by my Footman. + + This Accident roused me into a Disdain against all Libertine Women, + under what Appearance soever they hid their Insincerity, and I + resolved after that Time to converse with none but those who lived + within the Rules of Decency and Honour. To this End I formed my self + into a more regular Turn of Behaviour, and began to make Visits, + frequent Assemblies, and lead out Ladies from the Theatres, with all + the other insignificant Duties which the professed Servants of the + Fair place themselves in constant Readiness to perform. In a very + little time, (having a plentiful Fortune) Fathers and Mothers began to + regard me as a good Match, and I found easie Admittance into the best + Families in Town to observe their daughters; but I, who was born to + follow the Fair to no Purpose, have by the Force of my ill Stars made + my Application to three Jilts successively. + + Hyæna is one of those who form themselves into a melancholy and + indolent Air, and endeavour to gain Admirers from their Inattention to + all around them. Hyaena can loll in her Coach, with something so fixed + in her Countenance, that it is impossible to conceive her Meditation + is employed only on her Dress and her Charms in that Posture. If it + were not too coarse a Simile, I should say, Hyaena, in the Figure she + affects to appear in, is a Spider in the midst of a Cobweb, that is + sure to destroy every Fly that approaches it. The Net Hyaena throws is + so fine, that you are taken in it before you can observe any Part of + her Work. I attempted her for a long and weary Season, but I found her + Passion went no farther than to be admired; and she is of that + unreasonable Temper, as not to value the Inconstancy of her Lovers + provided she can boast she once had their Addresses. + + Biblis was the second I aimed at, and her Vanity lay in purchasing the + Adorers of others, and not in rejoicing in their Love it self. Biblis + is no Man's Mistress, but every Woman's Rival. As soon as I found + this, I fell in Love with Chloe, who is my present Pleasure and + Torment. I have writ to her, danced with her, and fought for her, and + have been her Man in the Sight and Expectation of the whole Town + [these [1]] three Years, and thought my self near the End of my + Wishes; when the other Day she called me into her Closet, and told me, + with a very grave Face, that she was a Woman of Honour, and scorned to + deceive a Man who loved her with so much Sincerity as she saw I did, + and therefore she must inform me that she was by Nature the most + inconstant Creature breathing, and begg'd of me not to marry her; If I + insisted upon it, I should; but that she was lately fallen in Love + with another. What to do or say I know not, but desire you to inform + me, and you will infinitely oblige, + + SIR, Your most humble Servant, + + Charles Yellow. + + + +[Footnote 1: "this", and in first reprint.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + + ADVERTISEMENT. + + Mr. Sly, Haberdasher of Hats, + at the Corner of Devereux-Court in the Strand, + gives notice, + That he has prepared very neat Hats, Rubbers, and Brushes + for the Use of young Tradesmen in their last Year of Apprenticeship, + at reasonable Rates. [1] + + + +[Footnote 1: + + "Last night died of a mortification in his leg, after a long time + enduring the same, John Sly, the late famous haberdasher, so often + mentioned in the 'Spectator'." + +'Evening Post', April 15, 1729.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 188. Friday, October 5, 1711. Steele. + + + + 'Loetus sum Laudari à te Laudato viro.' + + Tull. + + +He is a very unhappy Man who sets his Heart upon being admired by the +Multitude, or affects a general and undistinguishing Applause among Men. +What pious Men call the Testimony of a good Conscience, should be the +Measure of our Ambition in this Kind; that is to say, a Man of Spirit +should contemn the Praise of the Ignorant, and like being applauded for +nothing but what he knows in his own Heart he deserves. Besides which +the Character of the Person who commends you is to be considered, before +you set a Value upon his Esteem. The Praise of an ignorant Man is only +Good-will, and you should receive his Kindness as he is a good Neighbour +in Society, and not as a good Judge of your Actions in Point of Fame and +Reputation. The Satyrist said very well of popular Praise and +Acclamations, Give the Tinkers and Coblers their Presents again, and +learn to live of your self. [1] It is an Argument of a loose and +ungoverned Mind to be affected with the promiscuous Approbation of the +Generality of Mankind; and a Man of Virtue should be too delicate for so +coarse an Appetite of Fame. Men of Honour should endeavour only to +please the Worthy, and the Man of Merit should desire to be tried only +by his Peers. I thought it a noble Sentiment which I heard Yesterday +uttered in Conversation; I know, said a Gentleman, a Way to be greater +than any Man: If he has Worth in him, I can rejoice in his Superiority +to me; and that Satisfaction is a greater Act of the Soul in me, than +any in him which can possibly appear to me. This Thought could not +proceed but from a candid and generous Spirit; and the Approbation of +such Minds is what may be esteemed true Praise. For with the common Rate +of Men there is nothing commendable but what they themselves may hope to +be Partakers of, or arrive at; but the Motive truly glorious is, when +the Mind is set rather to do Things laudable, than to purchase +Reputation. Where there is that Sincerity as the Foundation of a good +Name, the kind Opinion of virtuous Men will be an unsought but a +necessary Consequence. The Lacedemonians, tho' a plain People, and no +Pretenders to Politeness, had a certain Delicacy in their Sense of +Glory, and sacrificed to the Muses when they entered upon any great +Enterprise. [2] They would have the Commemoration of their Actions be +transmitted by the purest and most untainted Memorialists. The Din which +attends Victories and publick Triumphs is by far less eligible, than the +Recital of the Actions of great Men by honest and wise Historians. It is +a frivolous Pleasure to be the Admiration of gaping Crowds; but to have +the Approbation of a good Man in the cool Reflections of his Closet, is +a Gratification worthy an heroick Spirit. The Applause of the Crowd +makes the Head giddy, but the Attestation of a reasonable Man makes the +Heart glad. + +What makes the Love of popular or general Praise still more ridiculous, +is, that it is usually given for Circumstances which are foreign to the +Persons admired. Thus they are the ordinary Attendants on Power and +Riches, which may be taken out of one Man's Hands, and put into +another's: The Application only, and not the Possession, makes those +outward things honourable. The Vulgar and Men of Sense agree in admiring +Men for having what they themselves would rather be possessed of; the +wise Man applauds him whom he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the +World, him who is most wealthy. + +When a Man is in this way of Thinking, I do not know what can occur to +one more monstrous, than to see Persons of Ingenuity address their +Services and Performances to Men no way addicted to Liberal Arts: In +these Cases, the Praise on one hand, and the Patronage on the other, are +equally the Objects of Ridicule. Dedications to ignorant Men are as +absurd as any of the Speeches of Bulfinch in the Droll: Such an Address +one is apt to translate into other Words; and when the Different Parties +are thoroughly considered, the Panegyrick generally implies no more than +if the Author should say to the Patron; My very good Lord, You and I can +never understand one another, therefore I humbly desire we may be +intimate Friends for the future. + +The Rich may as well ask to borrow of the Poor, as the Man of Virtue or +Merit hope for Addition to his Character from any but such as himself. +He that commends another engages so much of his own Reputation as he +gives to that Person commended; and he that has nothing laudable in +himself is not of Ability to be such a Surety. The wise Phocion was so +sensible how dangerous it was to be touched with what the Multitude +approved, that upon a general Acclamation made when he was making an +Oration, he turned to an intelligent Friend who stood near him, and +asked, in a surprized Manner, What Slip have I made? [3] + +I shall conclude this Paper with a Billet which has fallen into my +Hands, and was written to a Lady from a Gentleman whom she had highly +commended. The Author of it had formerly been her Lover. When all +Possibility of Commerce between them on the Subject of Love was cut off, +she spoke so handsomely of him, as to give Occasion for this Letter. + + + Madam, + + "I should be insensible to a Stupidity, if I could forbear making you + my Acknowledgments for your late mention of me with so much Applause. + It is, I think, your Fate to give me new Sentiments; as you formerly + inspired me with the true Sense of Love, so do you now with the true + Sense of Glory. As Desire had the least Part in the Passion I + heretofore professed towards you, so has Vanity no Share in the Glory + to which you have now raised me. Innocence, Knowledge, Beauty, Virtue, + Sincerity, and Discretion, are the constant Ornaments of her who has + said this of me. Fame is a Babbler, but I have arrived at the highest + Glory in this World, the Commendation of the most deserving Person in + it." + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Persius. 'Sat. IV.' sec. 51.] + + +[Footnote 2: Plutarch in 'Life of Lycurgus'.] + + +[Footnote 3: Plutarch in 'Life of Phocion'.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 189. Saturday, October 6, 1711. Addison. + + + + '... Patriæ pietatis imago.' + + Virg. + + +The following Letter being written to my Bookseller, upon a Subject of +which I treated some time since, I shall publish it in this Paper, +together with the Letter that was inclosed in it. + + + Mr. Buckley, + + "Mr. SPECTATOR having of late descanted upon the Cruelty of Parents to + their Children, I have been induced (at the Request of several of Mr. + SPECTATOR'S Admirers) to inclose this Letter, which I assure you is + the Original from a Father to his own Son, notwithstanding the latter + gave but little or no Provocation. It would be wonderfully obliging to + the World, if Mr. SPECTATOR would give his Opinion of it, in some of + his Speculations, and particularly to" + + (Mr. Buckley) + + Your Humble Servant. + + + + SIRRAH, + + "You are a sawcy audacious Rascal, and both Fool and Mad, and I care + not a Farthing whether you comply or no; that does not raze out my + Impressions of your Insolence, going about Railing at me, and the next + Day to sollicit my Favour: These are Inconsistencies, such as discover + thy Reason depraved. To be brief, I never desire to see your Face; + and, Sirrah, if you go to the Work-house, it is no Disgrace to me for + you to be supported there; and if you Starve in the Streets, I'll + never give any thing underhand in your Behalf. If I have any more of + your scribling Nonsense I'll break your Head the first Time I set + Sight on you. You are a stubborn Beast; is this your Gratitude for my + giving you Mony? You Rogue, I'll better your Judgment, and give you a + greater Sense of your Duty to (I regret to say) + your Father, &c." + + "P.S. It's Prudence for you to keep out of my Sight; for to reproach + me, that Might overcomes Right, on the Outside of your Letter, I shall + give you a great Knock on the Skull for it." + + +Was there ever such an Image of Paternal Tenderness! It was usual among +some of the Greeks to make their Slaves drink to Excess, and then expose +them to their Children, who by that means conceived an early Aversion to +a Vice which makes Men appear so monstrous and irrational. I have +exposed this Picture of an unnatural Father with the same Intention, +that its Deformity may deter others from its Resemblance. If the Reader +has a mind to see a Father of the same Stamp represented in the most +exquisite Stroaks of Humour, he may meet with it in one of the finest +Comedies that ever appeared upon the _English_ Stage: I mean the Part of +Sir _Sampson_ [1] in 'Love for Love'. + +I must not however engage my self blindly on the Side of the Son, to +whom the fond Letter above-written was directed. His Father calls him a +_sawcy and audacious Rascal_ in the first Line, and I am afraid upon +Examination he will prove but an ungracious Youth. _To go about railing_ +at his Father, and to find no other Place but _the Outside of his +Letter_ to tell him _that Might overcomes Right_, if it does not +discover _his Reason to be depraved_, and _that he is either Fool or +Mad_, as the cholerick old Gentleman tells him, we may at least allow +that the Father will do very well in endeavouring to _better his +Judgment, and give him a greater Sense of his Duty_. But whether this +may be brought about by _breaking his Head_, or _giving him a great +Knock on the Skull_, ought, I think, to be well considered. Upon the +whole, I wish the Father has not met with his Match, and that he may not +be as equally paired with a Son, as the Mother in _Virgil_. + + ... Crudelis tu quoque mater: + Crudelis mater magis an puer Improbus ille? + Improbus ille puer, crudelis tu quoque mater. [2] + +Or like the Crow and her Egg, in the _Greek_ Proverb, + + [Greek (transliterated): Kakou korakos kakhon oon. [3]] + +I must here take Notice of a Letter which I have received from an +unknown Correspondent, upon the Subject of my Paper, upon which the +foregoing Letter is likewise founded. The Writer of it seems very much +concerned lest that Paper should seem to give Encouragement to the +Disobedience of Children towards their Parents; but if the Writer of it +will take the Pains to read it over again attentively, I dare say his +Apprehensions will vanish. Pardon and Reconciliation are all the +Penitent Daughter requests, and all that I contend for in her Behalf; +and in this Case I may use the Saying of an eminent Wit, who, upon some +great Men pressing him to forgive his Daughter who had married against +his Consent, told them he could refuse nothing to their Instances, but +that he would have them remember there was Difference between Giving and +Forgiving. + +I must confess, in all Controversies between Parents and their Children, +I am naturally prejudiced in favour of the former. The Obligations on +that Side can never be acquitted, and I think it is one of the greatest +Reflections upon Human Nature that Parental Instinct should be a +stronger Motive to Love than Filial Gratitude; that the receiving of +Favours should be a less Inducement to Good-will, Tenderness and +Commiseration, than the conferring of them; and that the taking care of +any Person should endear the Child or Dependant more to the Parent or +Benefactor, than the Parent or Benefactor to the Child or Dependant; yet +so it happens, that for one cruel Parent we meet with a thousand +undutiful Children. This is indeed wonderfully contrived (as I have +formerly observed) for the Support of every living Species; but at the +same time that it shews the Wisdom of the Creator, it discovers the +Imperfection and Degeneracy of the Creature. + +The Obedience of Children to their Parents is the Basis of all +Government, and set forth as the Measure of that Obedience which we owe +to those whom Providence hath placed over us. + +It is Father Le Conte, [4] if I am not mistaken, who tells us how Want +of Duty in this Particular is punished among the Chinese, insomuch that +if a Son should be known to kill, or so much as to strike his Father, +not only the Criminal but his whole Family would be rooted out, nay the +Inhabitants of the Place where he lived would be put to the Sword, nay +the Place itself would be razed to the Ground, and its Foundations sown +with Salt; For, say they, there must have been an utter Depravation of +Manners in that Clan or Society of People who could have bred up among +them so horrible an Offender. To this I shall add a Passage out of the +first Book of Herodotus. That Historian in his Account of the Persian +Customs and Religion tells us, It is their Opinion that no Man ever +killed his Father, or that it is possible such a Crime should be in +Nature; but that if any thing like it should ever happen, they conclude +that the reputed Son must have been Illegitimate, Supposititious, or +begotten in Adultery. Their Opinion in this Particular shews +sufficiently what a Notion they must have had of Undutifulness in +general. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: Sir Sampson Legend in Congreve's play, which ends with the +heroine's 'punishing an inhuman father and rewarding a faithful lover.'] + + +[Footnote 2: Ecl. 8.] + + +[Footnote 3: Of bad Crow bad Egg.] + + +[Footnote 4: 'Present State of China,' Part 2. Letter to the Cardinal +d'Estrees.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 190. Monday, October 8, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Servitus crescit nova ...' + + Hor. + + +Since I made some Reflections upon the general Negligence used in the +Case of Regard towards Women, or, in other Words, since I talked of +Wenching, I have had Epistles upon that Subject, which I shall, for the +present Entertainment, insert as they lye before me. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'As your Speculations are not confined to any Part of Humane Life, but + concern the Wicked as well as the Good, I must desire your favourable + Acceptance of what I, a poor stroling Girl about Town, have to say to + you. I was told by a Roman Catholic Gentleman who picked me up last + Week, and who, I hope, is absolved for what passed between us; I say I + was told by such a Person, who endeavoured to convert me to his own + Religion, that in Countries where Popery prevails, besides the + Advantage of licensed Stews, there are large Endowments given for the + Incurabili, I think he called them, such as are past all Remedy, and + are allowed such Maintenance and Support as to keep them without + further Care till they expire. This manner of treating poor Sinners + has, methinks, great Humanity in it; and as you are a Person who + pretend to carry your Reflections upon all Subjects, whatever occur to + you, with Candour, and act above the Sense of what Misinterpretation + you may meet with, I beg the Favour of you to lay before all the World + the unhappy Condition of us poor Vagrants, who are really in a Way of + Labour instead of Idleness. There are Crowds of us whose Manner of + Livelihood has long ceased to be pleasing to us; and who would + willingly lead a new Life, if the Rigour of the Virtuous did not for + ever expel us from coming into the World again. As it now happens, to + the eternal Infamy of the Male Sex, Falshood among you is not + reproachful, but Credulity in Women is infamous. + + Give me Leave, Sir, to give you my History. You are to know that I am + a Daughter of a Man of a good Reputation, Tenant to a Man of Quality. + The Heir of this great House took it in his Head to cast a favourable + Eye upon me, and succeeded. I do not pretend to say he promised me + Marriage: I was not a Creature silly enough to be taken by so foolish + a Story: But he ran away with me up to this Town; and introduced me to + a grave Matron, with whom I boarded for a Day or two with great + Gravity, and was not a little pleased with the Change of my Condition, + from that of a Country Life to the finest Company, as I believed, in + the whole World. My humble Servant made me to understand that I should + be always kept in the plentiful Condition I then enjoyed; when after a + very great Fondness towards me, he one Day took his Leave of me for + four or five Days. In the Evening of the same Day my good Landlady + came to me, and observing me very pensive began to comfort me, and + with a Smile told me I must see the World. When I was deaf to all she + could say to divert me, she began to tell me with a very frank Air + that I must be treated as I ought, and not take these squeamish + Humours upon me, for my Friend had left me to the Town; and, as their + Phrase is, she expected I would see Company, or I must be treated like + what I had brought my self to. This put me into a Fit of Crying: And I + immediately, in a true Sense of my Condition, threw myself on the + Floor, deploring my Fate, calling upon all that was good and sacred to + succour me. While I was in all my Agony, I observed a decrepid old + Fellow come into the Room, and looking with a Sense of Pleasure in his + Face at all my Vehemence and Transport. In a Pause of my Distress I + heard him say to the shameless old Woman who stood by me, She is + certainly a new Face, or else she acts it rarely. With that the + Gentlewoman, who was making her Market of me, in all the Turn of my + Person, the Heaves of my Passion, and the suitable Changes of my + Posture, took Occasion to commend my Neck, my Shape, my Eyes, my + Limbs. All this was accompanied with such Speeches as you may have + heard Horse-coursers make in the Sale of Nags, when they are warranted + for their Soundness. You understand by this Time that I was left in a + Brothel, and exposed to the next Bidder that could purchase me of my + Patroness. This is so much the Work of Hell; the Pleasure in the + Possession of us Wenches, abates in proportion to the Degrees we go + beyond the Bounds of Innocence; and no Man is gratified, if there is + nothing left for him to debauch. Well, Sir, my first Man, when I came + upon the Town, was Sir _Jeoffry Foible,_ who was extremely lavish + to me of his Money, and took such a Fancy to me that he would have + carried me off, if my Patroness would have taken any reasonable Terms + for me: But as he was old, his Covetousness was his strongest Passion, + and poor I was soon left exposed to be the common Refuse of all the + Rakes and Debauchees in Town. I cannot tell whether you will do me + Justice or no, till I see whether you print this or not; otherwise, as + I now live with Sal, I could give you a very just Account of who and + who is together in this Town. You perhaps won't believe it; but I know + of one who pretends to be a very good Protestant who lies with a + Roman-Catholick: But more of this hereafter, as you please me. There + do come to our House the greatest Politicians of the Age; and Sal is + more shrewd than any Body thinks: No Body can believe that such wise + Men could go to Bawdy-houses out of idle Purposes; I have heard them + often talk of Augustus Cæsar, who had Intrigues with the Wives of + Senators, not out of Wantonness but Stratagem. + + it is a thousand Pities you should be so severely virtuous as I fear + you are; otherwise, after a Visit or two, you would soon understand + that we Women of the Town are not such useless Correspondents as you + may imagine: You have undoubtedly heard that it was a Courtesan who + discovered Cataline's Conspiracy. If you print this I'll tell you + more; and am in the mean time, SIR. + + Your most humble Servant, REBECCA NETTLETOP. + + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am an idle young Woman that would work for my Livelihood, but that + I am kept in such a Manner as I cannot stir out. My Tyrant is an old + jealous Fellow, who allows me nothing to appear in. I have but one + Shooe and one Slipper; no Head-dress, and no upper Petticoat. As you + set up for a Reformer, I desire you would take me out of this wicked + Way, and keep me your self. + + EVE AFTERDAY. + + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am to complain to you of a Set of impertinent Coxcombs, who visit + the Apartments of us Women of the Town, only, as they call it, to see + the World. I must confess to you, this to Men of Delicacy might have + an Effect to cure them; but as they are stupid, noisy and drunken + Fellows, it tends only to make Vice in themselves, as they think, + pleasant and humourous, and at the same Time nauseous in us. I shall, + Sir, hereafter from Time to Time give you the Names of these Wretches + who pretend to enter our Houses meerly as Spectators. These Men think + it Wit to use us ill: Pray tell them, however worthy we are of such + Treatment, it is unworthy them to be guilty of it towards us. Pray, + Sir, take Notice of this, and pity the Oppressed: I wish we could add + to it, the Innocent. + + +T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 191. Tuesday, October 9, 1711. Addison. + + + +[Greek: ... oulon oneiron.] + + +Some ludicrous Schoolmen have put the Case, that if an Ass were placed +between two Bundles of Hay, which affected his Senses equally on each +Side, and tempted him in the very same Degree, whether it would be +possible for him to Eat of either. They generally determine this +Question to the Disadvantage of the Ass, who they say would starve in +the Midst of Plenty, as not having a single Grain of Freewill to +determine him more to the one than to the other. The Bundle of Hay on +either Side striking his Sight and Smell in the same Proportion, would +keep him in a perpetual Suspence, like the two Magnets which, Travellers +have told us, are placed one of them in the Roof, and the other in the +Floor of Mahomet's Burying-place at Mecca, and by that means, say they, +pull the Impostor's Iron Coffin with such an equal Attraction, that it +hangs in the Air between both of them. As for the Ass's Behaviour in +such nice Circumstances, whether he would Starve sooner than violate his +Neutrality to the two Bundles of Hay, I shall not presume to determine; +but only take Notice of the Conduct of our own Species in the same +Perplexity. When a Man has a mind to venture his Money in a Lottery, +every Figure of it appears equally alluring, and as likely to succeed as +any of its Fellows. They all of them have the same Pretensions to good +Luck, stand upon the same foot of Competition, and no manner of Reason +can be given why a Man should prefer one to the other before the Lottery +is drawn. In this Case therefore Caprice very often acts in the Place of +Reason, and forms to it self some Groundless Imaginary Motive, where +real and substantial ones are wanting. I know a well-meaning Man that is +very well pleased to risque his good Fortune upon the Number 1711, +because it is the Year of our Lord. I am acquainted with a Tacker that +would give a good deal for the Number 134. [1] On the contrary I have +been told of a certain Zealous Dissenter, who being a great Enemy to +Popery, and believing that bad Men are the most fortunate in this World, +will lay two to one on the Number [666 [2]] against any other Number, +because, says he, it is the Number of the Beast. Several would prefer +the Number 12000 before any other, as it is the Number of the Pounds in +the great Prize. In short, some are pleased to find their own Age in +their Number; some that they have got a number which makes a pretty +Appearance in the Cyphers, and others, because it is the same Number +that succeeded in the last Lottery. Each of these, upon no other +Grounds, thinks he stands fairest for the great Lot, and that he is +possessed of what may not be improperly called the Golden Number. + +These Principles of Election are the Pastimes and Extravagancies of +Human Reason, which is of so busie a Nature, that it will be exerting it +self in the meanest Trifles and working even when it wants Materials. +The wisest of Men are sometimes acted by such unaccountable Motives, as +the Life of the Fool and the Superstitious is guided by nothing else. + +I am surprized that none of the Fortune-tellers, or, as the French call +them, the Diseurs de bonne Avanture, who Publish their Bills in every +Quarter of the Town, have not turned our Lotteries to their Advantage; +did any of them set up for a Caster of fortunate Figures, what might he +not get by his pretended Discoveries and Predictions? + +I remember among the Advertisements in the Post-Boy of September the +27th, I was surprized to see the following one: + +This is to give notice, That Ten Shillings over and above the +Market-Price, will be given for the Ticket in the £1 500 000 Lottery, +No. 132, by Nath. Cliff at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside. + +This Advertisement has given great Matter of Speculation to Coffee-house +Theorists. Mr. Cliff's Principles and Conversation have been canvassed +upon this Occasion, and various Conjectures made why he should thus set +his Heart upon Number 132. I have examined all the Powers in those +Numbers, broken them into Fractions, extracted the Square and Cube Root, +divided and multiplied them all Ways, but could not arrive at the Secret +till about three Days ago, when I received the following Letter from an +unknown Hand, by which I find that Mr. Nathaniel Cliff is only the +Agent, and not the Principal, in this Advertisement. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am the Person that lately advertised I would give ten Shillings + more than the current Price for the Ticket No. 132 in the Lottery now + drawing; which is a Secret I have communicated to some Friends, who + rally me incessantly upon that Account. You must know I have but one + Ticket, for which Reason, and a certain Dream I have lately had more + than once, I was resolved it should be the Number I most approved. I + am so positive I have pitched upon the great Lot, that I could almost + lay all I am worth of it. My Visions are so frequent and strong upon + this Occasion, that I have not only possessed the Lot, but disposed of + the Money which in all probability it will sell for. This Morning, in + particular, I set up an Equipage which I look upon to be the gayest in + the Town. The Liveries are very Rich, but not Gaudy. I should be very + glad to see a Speculation or two upon lottery Subjects, in which you + would oblige all People concerned, and in particular + + 'Your most humble Servant, + + 'George Gossling. + + 'P.S. Dear SPEC, if I get the 12 000 Pound, I'll make thee a handsome + Present.' + + +After having wished my Correspondent good Luck, and thanked him for his +intended Kindness, I shall for this time dismiss the Subject of the +Lottery, and only observe that the greatest Part of Mankind are in some +degree guilty of my Friend Gossling's Extravagance. We are apt to rely +upon future Prospects, and become really expensive while we are only +rich in Possibility. We live up to our Expectations, not to our +Possessions, and make a Figure proportionable to what we may be, not +what we are. We out-run our present Income, as not doubting to disburse +our selves out of the Profits of some future Place, Project, or +Reversion, that we have in view. It is through this Temper of Mind, +which is so common among us, that we see Tradesmen break, who have met +with no Misfortunes in their Business; and Men of Estates reduced to +Poverty, who have never suffered from Losses or Repairs, Tenants, Taxes, +or Law-suits. In short, it is this foolish sanguine Temper, this +depending upon Contingent Futurities, that occasions Romantick +Generosity, Chymerical Grandeur, Senseless Ostentation, and generally +ends in Beggary and Ruin. The Man, who will live above his present +Circumstances, is in great Danger of living in a little time much +beneath them, or, as the Italian Proverb runs, The Man who lives by Hope +will die by Hunger. + +It should be an indispensable Rule in Life, to contract our Desires to +our present Condition, and whatever may be our Expectations, to live +within the compass of what we actually possess. It will be Time enough +to enjoy an Estate when it comes into our Hands; but if we anticipate +our good Fortune, we shall lose the Pleasure of it when it arrives, and +may possibly never possess what we have so foolishly counted upon. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: The number of the minority who were in 1704 for Tacking a +Bill against Occasional Conformity to a Money Bill.] + + +[Footnote 2: "1666", and in first reprint.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 192. Wednesday, October 10, 1711. Steele. + + + + '... Uni ore omnes omnia + Bona dicere, et Laudare fortunas meas, + Qui Gnatum haberem tali ingenio proeditum.' + + Tre. + + +I Stood the other Day, and beheld a Father sitting in the Middle of a +Room with a large Family of Children about him; and methought I could +observe in his Countenance different Motions of Delight, as he turned +his Eye towards the one and the other of them. The Man is a Person +moderate in his Designs for their Preferment and Welfare; and as he has +an easy Fortune, he is not sollicitous to make a great one. His eldest +Son is a Child of a very towardly Disposition, and as much as the Father +loves him, I dare say he will never be a Knave to improve his Fortune. I +do not know any Man who has a juster Relish of Life than the Person I am +speaking of, or keeps a better Guard against the Terrors of Want or the +Hopes of Gain. It is usual in a Crowd of Children, for the Parent to +name out of his own Flock all the great Officers of the Kingdom. There +is something so very surprizing in the Parts of a Child of a Man's own, +that there is nothing too great to be expected from his Endowments. I +know a good Woman who has but three Sons, and there is, she says, +nothing she expects with more Certainty, than that she shall see one of +them a Bishop, the other a Judge, and the third a Court Physician. The +Humour is, that any thing which can happen to any Man's Child, is +expected by every Man for his own. But my Friend whom I was going to +speak of, does not flatter himself with such vain Expectations, but has +his Eye more upon the Virtue and Disposition of his Children, than their +Advancement or Wealth. Good Habits are what will certainly improve a +Man's Fortune and Reputation; but on the other side, Affluence of +Fortune will not as probably produce good Affections of the Mind. + +It is very natural for a Man of a kind Disposition to amuse himself with +the Promises his Imagination makes to him of the future Condition of his +Children, and to represent to himself the Figure they shall bear in the +World after he has left it. When his Prospects of this Kind are +agreeable, his Fondness gives as it were a longer Date to his own Life; +and the Survivorship of a worthy Man [in [1]] his Son is a Pleasure +scarce inferior to the Hopes of the Continuance of his own Life. That +Man is happy who can believe of his Son, that he will escape the Follies +and Indiscretions of which he himself was guilty, and pursue and improve +every thing that was valuable in him. The Continuance of his Virtue is +much more to be regarded than that of his Life; but it is the most +lamentable of all Reflections, to think that the Heir of a Man's Fortune +is such a one as will be a Stranger to his Friends, alienated from the +same Interests, and a Promoter of every thing which he himself +disapproved. An Estate in Possession of such a Successor to a good Man, +is worse than laid waste; and the Family of which he is the Head, is in +a more deplorable Condition than that of being extinct. + +When I visit the agreeable Seat of my honoured Friend Ruricola, and walk +from Room to Room revolving many pleasing Occurrences, and the +Expressions of many just Sentiments I have heard him utter, and see the +Booby his Heir in Pain while he is doing the Honours of his House to the +Friend of his Father, the Heaviness it gives one is not to be expressed. +Want of Genius is not to be imputed to any Man, but Want of Humanity is +a Man's own Fault. The Son of Ruricola, (whose Life was one continued +Series of worthy Actions and Gentleman-like Inclinations) is the +Companion of drunken Clowns, and knows no Sense of Praise but in the +Flattery he receives from his own Servants; his Pleasures are mean and +inordinate, his Language base and filthy, [his [2]] Behaviour rough and +absurd. Is this Creature to be accounted the Successor of a Man of +Virtue, Wit and Breeding? At the same time that I have this melancholy +Prospect at the House where I miss my old Friend, I can go to a +Gentleman's not far off it, where he has a Daughter who is the Picture +both of his Body and Mind, but both improved with the Beauty and Modesty +peculiar to her Sex. It is she who supplies the Loss of her Father to +the World; she, without his Name or Fortune, is a truer Memorial of him, +than her Brother who succeeds him in both. Such an Offspring as the +eldest Son of my Friend, perpetuates his Father in the same manner as +the Appearance of his Ghost would: It is indeed Ruricola, but it is +Ruricola grown frightful. + +I know not to what to attribute the brutal Turn which this young Man has +taken, except it may be to a certain Severity and Distance which his +Father used towards him, and might, perhaps, have occasioned a Dislike +to those Modes of Life which were not made amiable to him by Freedom and +Affability. + +We may promise our selves that no such Excrescence will appear in the +Family of the Cornelii, where the Father lives with his Sons like their +eldest Brother, and the Sons converse with him as if they did it for no +other Reason but that he is the wisest Man of their Acquaintance. As the +Cornelii are eminent Traders, their good Correspondence with each other +is useful to all that know them, as well as to themselves: And their +Friendship, Good-will and kind Offices, are disposed of jointly as well +as their Fortune, so that no one ever obliged one of them, who had not +the Obligation multiplied in Returns from them all. + +It is the most beautiful Object the Eyes of Man can behold, to see a Man +of Worth and his Son live in an entire unreserved Correspondence. The +mutual Kindness and Affection between them give an inexpressible +Satisfaction to all who know them. It is a sublime Pleasure which +encreases by the Participation. It is as sacred as Friendship, as +pleasurable as Love, and as joyful as Religion. This State of Mind does +not only dissipate Sorrow, which would be extream without it, but +enlarges Pleasures which would otherwise be contemptible. The most +indifferent thing has its Force and Beauty when it is spoke by a kind +Father, and an insignificant Trifle has it's Weight when offered by a +dutiful Child. I know not how to express it, but I think I may call it a +transplanted Self-love. All the Enjoyments and Sufferings which a Man +meets with are regarded only as they concern him in the Relation he has +to another. A Man's very Honour receives a new Value to him, when he +thinks that, when he is in his Grave, it will be had in Remembrance that +such an Action was done by such a one's Father. Such Considerations +sweeten the old Man's Evening, and his Soliloquy delights him when he +can say to himself, No Man can tell my Child his Father was either +unmerciful or unjust: My Son shall meet many a Man who shall say to him, +I was obliged to thy Father, and be my Child a Friend to his Child for +ever. + +It is not in the Power of all Men to leave illustrious Names or great +Fortunes to their Posterity, but they can very much conduce to their +having Industry, Probity, Valour and Justice: It is in every Man's Power +to leave his Son the Honour of descending from a virtuous Man, and add +the Blessings of Heaven to whatever he leaves him. I shall end this +Rhapsody with a Letter to an excellent young Man of my Acquaintance, who +has lately lost a worthy Father. + + + Dear Sir, + + 'I know no Part of Life more impertinent than the Office of + administring Consolation: I will not enter into it, for I cannot but + applaud your Grief. The virtuous Principles you had from that + excellent Man whom you have lost, have wrought in you as they ought, + to make a Youth of Three and Twenty incapable of Comfort upon coming + into Possession of a great Fortune. I doubt not but that you will + honour his Memory by a modest Enjoyment of his Estate; and scorn to + triumph over his Grave, by employing in Riot, Excess, and Debauchery, + what he purchased with so much Industry, Prudence, and Wisdom. This is + the true Way to shew the Sense you have of your Loss, and to take away + the Distress of others upon the Occasion. You cannot recal your Father + by your Grief, but you may revive him to his Friends by your Conduct.' + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: "to", and in the first reprint.] + + +[Footnote 2: and his] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 193. Thursday, October 11, 1711. Steele. + + + '... Ingentem foribus domus alta superbis + Mane salutantum totis vomit oedibus undam.' + + Virg. + + +When we look round us, and behold the strange Variety of Faces and +Persons which fill the Streets with Business and Hurry, it is no +unpleasant Amusement to make Guesses at their different Pursuits, and +judge by their Countenances what it is that so anxiously engages their +present Attention. Of all this busie Crowd, there are none who would +give a Man inclined to such Enquiries better Diversion for his Thoughts, +than those whom we call good Courtiers, and such as are assiduous at the +Levées of Great Men. These Worthies are got into an Habit of being +servile with an Air, and enjoy a certain Vanity in being known for +understanding how the World passes. In the Pleasure of this they can +rise early, go abroad sleek and well-dressed, with no other Hope or +Purpose, but to make a Bow to a Man in Court-Favour, and be thought, by +some insignificant Smile of his, not a little engaged in his Interests +and Fortunes. It is wondrous, that a Man can get over the natural +Existence and Possession of his own Mind so far, as to take Delight +either in paying or receiving such cold and repeated Civilities. But +what maintains the Humour is, that outward Show is what most Men pursue, +rather than real Happiness. Thus both the Idol and Idolater equally +impose upon themselves in pleasing their Imaginations this way. But as +there are very many of her Majesty's good Subjects, who are extreamly +uneasie at their own Seats in the Country, where all from the Skies to +the Centre of the Earth is their own, and have a mighty longing to shine +in Courts, or be Partners in the Power of the World; I say, for the +Benefit of these, and others who hanker after being in the Whisper with +great Men, and vexing their Neighbours with the Changes they would be +capable of making in the Appearance at a Country Sessions, it would not +methinks be amiss to give an Account of that Market for Preferment, a +great Man's Levée. + +For ought I know, this Commerce between the Mighty and their Slaves, +very justly represented, might do so much good as to incline the Great +to regard Business rather than Ostentation; and make the Little know the +Use of their Time too well, to spend it in vain Applications and +Addresses. + +The famous Doctor in _Moorfields_, who gained so much Reputation for his +Horary Predictions, is said to have had in his Parlour different Ropes +to little Bells which hung in the Room above Stairs, where the Doctor +thought fit to be oraculous. If a Girl had been deceived by her Lover, +one Bell was pulled; and if a Peasant had lost a Cow, the [Servant [1]] +rung another. This Method was kept in respect to all other Passions and +Concerns, and [the skillful Waiter below [2]] sifted the Enquirer, and +gave the Doctor Notice accordingly. The Levée of a great Man is laid +after the same manner, and twenty Whispers, false Alarms, and private +Intimations, pass backward and forward from the Porter, the Valet, and +the Patron himself, before the gaping Crew who are to pay their Court +are gathered together: When the Scene is ready, the Doors fly open and +discover his Lordship. + +There are several Ways of making this first Appearance: you may be +either half dressed, and washing your self, which is indeed the most +stately; but this Way of Opening is peculiar to Military Men, in whom +there is something graceful in exposing themselves naked; but the +Politicians, or Civil Officers, have usually affected to be more +reserved, and preserve a certain Chastity of Deportment. Whether it be +Hieroglyphical or not, this Difference in the Military and Civil List, +[I will not say;] but [have [3]] ever understood the Fact to be, that +the close Minister is buttoned up, and the brave Officer open-breasted +on these Occasions. + +However that is, I humbly conceive the Business of a Levée is to receive +the Acknowledgments of a Multitude, that a Man is Wise, [Bounteous, [4]] +Valiant and Powerful. When the first Shot of Eyes [is [5]] made, it is +wonderful to observe how much Submission the Patron's Modesty can bear, +and how much Servitude the Client's Spirit can descend to. In the vast +Multiplicity of Business, and the Crowd about him, my Lord's Parts are +usually so great, that, to the Astonishment of the whole Assembly, he +has something to say to every Man there, and that so suitable to his +Capacity, as any Man may judge that it is not without Talents that Men +can arrive at great Employments. I have known a great Man ask a +Flag-Officer, which way was the Wind, a Commander of Horse the present +Price of Oats, and a Stock-jobber at what Discount such a Fund was, with +as much Ease as if he had been bred to each of those several Ways of +Life. Now this is extreamly obliging; for at the same time that the +Patron informs himself of Matters, he gives the Person of whom he +enquires an Opportunity to exert himself. What adds to the Pomp of those +Interviews is, that it is performed with the greatest Silence and Order +Imaginable. The Patron is usually in the midst of the Room, and some +humble Person gives him a Whisper, which his Lordship answers aloud, It +is well. Yes, I am of your Opinion. Pray inform yourself further, you +may be sure of my Part in it. This happy Man is dismissed, and my Lord +can turn himself to a Business of a quite different Nature, and offhand +give as good an Answer as any great Man is obliged to. For the chief +Point is to keep in Generals, and if there be any thing offered that's +Particular, to be in haste. + +But we are now in the Height of the Affair, and my Lord's Creatures have +all had their Whispers round to keep up the Farce of the thing, and the +Dumb Show is become more general. He casts his Eye to that Corner, and +there to Mr. such-a-one; to the other, and when did you come to Town? +And perhaps just before he nods to another, and enters with him, but, +Sir, I am glad to see you, now I think of it. Each of those are happy +for the next four and twenty Hours; and those who bow in Ranks +undistinguished, and by Dozens at a Time, think they have very good +Prospects if they hope to arrive at such Notices half a Year hence. + +The Satyrist says, [6] there is seldom common Sense in high Fortune; and +one would think, to behold a Levée, that the Great were not only +infatuated with their Station, but also that they believed all below +were seized too; else how is it possible that they could think of +imposing upon themselves and others in such a degree, as to set up a +Levée for any thing but a direct Farce? But such is the Weakness of our +Nature, that when Men are a little exalted in their Condition, they +immediately conceive they have additional Senses, and their Capacities +enlarged not only above other Men, but above human Comprehension it +self. Thus it is ordinary to see a great Man attend one listning, bow to +one at a distance, and call to a third at the same instant. A Girl in +new Ribbands is not more taken with her self, nor does she betray more +apparent Coquetries, than even a wise Man in such a Circumstance of +Courtship. I do not know any thing that I ever thought so very +distasteful as the Affectation which is recorded of Cæsar, to wit, that +he would dictate to three several Writers at the same time. This was an +Ambition below the Greatness and Candour of his Mind. He indeed (if any +Man had Pretensions to greater Faculties than any other Mortal) was the +Person; but such a Way of acting is Childish, and inconsistent with the +Manner of our Being. And it appears from the very Nature of Things, that +there cannot be any thing effectually dispatched in the Distraction of a +Publick Levée: but the whole seems to be a Conspiracy of a Set of +Servile Slaves, to give up their own Liberty to take away their Patron's +Understanding. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Rope] + + +[Footnote 2: a skilful servant] + + +[Footnote 3: I have] + + +[Footnote 4: Beauteous, and in first reprint.] + + +[Footnote 5: are] + + +[Footnote 6: Juvenal, viii, 73.] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 194. Friday, October 12, 1711. Steele. + + + '... Difficili Bile Tumet Jecur.' + + Hor. + + +The present Paper shall consist of two Letters, which observe upon +Faults that are easily cured both in Love and Friendship. In the latter, +as far as it meerly regards Conversation, the Person who neglects +visiting an agreeable Friend is punished in the very Transgression; for +a good Companion is not found in every Room we go into. But the Case of +Love is of a more delicate Nature, and the Anxiety is inexpressible if +every little Instance of Kindness is not reciprocal. There are Things in +this Sort of Commerce which there are not Words to express, and a Man +may not possibly know how to represent, what yet may tear his Heart into +ten thousand Tortures. To be grave to a Man's Mirth, unattentive to his +Discourse, or to interrupt either with something that argues a +Disinclination to be entertained by him, has in it something so +disagreeable, that the utmost Steps which may be made in further Enmity +cannot give greater Torment. The gay _Corinna_, who sets up for an +Indifference and becoming Heedlessness, gives her Husband all the +Torment imaginable out of meer Insolence, with this peculiar Vanity, +that she is to look as gay as a Maid in the Character of a Wife. It is +no Matter what is the Reason of a Man's Grief, if it be heavy as it is. +Her unhappy Man is convinced that she means him no Dishonour, but pines +to Death because she will not have so much Deference to him as to avoid +the Appearances of it. The Author of the following Letter is perplexed +with an Injury that is in a Degree yet less criminal, and yet the Source +of the utmost Unhappiness. + + + _Mr._ SPECTATOR, + + I have read your Papers which relate to Jealousy, and desire your + Advice in my Case, which you will say is not common. I have a Wife, of + whose Virtue I am not in the least doubtful; yet I cannot be satisfied + she loves me, which gives me as great Uneasiness as being faulty the + other Way would do. I know not whether I am not yet more miserable + than in that Case, for she keeps Possession of my Heart, without the + Return of hers. I would desire your Observations upon that Temper in + some Women, who will not condescend to convince their Husbands of + their Innocence or their Love, but are wholly negligent of what + Reflections the poor Men make upon their Conduct (so they cannot call + it Criminal,) when at the same time a little Tenderness of Behaviour, + or Regard to shew an Inclination to please them, would make them + Entirely at Ease. Do not such Women deserve all the Misinterpretation + which they neglect to avoid? Or are they not in the actual Practice of + Guilt, who care not whether they are thought guilty or not? If my Wife + does the most ordinary thing, as visiting her Sister, or taking the + Air with her Mother, it is always carried with the Air of a Secret: + Then she will sometimes tell a thing of no Consequence, as if it was + only Want of Memory made her conceal it before; and this only to dally + with my Anxiety. I have complained to her of this Behaviour in the + gentlest Terms imaginable, and beseeched her not to use him, who + desired only to live with her like an indulgent Friend, as the most + morose and unsociable Husband in the World. It is no easy Matter to + describe our Circumstance, but it is miserable with this Aggravation, + That it might be easily mended, and yet no Remedy endeavoured. She + reads you, and there is a Phrase or two in this Letter which she will + know came from me. If we enter into an Explanation which may tend to + our future Quiet by your Means, you shall have our joint Thanks: In + the mean time I am (as much as I can in this ambiguous Condition be + any thing) _SIR_, + + _Your humble Servant_. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Give me Leave to make you a Present of a Character not yet described + in your Papers, which is that of a Man who treats his Friend with the + same odd Variety which a Fantastical Female Tyrant practises towards + her Lover. I have for some time had a Friendship with one of these + Mercurial Persons: The Rogue I know loves me, yet takes Advantage of + my Fondness for him to use me as he pleases. We are by Turns the best + Friends and the greatest Strangers imaginable; Sometimes you would + think us inseparable; at other Times he avoids me for a long Time, yet + neither he nor I know why. When we meet next by Chance, he is amazed + he has not seen me, is impatient for an Appointment the same Evening: + and when I expect he should have kept it, I have known him slip away + to another Place; where he has sat reading the News, when there is no + Post; smoaking his Pipe, which he seldom cares for; and staring about + him in Company with whom he has had nothing to do, as if he wondered + how he came there. + + That I may state my Case to you the more fully, I shall transcribe + some short Minutes I have taken of him in my Almanack since last + Spring; for you must know there are certain Seasons of the Year, + according to which, I will not say our Friendship, but the Enjoyment + of it rises or falls. In _March_ and _April_ he was as various as the + Weather; In _May_ and part of _June_ I found him the sprightliest + best-humoured Fellow in the World; In the Dog-Days he was much upon + the Indolent; In _September_ very agreeable but very busy; and since + the Glass fell last to changeable, he has made three Appointments with + me, and broke them every one. However I have good Hopes of him this + Winter, especially if you will lend me your Assistance to reform him, + which will be a great Ease and Pleasure to, + + _SIR_, + _Your most humble Servant_. + _October_ 9, 1711. + + +T. + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 195. Saturday, October 13, 1711. Addison. + + +[Greek: Náepioi oud' isasin hos_o pléon haemisu pantós, +Oud' hoson en maláchaete dè asphodél_o meg honeiar.].--Hes. + + +There is a Story in the 'Arabian Nights Tales' [1] of a King who had +long languished under an ill Habit of Body, and had taken abundance of +Remedies to no purpose. At length, says the Fable, a Physician cured him +by the following Method: He took an hollow Ball of Wood, and filled it +with several Drugs; after which he clos'd it up so artificially that +nothing appeared. He likewise took a Mall, and after having hollowed the +Handle, and that part which strikes the Ball, he enclosed in them +several Drugs after the same Manner as in the Ball it self. He then +ordered the Sultan, who was his Patient, to exercise himself early in +the Morning with these _rightly prepared_ Instruments, till such time as +he should Sweat: When, as the Story goes, the Vertue of the Medicaments +perspiring through the Wood, had so good an Influence on the Sultan's +Constitution, that they cured him of an Indisposition which all the +Compositions he had taken inwardly had not been able to remove. This +Eastern Allegory is finely contrived to shew us how beneficial bodily +Labour is to Health, and that Exercise is the most effectual Physick. I +have described in my Hundred and Fifteenth Paper, from the general +Structure and Mechanism of an Human Body, how absolutely necessary +Exercise is for its Preservation. I shall in this Place recommend +another great Preservative of Health, which in many Cases produces the +same Effects as Exercise, and may, in some measure, supply its Place, +where Opportunities of Exercise are wanting. The Preservative I am +speaking of is Temperance, which has those particular Advantages above +all other Means of Health, that it may be practised by all Ranks and +Conditions, at any Season or in any Place. It is a kind of Regimen into +which every Man may put himself, without Interruption to Business, +Expence of Mony, or Loss of Time. If Exercise throws off all +Superfluities, Temperance prevents them; if Exercise clears the Vessels, +Temperance neither satiates nor overstrains them; if Exercise raises +proper Ferments in the Humours, and promotes the Circulation of the +Blood, Temperance gives Nature her full Play, and enables her to exert +her self in all her Force and Vigour; if Exercise dissipates a growing +Distemper, Temperance starves it. + +Physick, for the most part, is nothing else but the Substitute of +Exercise or Temperance. Medicines are indeed absolutely necessary in +acute Distempers, that cannot wait the slow Operations of these two +great Instruments of Health; but did Men live in an habitual Course of +Exercise and Temperance, there would be but little Occasion for them. +Accordingly we find that those Parts of the World are the most healthy, +where they subsist by the Chace; and that Men lived longest when their +Lives were employed in hunting, and when they had little Food besides +what they caught. Blistering, Cupping, Bleeding, are seldom of use but +to the Idle and Intemperate; as all those inward Applications which are +so much in practice among us, are for the most part nothing else but +Expedients to make Luxury consistent with Health. The Apothecary is +perpetually employed in countermining the Cook and the Vintner. It is +said of Diogenes, [2] that meeting a young Man who was going to a Feast, +he took him up in the Street and carried him home to his Friends, as one +who was running into imminent Danger, had not he prevented him. What +would that Philosopher have said, had he been present at the Gluttony of +a modern Meal? Would not he have thought the Master of a Family mad, and +have begged his Servants to tie down his Hands, had he seen him devour +Fowl, Fish, and Flesh; swallow Oyl and Vinegar, Wines and Spices; throw +down Sallads of twenty different Herbs, Sauces of an hundred +Ingredients, Confections and Fruits of numberless Sweets and Flavours? +What unnatural Motions and Counterferments must such a Medley of +Intemperance produce in the Body? For my Part, when I behold a +fashionable Table set out in all its Magnificence, I fancy that I see +Gouts and Dropsies, Feavers and Lethargies, with other innumerable +Distempers lying in Ambuscade among the Dishes. + +Nature delights in the most plain and simple Diet. Every Animal, but +Man, keeps to one Dish. Herbs are the Food of this Species, Fish of +that, and Flesh of a Third. Man falls upon every thing that comes in his +Way, not the smallest Fruit or Excrescence of the Earth, scarce a Berry +or a Mushroom, can escape him. + +It is impossible to lay down any determinate Rule for Temperance, +because what is Luxury in one may be Temperance in another; but there +are few that have lived any time in the World, who are not Judges of +their own Constitutions, so far as to know what Kinds and what +Proportions of Food do best agree with them. Were I to consider my +Readers as my Patients, and to prescribe such a Kind of Temperance as is +accommodated to all Persons, and such as is particularly suitable to our +Climate and Way of Living, I would copy the following Rules of a very +eminent Physician. Make your whole Repast out of one Dish. If you +indulge in a second, avoid drinking any thing Strong, till you have +finished your Meal; [at [3]] the same time abstain from all Sauces, or +at least such as are not the most plain and simple. A Man could not be +well guilty of Gluttony, if he stuck to these few obvious and easy +Rules. In the first Case there would be no Variety of Tastes to sollicit +his Palate, and occasion Excess; nor in the second any artificial +Provocatives to relieve Satiety, and create a false Appetite. Were I to +prescribe a Rule for Drinking, it should be form'd upon a Saying quoted +by Sir William Temple; [4] The first Glass for my self, the second for +my Friends, the third for good Humour, and the fourth for mine Enemies. +But because it is impossible for one who lives in the World to diet +himself always in so Philosophical a manner, I think every Man should +have his Days of Abstinence, according as his Constitution will permit. +These are great Reliefs to Nature, as they qualifie her for struggling +with Hunger and Thirst, whenever any Distemper or Duty of Life may put +her upon such Difficulties; and at the same time give her an Opportunity +of extricating her self from her Oppressions, and recovering the several +Tones and Springs of her distended Vessels. Besides that Abstinence well +timed often kills a Sickness in Embryo, and destroys the first Seeds of +an Indisposition. It is observed by two or three Ancient Authors, [5] +that Socrates, notwithstanding he lived in Athens during that great +Plague, which has made so much Noise through all Ages, and has been +celebrated at different Times by such eminent Hands; I say, +notwithstanding that he lived in the time of this devouring Pestilence, +he never caught the least Infection, which those Writers unanimously +ascribe to that uninterrupted Temperance which he always observed. + +And here I cannot but mention an Observation which I have often made, +upon reading the Lives of the Philosophers, and comparing them with any +Series of Kings or great Men of the same number. If we consider these +Ancient Sages, a great Part of whose Philosophy consisted in a temperate +and abstemious Course of Life, one would think the Life of a Philosopher +and the Life of a Man were of two different Dates. For we find that the +Generality of these wise Men were nearer an hundred than sixty Years of +Age at the Time of their respective Deaths. But the most remarkable +Instance of the Efficacy of Temperance towards the procuring of long +Life, is what we meet with in a little Book published by Lewis Cornare +the Venetian; which I the rather mention, because it is of undoubted +Credit, as the late Venetian Ambassador, who was of the same Family, +attested more than once in Conversation, when he resided in England. +Cornaro, who was the Author of the little Treatise I am mentioning, was +of an Infirm Constitution, till about forty, when by obstinately +persisting in an exact Course of Temperance, he recovered a perfect +State of Health; insomuch that at fourscore he published his Book, which +has been translated into English upon the Title of [Sure and certain +Methods [6]] of attaining a long and healthy Life. He lived to give a +3rd or 4th Edition of it, and after having passed his hundredth Year, +died without Pain or Agony, and like one who falls asleep. The Treatise +I mention has been taken notice of by several Eminent Authors, and is +written with such a Spirit of Chearfulness, Religion, and good Sense, as +are the natural Concomitants of Temperance and Sobriety. The Mixture of +the old Man in it is rather a Recommendation than a Discredit to it. + +Having designed this Paper as the Sequel to that upon Exercise, I have +not here considered Temperance as it is a Moral Virtue, which I shall +make the Subject of a future Speculation, but only as it is the Means of +Health. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: 'The History of the Greek King and Douban the Physician' +told by the Fisherman to the Genie in the story of 'the Fisherman.'] + + +[Footnote 2: Diog. Laert., 'Lives of the Philosophers', Bk. vi. ch. 2.] + + +[Footnote 3: and at] + + +[Footnote 4: Sir William Temple does not quote as a saying, but says +himself, near the end of his 'Essay upon Health and Long Life of +Government of Diet and Exercise', + + 'In both which, all excess is to be avoided, especially in the common + use of wine: Whereof the first Glass may pass for Health, the second + for good Humour, the third for our Friends; but the fourth is for our + Enemies.'] + + +[Footnote 5: Diogenes Laertius in 'Life of Socrates'; Ælian in 'Var. +Hist.' Bk. xiii.] + + +[Footnote 6: The Sure Way] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 196. Monday, October 15, 1711. Steele. + + + + Est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit oequus. + + Hor. + + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'There is a particular Fault which I have observed in most of the + Moralists in all Ages, and that is, that they are always professing + themselves, and teaching others to be happy. This State is not to be + arrived at in this Life, therefore I would recommend to you to talk in + an humbler Strain than your Predecessors have done, and instead of + presuming to be happy, instruct us only to be easy. The Thoughts of + him who would be discreet, and aim at practicable things, should turn + upon allaying our Pain rather than promoting our Joy. Great Inquietude + is to be avoided, but great Felicity is not to be attained. The great + Lesson is Æquanimity, a Regularity of Spirit, which is a little above + Chearfulness and below Mirth. Chearfulness is always to be supported + if a Man is out of Pain, but Mirth to a prudent Man should always be + accidental: It should naturally arise out of the Occasion, and the + Occasion seldom be laid for it; for those Tempers who want Mirth to be + pleased, are like the Constitutions which flag without the use of + Brandy. Therefore, I say, let your Precept be, Be easy. That Mind is + dissolute and ungoverned, which must be hurried out of it self by loud + Laughter or sensual Pleasure, or else [be [1]] wholly unactive. + + There are a Couple of old Fellows of my Acquaintance who meet every + Day and smoak a Pipe, and by their mutual Love to each other, tho' + they have been Men of Business and Bustle in the World, enjoy a + greater Tranquility than either could have worked himself into by any + Chapter of Seneca. Indolence of Body and Mind, when we aim at no more, + is very frequently enjoyed; but the very Enquiry after Happiness has + something restless in it, which a Man who lives in a Series of + temperate Meals, friendly Conversations, and easy Slumbers, gives + himself no Trouble about. While Men of Refinement are talking of + Tranquility, he possesses it. + + What I would by these broken Expressions recommend to you, Mr. + SPECTATOR, is, that you would speak of the Way of Life, which plain + Men may pursue, to fill up the Spaces of Time with Satisfaction. It is + a lamentable Circumstance, that Wisdom, or, as you call it, + Philosophy, should furnish Ideas only for the Learned; and that a Man + must be a Philosopher to know how to pass away his Time agreeably. It + would therefore be worth your Pains to place in an handsome Light the + Relations and Affinities among Men, which render their Conversation + with each other so grateful, that the highest Talents give but an + impotent Pleasure in Comparison with them. You may find Descriptions + and Discourses which will render the Fire-side of an honest Artificer + as entertaining as your own Club is to you. Good-nature has an endless + Source of Pleasure in it; and the Representation of domestick Life, + filled with its natural Gratifications, (instead of the necessary + Vexations which are generally insisted upon in the Writings of the + Witty) will be a very good Office to Society. + + The Vicissitudes of Labour and Rest in the lower Part of Mankind, make + their Being pass away with that Sort of Relish which we express by the + Word Comfort; and should be treated of by you, who are a SPECTATOR, as + well as such Subjects which appear indeed more speculative, but are + less instructive. In a word, Sir, I would have you turn your Thoughts + to the Advantage of such as want you most; and shew that Simplicity, + Innocence, Industry and Temperance, are Arts which lead to + Tranquility, as much as Learning, Wisdom, Knowledge, and + Contemplation. + + I am, Sir, + + Your most Humble Servant, + + 'T. B.' + + + + + Hackney, [October 12. [2]] + + Mr. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am the young Woman whom you did so much Justice to some time ago, + in acknowledging that I am perfect Mistress of the Fan, and use it + with the utmost Knowledge and Dexterity. Indeed the World, as + malicious as it is, will allow, that from an Hurry of Laughter I + recollect my self the most suddenly, make a Curtesie, and let fall my + Hands before me, closing my Fan at the same instant, the best of any + Woman in England. I am not a little delighted that I have had your + Notice and Approbation; and however other young Women may rally me out + of Envy, I triumph in it, and demand a Place in your Friendship. You + must therefore permit me to lay before you the present State of my + Mind. I was reading your Spectator of the 9th Instant, and thought the + Circumstance of the Ass divided between two Bundles of Hay which + equally affected his Senses, was a lively Representation of my present + Condition: For you are to now that I am extremely enamoured with two + young Gentlemen who at this time pretend to me. One must hide nothing + when one is asking Advice, therefore I will own to you, that I am very + amorous and very covetous. My Lover _Will_ is very rich, and my + Lover _Tom_ very handsome. I can have either of them when I + please; but when I debate the Question in my own Mind, I cannot take + _Tom_ for fear of losing _Will_'s Estate, nor enter upon + _Will's_ Estate, and bid adieu to _Tom_'s Person. I am very + young, and yet no one in the World, dear Sir, has the main Chance more + in her Head than myself. _Tom_ is the gayest, the blithest + Creature! He dances well, is very civil, and diverting at all Hours + and Seasons. Oh, he is the Joy of my Eyes! But then again _Will_ + is so very rich and careful of the Main. How many pretty Dresses does + _Tom_ appear in to charm me! But then it immediately occurs to + me, that a Man of his Circumstances is so much the poorer. Upon the + whole I have at last examined both these Desires of Loves and Avarice, + and upon strictly weighing the Matter I begin to think I shall be + covetous longer than fond; therefore if you have nothing to say to the + contrary, I shall take _Will_. Alas, poor _Tom_! + + _Your Humble Servant_, + BIDDY LOVELESS. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: is] + + +[Footnote 2: the 12th of October.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 197. Saturday, October 16, 1711. Budgell + + + 'Alter rixatur de lanâ sæpe caprinâ, + Propugnat nugis armatus: scilicet, ut non + Sit mihi prima fides; et vere quod placet, ut non + Acriter elatrem, pretium ætas altera sordet. + Ambigitur quid enim? Castor sciat an Docilis plus, + Brundusium Numici melius via ducat an Appî.' + + Hor. + + +Every Age a Man passes through, and Way of Life he engages in, has some +particular Vice or Imperfection naturally cleaving to it, which it wil +require his nicest Care to avoid. The several Weaknesses, to which +Youth, Old Age and Manhood are exposed, have long since been set down by +many both of the Poets and Philosophers; but I do not remember to have +met with any Author who has treated of those ill Habits Men are subject +to, not so much by reason of their different Ages and Tempers, as the +particular Profession or Business in which they were educated and +brought up. + +I am the more surprised to find this Subject so little touched on, since +what I am here speaking of is so apparent as not to escape the most +vulgar Observation. The Business Men are chiefly conversant in, does not +only give a certain Cast or Turn to their Minds, but is very often +apparent in their outward Behaviour, and some of the most indifferent +Actions of their Lives. It is this Air diffusing itself over the whole +Man, which helps us to find out a Person at his first Appearance; so +that the most careless Observer fancies he can scarce be mistaken in the +Carriage of a Seaman or the Gaite of a Taylor. + +The liberal Arts, though they may possibly have less Effect on our +external Mein and Behaviour, make so deep an Impression on the Mind, as +is very apt to bend it wholly one Way. + +The Mathematician will take little less than Demonstration in the most +common Discourse, and the Schoolman is as great a Friend to Definitions +and Syllogisms. The Physician and Divine are often heard to dictate in +private Companies with the same Authority which they exercise over their +Patients and Disciples; while the Lawyer is putting Cases and raising +Matter for Disputation out of every thing that occurs. + +I may possibly some time or other animadvert more at large on the +particular Fault each Profession is most infected with; but shall at +present wholly apply my self to the Cure of what I last mentioned, +namely, That Spirit of Strife and Contention in the Conversations of +Gentlemen of the Long Robe. + +This is the more ordinary, because these Gentlemen regarding Argument as +their own proper Province, and very often making ready Money of it, +think it unsafe to yield before Company. They are shewing in common Talk +how zealously they could defend a Cause in Court, and therefore +frequently forget to keep that Temper which is absolutely requisite to +render Conversation pleasant and instructive. + +CAPTAIN SENTRY pushes this Matter so far, that I have heard him say, _He +has known but few Pleaders that were tolerable Company_. + +The Captain, who is a Man of good Sense, but dry Conversation, was last +Night giving me an Account of a Discourse, in which he had lately been +engaged with a young Wrangler in the Law. I was giving my Opinion, says +the Captain, without apprehending any Debate that might arise from it, +of a General's Behaviour in a Battle that was fought some Years before +either the Templer or my self were born. The young Lawyer immediately +took me up, and by reasoning above a Quarter of an Hour upon a Subject +which I saw he understood nothing of, endeavoured to shew me that my +Opinions were ill grounded. Upon which, says the Captain, to avoid any +farther Contests, I told him, That truly I had not consider'd those +several Arguments which he had brought against me; and that there might +be a great deal in them. Ay, but says my Antagonist, who would not let +me escape so, there are several Things to be urged in favour of your +Opinion which you have omitted, and thereupon begun to shine on the +other Side of the Question. Upon this, says the Captain, I came over to +my first Sentiments, and entirely acquiesced in his Reasons for my so +doing. Upon which the Templer again recovered his former Posture, and +confuted both himself and me a third Time. In short, says my Friend, I +found he was resolved to keep me at Sword's Length, and never let me +close with him, so that I had nothing left but to hold my tongue, and +give my Antagonist free leave to smile at his Victory, who I found, like +_Hudibras, could still change Sides, and still confute_. [1] + +For my own part, I have ever regarded our Inns of Courts as Nurseries of +Statesmen and Law-givers, which makes me often frequent that Part of the +Town with great Pleasure. + +Upon my calling in lately at one of the most noted _Temple_ +Coffee-houses, I found the whole Room, which was full of young Students, +divided into several Parties, each of which was deeply engaged in some +Controversie. The Management of the late Ministry was attacked and +defended with great Vigour; and several Preliminaries to the Peace were +proposed by some, and rejected by others; the demolishing of _Dunkirk_ +was so eagerly insisted on, and so warmly controverted, as had like to +have produced a Challenge. In short, I observed that the Desire of +Victory, whetted with the little Prejudices of Party and Interest, +generally carried the Argument to such an Height, as made the Disputants +insensibly conceive an Aversion towards each other, and part with the +highest Dissatisfaction on both Sides. + +The managing an Argument handsomely being so nice a Point, and what I +have seen so very few excel in, I shall here set down a few Rules on +that Head, which, among other things, I gave in writing to a young +Kinsman of mine who had made so great a Proficiency in the Law, that he +began to plead in Company upon every Subject that was started. + +Having the entire Manuscript by me, I may, perhaps, from time to time, +publish such Parts of it as I shall think requisite for the Instruction +of the _British_ Youth. What regards my present Purpose is as follows: + +Avoid Disputes as much as possible. In order to appear easie and +well-bred in Conversation, you may assure your self that it requires +more Wit, as well as more good Humour, to improve than to contradict the +Notions of another: But if you are at any time obliged to enter on an +Argument, give your Reasons with the utmost Coolness and Modesty, two +Things which scarce ever fail of making an Impression on the Hearers. +Besides, if you are neither Dogmatical, nor shew either by your Actions +or Words, that you are full of your self, all will the more heartily +rejoice at your Victory. Nay, should you be pinched in your Argument, +you may make your Retreat with a very good Grace: You were never +positive, and are now glad to be better informed. This has made some +approve the Socratical Way of Reasoning, where while you scarce affirm +any thing, you can hardly be caught in an Absurdity; and tho' possibly +you are endeavouring to bring over another to your Opinion, which is +firmly fix'd, you seem only to desire Information from him. + +In order to keep that Temper, which [is [2]] so difficult, and yet so +necessary to preserve, you may please to consider, that nothing can be +more unjust or ridiculous, than to be angry with another because he is +not of your Opinion. The Interests, Education, and Means by which Men +attain their Knowledge, are so very different, that it is impossible +they should all think alike; and he has at least as much Reason to be +angry with you, as you with him. Sometimes to keep your self cool, it +may be of Service to ask your self fairly, What might have been your +Opinion, had you all the Biasses of Education and Interest your +Adversary may possibly have? but if you contend for the Honour of +Victory alone, you may lay down this as an Infallible Maxim. That you +cannot make a more false Step, or give your Antagonists a greater +Advantage over you, than by falling into a Passion. + +When an Argument is over, how many weighty Reasons does a Man recollect, +which his Heat and Violence made him utterly forget? + +It is yet more absurd to be angry with a Man because he does not +apprehend the Force of your Reasons, or gives weak ones of his own. If +you argue for Reputation, this makes your Victory the easier; he is +certainly in all respects an Object of your Pity, rather than Anger; and +if he cannot comprehend what you do, you ought to thank Nature for her +Favours, who has given you so much the clearer Understanding. + +You may please to add this Consideration, That among your Equals no one +values your Anger, which only preys upon its Master; and perhaps you may +find it not very consistent either with Prudence or your Ease, to punish +your self whenever you meet with a Fool or a Knave. + +Lastly, If you propose to your self the true End of Argument, which is +Information, it may be a seasonable Check to your Passion; for if you +search purely after Truth,'twill be almost indifferent to you where you +find it. I cannot in this Place omit an Observation which I have often +made, namely, That nothing procures a Man more Esteem and less Envy from +the whole Company, than if he chooses the Part of Moderator, without +engaging directly on either Side in a Dispute. This gives him the +Character of Impartial, furnishes him with an Opportunity of sifting +Things to the Bottom, shewing his Judgment, and of sometimes making +handsome Compliments to each of the contending Parties. + +I shall close this Subject with giving you one Caution: When you have +gained a Victory, do not push it too far; 'tis sufficient to let the +Company and your Adversary see 'tis in your Power, but that you are too +generous to make use of it. + +X. + + + +[Footnote 1: Part I., canto i., v. 69, 70.] + + +[Footnote 2: "it is", and in first reprint.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 198. Wednesday, October 17, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Cervæ luporum præda rapacium + Sectamur ultro, quos opimus + Fallere et effugere est triumphus.' + + Hor. + + +There is a Species of Women, whom I shall distinguish by the Name of +Salamanders. Now a Salamander is a kind of Heroine in Chastity, that +treads upon Fire, and lives in the Midst of Flames without being hurt. A +Salamander knows no Distinction of Sex in those she converses with, +grows familiar with a Stranger at first Sight, and is not so +narrow-spirited as to observe whether the Person she talks to be in +Breeches or Petticoats. She admits a Male Visitant to her Bed-side, +plays with him a whole Afternoon at Pickette, walks with him two or +three Hours by Moon-light; and is extreamly Scandalized at the +unreasonableness of an Husband, or the severity of a Parent, that would +debar the Sex from such innocent Liberties. Your Salamander is therefore +a perpetual Declaimer against Jealousie, and Admirer of the _French_ +Good-breeding, and a great Stickler for Freedom in Conversation. In +short, the Salamander lives in an invincible State of Simplicity and +Innocence: Her Constitution is _preserv'd_ in a kind of natural Frost; +she wonders what People mean by Temptation; and defies Mankind to do +their worst. Her Chastity is engaged in a constant _Ordeal_, or fiery +Tryal: (Like good Queen _Emma_, [1]) the pretty Innocent walks blindfold +among burning Ploughshares, without being scorched or singed by them. + +It is not therefore for the Use of the Salamander, whether in a married +or single State of Life, that I design the following Paper; but for such +Females only as are made of Flesh and Blood, and find themselves subject +to Human Frailties. + +As for this Part of the fair Sex who are not of the Salamander Kind, I +would most earnestly advise them to observe a quite different Conduct in +their Behaviour; and to avoid as much as possible what Religion calls +_Temptations_, and the World _Opportunities_. Did they but know how many +Thousands of their Sex have been gradually betrayed from innocent +Freedoms to Ruin and Infamy; and how many Millions of ours have begun +with Flatteries, Protestations and Endearments, but ended with +Reproaches, Perjury, and Perfidiousness; they would shun like Death the +very first Approaches of one that might lead them into inextricable +Labyrinths of Guilt and Misery. I must so far give up the Cause of the +Male World, as to exhort the Female Sex in the Language of _Chamont_ in +the _Orphan_; [2] + + 'Trust not a Man, we are by Nature False, + Dissembling, Subtle, Cruel, and Unconstant: + When a Man talks of Love, with Caution trust him: + But if he Swears, he'll certainly deceive thee.' + +I might very much enlarge upon this Subject, but shall conclude it with +a Story which I lately heard from one of our _Spanish_ Officers, [3] and +which may shew the Danger a Woman incurs by too great Familiarities with +a Male Companion. + +An Inhabitant of the Kingdom of _Castile_, being a Man of more than +ordinary Prudence, and of a grave composed Behaviour, determined about +the fiftieth Year of his Age to enter upon Wedlock. In order to make +himself easy in it, he cast his Eye upon a young Woman who had nothing +to recommend her but her Beauty and her Education, her Parents having +been reduced to great Poverty by the Wars, [which [4]] for some Years +have laid that whole Country waste. The _Castilian_ having made his +Addresses to her and married her, they lived together in perfect +Happiness for some time; when at length the Husband's Affairs made it +necessary for him to take a Voyage to the Kingdom of _Naples_, where a +great Part of his Estate lay. The Wife loved him too tenderly to be left +behind him. They had not been a Shipboard above a Day, when they +unluckily fell into the Hands of an _Algerine_ Pirate, who carried the +whole Company on Shore, and made them Slaves. The _Castilian_ and his +Wife had the Comfort to be under the same Master; who seeing how dearly +they loved one another, and gasped after their Liberty, demanded a most +exorbitant Price for their Ransom. The _Castilian_, though he would +rather have died in Slavery himself, than have paid such a Sum as he +found would go near to ruin him, was so moved with Compassion towards +his Wife, that he sent repeated Orders to his Friend in _Spain_, (who +happened to be his next Relation) to sell his Estate, and transmit the +Money to him. His Friend hoping that the Terms of his Ransom might be +made more reasonable, and unwilling to sell an Estate which he himself +had some Prospect of inheriting, formed so many delays, that three whole +Years passed away without any thing being done for the setting of them +at Liberty. + +There happened to live a _French_ Renegado in the same Place where the +_Castilian_ and his Wife were kept Prisoners. As this Fellow had in him +all the Vivacity of his Nation, he often entertained the Captives with +Accounts of his own Adventures; to which he sometimes added a Song or a +Dance, or some other Piece of Mirth, to divert them [during [5]] their +Confinement. His Acquaintance with the Manners of the _Algerines_, +enabled him likewise to do them several good Offices. The _Castilian_, +as he was one Day in Conversation with this Renegado, discovered to him +the Negligence and Treachery of his Correspondent in _Castile_, and at +the same time asked his Advice how he should behave himself in that +Exigency: He further told the Renegado, that he found it would be +impossible for him to raise the Money, unless he himself might go over +to dispose of his Estate. The Renegado, after having represented to him +that his _Algerine Master_ would never consent to his Release upon such +a Pretence, at length contrived a Method for the _Castlian_ to make his +Escape in the Habit of a Seaman. The _Castilian_ succeeded in his +Attempt; and having sold his Estate, being afraid lest the Money should +miscarry by the Way, and determining to perish with it rather than lose +one who was much dearer to him than his Life, he returned himself in a +little Vessel that was going to _Algiers_. It is impossible to describe +the Joy he felt on this Occasion, when he considered that he should soon +see the Wife whom he so much loved, and endear himself more to her by +this uncommon Piece of Generosity. + +The Renegado, during the Husband's Absence, so insinuated himself into +the good Graces of his young Wife, and so turned her Head with Stories +of Gallantry, that she quickly thought him the finest Gentleman she had +ever conversed with. To be brief, her Mind was quite alienated from the +honest _Castilian_, whom she was taught to look upon as a formal old +Fellow unworthy the Possession of so charming a Creature. She had been +instructed by the Renegado how to manage herself upon his Arrival; so +that she received him with an Appearance of the utmost Love and +Gratitude, and at length perswaded him to trust their common Friend the +Renegado with the Money he had brought over for their Ransom; as not +questioning but he would beat down the Terms of it, and negotiate the +Affair more to their Advantage than they themselves could do. The good +Man admired her Prudence, and followed her Advice. I wish I could +conceal the Sequel of this Story, but since I cannot I shall dispatch it +in as few Words as possible. The _Castilian_ having slept longer than +ordinary the next Morning, upon his awaking found his Wife had left him: +He immediately arose and enquired after her, but was told that she was +seen with the Renegado about Break of Day. In a Word, her Lover having +got all things ready for their Departure, they soon made their Escape +out of the Territories of _Algiers_, carried away the Money, and left +the _Castilian_ in Captivity; who partly through the cruel Treatment of +the incensed _Algerine_ his Master, and partly through the unkind Usage +of his unfaithful Wife, died some few Months after. + +L. + + + +[Footnote 1: The story of Queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, +and her walking unhurt, blindfold and barefoot, over nine red-hot +ploughshares, is told in Bayle's Dictionary, a frequent suggester of +allusions in the _Spectator_. Tonson reported that he usually found +Bayle's Dictionary open on Addison's table whenever he called on him.] + + +[Footnote 2: Act 2.] + + +[Footnote 3: That is, English officers who had served in Spain.] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + +[Footnote 5: in] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 199. Thursday, October 18, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Scribere jussit amor.' + + Ovid. + + +The following Letters are written with such an Air of Sincerity, that I +cannot deny the inserting of them. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'Tho' you are every where in your Writings a Friend to Women, I do not + remember that you have directly considered the mercenary Practice of + Men in the Choice of Wives. If you would please to employ your + Thoughts upon that Subject, you would easily conceive the miserable + Condition many of us are in, who not only from the Laws of Custom and + Modesty are restrained from making any Advances towards our Wishes, + but are also, from the Circumstance of Fortune, out of all Hope of + being addressed to by those whom we love. Under all these + Disadvantages I am obliged to apply my self to you, and hope I shall + prevail with you to Print in your very next Paper the following + Letter, which is a Declaration of Passion to one who has made some + feint Addresses to me for some time. I believe he ardently loves me, + but the Inequality of my Fortune makes him think he cannot answer it + to the World, if he pursues his Designs by way of Marriage; and I + believe, as he does not want Discerning, he discovered me looking at + him the other Day unawares in such a Manner as has raised his Hopes of + gaining me on Terms the Men call easier. But my Heart was very full on + this Occasion, and if you know what Love and Honour are, you will + pardon me that I use no further Arguments with you, but hasten to my + Letter to him, whom I call _Oroondates_, [1] because if I do not + succeed it shall look like Romance; and if I am regarded, you shall + receive a pair of Gloves at my Wedding, sent you under the Name of + + _Statira_. + + + + _To_ OROONDATES. + + _SIR_, + + 'After very much Perplexity in my self, and revolving how to acquaint + you with my own Sentiments, and expostulate with you concerning yours, + I have chosen this Way, by which means I can be at once revealed to + you, or, if you please, lie concealed. If I do not within few Days + find the Effect which I hope from this, the whole Affair shall be + buried in Oblivion. But, alas! what am I going to do, when I am about + to tell you that I love you? But after I have done so, I am to assure + you, that with all the Passion which ever entered a tender Heart, I + know I can banish you from my Sight for ever, when I am convinced that + you have no Inclinations towards me but to my Dishonour. But, alas! + Sir, why should you sacrifice the real and essential Happiness of + Life, to the Opinion of a World, that moves upon no other Foundation + but profess'd Error and Prejudice? You all can observe that Riches + alone do not make you happy, and yet give up every Thing else when it + stands in Competition with Riches. Since the World is so bad, that + Religion is left to us silly Women, and you Men act generally upon + Principles of Profit and Pleasure, I will talk to you without arguing + from any Thing but what may be most to your Advantage, as a Man of the + World. And I will lay before you the State of the Case, supposing that + you had it in your Power to make me your Mistress, or your Wife, and + hope to convince you that the latter is more for your Interest, and + will contribute more to your Pleasure. + + 'We will suppose then the Scene was laid, and you were now in + Expectation of the approaching Evening wherein I was to meet you, and + be carried to what convenient Corner of the Town you thought fit, to + consummate all which your wanton Imagination has promised you in the + Possession of one who is in the Bloom of Youth, and in the Reputation + of Innocence: you would soon have enough of me, as I am Sprightly, + Young, Gay, and Airy. When Fancy is sated, and finds all the Promises + it [made [2]] it self false, where is now the Innocence which charmed + you? The first Hour you are alone you will find that the Pleasure of a + Debauchee is only that of a Destroyer; He blasts all the Fruit he + tastes, and where the Brute has been devouring, there is nothing left + worthy the Relish of the Man. Reason resumes her Place after + Imagination is cloyed; and I am, with the utmost Distress and + Confusion, to behold my self the Cause of uneasie Reflections to you, + to be visited by Stealth, and dwell for the future with the two + Companions (the most unfit for each other in the World) Solitude and + Guilt. I will not insist upon the shameful Obscurity we should pass + our Time in, nor run over the little short Snatches of fresh Air and + free Commerce which all People must be satisfied with, whose Actions + will not bear Examination, but leave them to your Reflections, who + have seen of that Life of which I have but a meer Idea. + + On the other hand, If you can be so good and generous as to make me + your Wife, you may promise your self all the Obedience and Tenderness + with which Gratitude can inspire a virtuous Woman. Whatever + Gratifications you may promise your self from an agreeable Person, + whatever Compliances from an easie Temper, whatever Consolations from + a sincere Friendship, you may expect as the Due of your Generosity. + What at present in your ill View you promise your self from me, will + be followed by Distaste and Satiety; but the Transports of a virtuous + Love are the least Part of its Happiness. The Raptures of innocent + Passion are but like Lightning to the Day, they rather interrupt than + advance the Pleasure of it. How happy then is that Life to be, where + the highest Pleasures of Sense are but the lower Parts of its + Felicity? + + Now am I to repeat to you the unnatural Request of taking me in direct + Terms. I know there stands between me and that Happiness, the haughty + Daughter of a Man who can give you suitably to your Fortune. But if + you weigh the Attendance and Behaviour of her who comes to you in + Partnership of your Fortune, and expects an Equivalent, with that of + her who enters your House as honoured and obliged by that Permission, + whom of the two will you chuse? You, perhaps, will think fit to spend + a Day abroad in the common Entertainments of Men of Sense and Fortune; + she will think herself ill-used in that Absence, and contrive at Home + an Expence proportioned to the Appearance which you make in the World. + She is in all things to have a Regard to the Fortune which she brought + you, I to the Fortune to which you introduced me. The Commerce between + you two will eternally have the Air of a Bargain, between us of a + Friendship: Joy will ever enter into the Room with you, and kind + Wishes attend my Benefactor when he leaves it. Ask your self, how + would you be pleased to enjoy for ever the Pleasure of having laid an + immediate Obligation on a grateful Mind? such will be your Case with + Me. In the other Marriage you will live in a constant Comparison of + Benefits, and never know the Happiness of conferring or receiving any. + + It may be you will, after all, act rather in the prudential Way, + according to the Sense of the ordinary World. I know not what I think + or say, when that melancholy Reflection comes upon me; but shall only + add more, that it is in your Power to make me + your Grateful Wife, + but never your Abandoned Mistress. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: A character in Madame Scudéri's 'Grand Cyrus.'] + + +[Footnote 2: made to] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 200. Friday, October 19, 1711. Steele. [1] + + + 'Vincit Amor Patriæ.' + + Virg. + +The Ambition of Princes is many times as hurtful to themselves as to +their People. This cannot be doubted of such as prove unfortunate in +their Wars, but it is often true too of those who are celebrated for +their Successes. If a severe View were to be taken of their Conduct, if +the Profit and Loss by their Wars could be justly ballanced, it would be +rarely found that the Conquest is sufficient to repay the Cost. + +As I was the other Day looking over the Letters of my Correspondents, I +took this Hint from that of _Philarithmus_ [2]; which has turned my +present Thoughts upon Political Arithmetick, an Art of greater Use than +Entertainment. My Friend has offered an Essay towards proving that +_Lewis_ XIV. with all his Acquisitions is not Master of more People than +at the Beginning of his Wars, nay that for every Subject he had +acquired, he had lost Three that were his Inheritance: If _Philarithmus_ +is not mistaken in his Calculations, _Lewis_ must have been impoverished +by his Ambition. + +The Prince for the Publick Good has a Sovereign Property in every +Private Person's Estate, and consequently his Riches must encrease or +decrease in proportion to the Number and Riches of his Subjects. For +Example: If Sword or Pestilence should destroy all the People of this +Metropolis, (God forbid there should be Room for such a Supposition! but +if this should be the Case) the Queen must needs lose a great Part of +her Revenue, or, at least, what is charged upon the City must encrease +the Burden upon the rest of her Subjects. Perhaps the Inhabitants here +are not above a Tenth Part of the Whole; yet as they are better fed, and +cloth'd, and lodg'd, than her other Subjects, the Customs and Excises +upon their Consumption, the Imposts upon their Houses, and other Taxes, +do very probably make a fifth Part of the whole Revenue of the Crown. +But this is not all; the Consumption of the City takes off a great Part +of the Fruits of the whole Island; and as it pays such a Proportion of +the Rent or yearly Value of the Lands in the Country, so it is the Cause +of paying such a Proportion of Taxes upon those Lands. The Loss then of +such a People must needs be sensible to the Prince, and visible to the +whole Kingdom. + +On the other hand, if it should please God to drop from Heaven a new +People equal in Number and Riches to the City, I should be ready to +think their Excises, Customs, and House-Rent would raise as great a +Revenue to the Crown as would be lost in the former Case. And as the +Consumption of this New Body would be a new Market for the Fruits of the +Country, all the Lands, especially those most adjacent, would rise in +their yearly Value, and pay greater yearly Taxes to the Publick. The +Gain in this Case would be as sensible as the former Loss. + +Whatsoever is assess'd upon the General, is levied upon Individuals. It +were worth the while then to consider what is paid by, or by means of, +the meanest Subjects, in order to compute the Value of every Subject to +the Prince. + +For my own part, I should believe that Seven Eighths of the People are +without Property in themselves or the Heads of their Families, and +forced to work for their daily Bread; and that of this Sort there are +Seven Millions in the whole Island of _Great Britain_: And yet one would +imagine that Seven Eighths of the whole People should consume at least +three Fourths of the whole Fruits of the Country. If this is the Case, +the Subjects without Property pay Three Fourths of the Rents, and +consequently enable the Landed Men to pay Three Fourths of their Taxes. +Now if so great a Part of the Land-Tax were to be divided by Seven +Millions, it would amount to more than three Shillings to every Head. +And thus as the Poor are the Cause, without which the Rich could not pay +this Tax, even the poorest Subject is upon this Account worth three +Shillings yearly to the Prince. + +Again: One would imagine the Consumption of seven Eighths of the whole +People, should pay two Thirds of all the Customs and Excises. And if +this Sum too should be divided by seven Millions, _viz._ the Number of +poor People, it would amount to more than seven Shillings to every Head: +And therefore with this and the former Sum every poor Subject, without +Property, except of his Limbs or Labour, is worth at least ten Shillings +yearly to the Sovereign. So much then the Queen loses with every one of +her old, and gains with every one of her new Subjects. + +When I was got into this Way of thinking, I presently grew conceited of +the Argument, and was just preparing to write a Letter of Advice to a +Member of Parliament, for opening the Freedom of our Towns and Trades, +for taking away all manner of Distinctions between the Natives and +Foreigners, for repealing our Laws of Parish Settlements, and removing +every other Obstacle to the Increase of the People. But as soon as I had +recollected with what inimitable Eloquence my Fellow-Labourers had +exaggerated the Mischiefs of selling the Birth-right of _Britons_ for a +Shilling, of spoiling the pure _British_ Blood with Foreign Mixtures, of +introducing a Confusion of Languages and Religions, and of letting in +Strangers to eat the Bread out of the Mouths of our own People, I became +so humble as to let my Project fall to the Ground, and leave my Country +to encrease by the ordinary Way of Generation. + +As I have always at Heart the Publick Good, so I am ever contriving +Schemes to promote it; and I think I may without Vanity pretend to have +contrived some as wise as any of the Castle-builders. I had no sooner +given up my former Project, but my Head was presently full of draining +Fens and Marshes, banking out the Sea, and joining new Lands to my +Country; for since it is thought impracticable to encrease the People to +the Land, I fell immediately to consider how much would be gained to the +Prince by encreasing the Lands to the People. + +If the same omnipotent Power, which made the World, should at this time +raise out of the Ocean and join to _Great Britain_ an equal Extent of +Land, with equal Buildings, Corn, Cattle and other Conveniences and +Necessaries of Life, but no Men, Women, nor Children, I should hardly +believe this would add either to the Riches of the People, or Revenue of +the Prince; for since the present Buildings are sufficient for all the +Inhabitants, if any of them should forsake the old to inhabit the new +Part of the Island, the Increase of House-Rent in this would be attended +with at least an equal Decrease of it in the other: Besides, we have +such a Sufficiency of Corn and Cattle, that we give Bounties to our +Neighbours to take what exceeds of the former off our Hands, and we will +not suffer any of the latter to be imported upon us by our +Fellow-Subjects; and for the remaining Product of the Country 'tis +already equal to all our Markets. But if all these Things should be +doubled to the same Buyers, the Owners must be glad with half their +present Prices, the Landlords with half their present Rents; and thus by +so great an Enlargement of the Country, the Rents in the whole would not +increase, nor the Taxes to the Publick. + +On the contrary, I should believe they would be very much diminished; +for as the Land is only valuable for its Fruits, and these are all +perishable, and for the most part must either be used within the Year, +or perish without Use, the Owners will get rid of them at any rate, +rather than they should waste in their Possession: So that 'tis probable +the annual Production of those perishable things, even of one Tenth Part +of them, beyond all Possibility of Use, will reduce one Half of their +Value. It seems to be for this Reason that our Neighbour Merchants who +ingross all the Spices, and know how great a Quantity is equal to the +Demand, destroy all that exceeds it. It were natural then to think that +the Annual Production of twice as much as can be used, must reduce all +to an Eighth Part of their present Prices; and thus this extended Island +would not exceed one Fourth Part of its present Value, or pay more than +one Fourth Part of the present Tax. + +It is generally observed, That in Countries of the greatest Plenty there +is the poorest Living; like the Schoolmen's Ass, in one of my +Speculations, the People almost starve between two Meals. The Truth is, +the Poor, which are the Bulk of the Nation, work only that they may +live; and if with two Days Labour they can get a wretched Subsistence +for a Week, they will hardly be brought to work the other four: But then +with the Wages of two Days they can neither pay such Prices for their +Provisions, nor such Excises to the Government. + +That paradox therefore in old _Hesiod_ [[Greek: pleon hemisu pantos], +[3]] or Half is more than the Whole, is very applicable to the present +Case; since nothing is more true in political Arithmetick, than that the +same People with half a Country is more valuable than with the Whole. I +begin to think there was nothing absurd in Sir _W. Petty_, when he +fancied if all the Highlands of _Scotland_ and the whole Kingdom of +_Ireland_ were sunk in the Ocean, so that the People were all saved and +brought into the Lowlands of _Great Britain_; nay, though they were to +be reimburst the Value of their Estates by the Body of the People, yet +both the Sovereign and the Subjects in general would be enriched by the +very Loss. [4] + +If the People only make the Riches, the Father of ten Children is a +greater Benefactor to his Country, than he who has added to it 10000 +Acres of Land and no People. It is certain _Lewis_ has join'd vast +Tracts of Land to his Dominions: But if _Philarithmus_ says true, that +he is not now Master of so many Subjects as before; we may then account +for his not being able to bring such mighty Armies into the Field, and +for their being neither so well fed, nor cloathed, nor paid as formerly. +The Reason is plain, _Lewis_ must needs have been impoverished not only +by his Loss of Subjects, but by his Acquisition of Lands. + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Or Henry Martyn.] + + +[Footnote 2: In No. 180.] + + +[Footnote 3: [Greek: pleón haemisi panta]] + + +[Footnote 4: A new edition of Sir W. Petty's 'Essays in Political +Arithmetic' had just appeared.] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 201. Saturday, October 20, 1711. Addison. + + + 'Religentem esse oportet, Religiosum nefas.' + + Incerti Autoris apud Aul. Gell. + + +It is of the last Importance to season the Passions of a Child with +Devotion, which seldom dies in a Mind that has received an early +Tincture of it. Though it may seem extinguished for a while by the Cares +of the World, the Heats of Youth, or the Allurements of Vice, it +generally breaks out and discovers it self again as soon as Discretion, +Consideration, Age, or Misfortunes have brought the Man to himself. The +Fire may be covered and overlaid, but cannot be entirely quenched and +smothered. + +A State of Temperance, Sobriety, and Justice, without Devotion, is a +cold, lifeless, insipid Condition of Virtue; and is rather to be styled +Philosophy than Religion. Devotion opens the Mind to great Conceptions, +and fills it with more sublime Ideas than any that are to be met with in +the most exalted Science; and at the same time warms and agitates the +Soul more than sensual Pleasure. + +It has been observed by some Writers, that Man is more distinguished +from the Animal World by Devotion than by Reason, as several Brute +Creatures discover in their Actions something like a faint Glimmering of +Reason, though they betray in no single Circumstance of their Behaviour +any Thing that bears the least Affinity to Devotion. It is certain, the +Propensity of the Mind to Religious Worship; the natural Tendency of the +Soul to fly to some Superior Being for Succour in Dangers and +Distresses, the Gratitude to an invisible Superintendent [which [1]] +rises in us upon receiving any extraordinary and unexpected good +Fortune; the Acts of Love and Admiration with which the Thoughts of Men +are so wonderfully transported in meditating upon the Divine +Perfections, and the universal Concurrence of all the Nations under +Heaven in the great Article of Adoration, plainly shew that Devotion or +Religious Worship must be the Effect of Tradition from some first +Founder of Mankind, or that it is conformable to the Natural Light of +Reason, or that it proceeds from an Instinct implanted in the Soul it +self. For my part, I look upon all these to be the concurrent Causes, +but which ever of them shall be assigned as the Principle of Divine +Worship, it manifestly points to a Supreme Being as the first Author of +it. + +I may take some other Opportunity of considering those particular Forms +and Methods of Devotion which are taught us by Christianity, but shall +here observe into what Errors even this Divine Principle may sometimes +lead us, when it is not moderated by that right Reason which was given +us as the Guide of all our Actions. + +The two great Errors into which a mistaken Devotion may betray us, are +Enthusiasm and Superstition. + +There is not a more melancholy Object than a Man who has his Head turned +with Religious Enthusiasm. A Person that is crazed, tho' with Pride or +Malice, is a Sight very mortifying to Human Nature; but when the +Distemper arises from any indiscreet Fervours of Devotion, or too +intense an Application of the Mind to its mistaken Duties, it deserves +our Compassion in a more particular Manner. We may however learn this +Lesson from it, that since Devotion it self (which one would be apt to +think could not be too warm) may disorder the Mind, unless its Heats are +tempered with Caution and Prudence, we should be particularly careful to +keep our Reason as cool as possible, and to guard our selves in all +Parts of Life against the Influence of Passion, Imagination, and +Constitution. + +Devotion, when it does not lie under the Check of Reason, is very apt to +degenerate into Enthusiasm. When the Mind finds herself very much +inflamed with her Devotions, she is too much inclined to think they are +not of her own kindling, but blown up by something Divine within her. If +she indulges this Thought too far, and humours the growing Passion, she +at last flings her self into imaginary Raptures and Extasies; and when +once she fancies her self under the Influence of a Divine Impulse, it is +no Wonder if she slights Human Ordinances, and refuses to comply with +any established Form of Religion, as thinking her self directed by a +much superior Guide. + +As Enthusiasm is a kind of Excess in Devotion, Superstition is the +Excess not only of Devotion, but of Religion in general, according to an +old Heathen Saying, quoted by _Aulus Gellius_, _Religentem esse oportet, +Religiosum nefas_; A Man should be Religious, not Superstitious: For as +the Author tells us, _Nigidius_ observed upon this Passage, that the +_Latin_ Words which terminate in _osus_ generally imply vicious +Characters, and the having of any Quality to an Excess. [2] + +An Enthusiast in Religion is like an obstinate Clown, a Superstitious +Man like an insipid Courtier. Enthusiasm has something in it of Madness, +Superstition of Folly. Most of the Sects that fall short of the Church +of _England_ have in them strong Tinctures of Enthusiasm, as the _Roman_ +Catholick Religion is one huge overgrown Body of childish and idle +Superstitions. + +The _Roman_ Catholick Church seems indeed irrecoverably lost in this +Particular. If an absurd Dress or Behaviour be introduced in the World, +it will soon be found out and discarded: On the contrary, a Habit or +Ceremony, tho' never so ridiculous, [which [3]] has taken Sanctuary in +the Church, sticks in it for ever. A _Gothic_ Bishop perhaps, thought it +proper to repeat such a Form in such particular Shoes or Slippers; +another fancied it would be very decent if such a Part of publick +Devotions were performed with a Mitre on his Head, and a Crosier in his +Hand: To this a Brother _Vandal_, as wise as the others, adds an antick +Dress, which he conceived would allude very aptly to such and such +Mysteries, till by Degrees the whole Office [has] degenerated into an +empty Show. + +Their Successors see the Vanity and Inconvenience of these Ceremonies; +but instead of reforming, perhaps add others, which they think more +significant, and which take Possession in the same manner, and are never +to be driven out after they have been once admitted. I have seen the +Pope officiate at St. _Peter's_ where, for two Hours together, he was +busied in putting on or off his different Accoutrements, according to +the different Parts he was to act in them. + +Nothing is so glorious in the Eyes of Mankind, and ornamental to Human +Nature, setting aside the infinite Advantages [which [4]] arise from it, +as a strong, steady masculine Piety; but Enthusiasm and Superstition are +the Weaknesses of human Reason, that expose us to the Scorn and Derision +of Infidels, and sink us even below the Beasts that perish. + +Idolatry may be looked upon as another Error arising from mistaken +Devotion; but because Reflections on that Subject would be of no use to +an _English_ Reader, I shall not enlarge upon it. + + + +[Footnote 1: that] + + +[Footnote 2: Noct. Att., Bk. iv. ch. 9.] + + +[Footnote 3: that] + + +[Footnote 4: that] + + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +No. 202. Monday, October 22, 1711. Steele. + + + 'Sæpe decem vitiis instructior odit et horret.' + + Hor. + + +The other Day as I passed along the Street, I saw a sturdy Prentice-Boy +Disputing with an Hackney-Coachman; and in an Instant, upon some Word of +Provocation, throw off his Hat and [Cut-Periwig, [1]] clench his Fist, +and strike the Fellow a Slap on the Face; at the same time calling him +Rascal, and telling him he was a Gentleman's Son. The young Gentleman +was, it seems, bound to a Blacksmith; and the Debate arose about Payment +for some Work done about a Coach, near which they Fought. His Master, +during the Combat, was full of his Boy's Praises; and as he called to +him to play with his Hand and Foot, and throw in his Head, he made all +us who stood round him of his Party, by declaring the Boy had very good +Friends, and he could trust him with untold Gold. As I am generally in +the Theory of Mankind, I could not but make my Reflections upon the +sudden Popularity which was raised about the Lad; and perhaps, with my +Friend _Tacitus_, fell into Observations upon it, which were too great +for the Occasion; or ascribed this general Favour to Causes which had +nothing to do towards it. But the young Blacksmith's being a Gentleman +was, methought, what created him good Will from his present Equality +with the Mob about him: Add to this, that he was not so much a +Gentleman, as not, at the same time that he called himself such, to use +as rough Methods for his Defence as his Antagonist. The Advantage of his +having good Friends, as his Master expressed it, was not lazily urged; +but he shewed himself superior to the Coachman in the personal Qualities +of Courage and Activity, to confirm that of his being well allied, +before his Birth was of any Service to him. + +If one might Moralize from this silly Story, a Man would say, that +whatever Advantages of Fortune, Birth, or any other Good, People possess +above the rest of the World, they should shew collateral Eminences +besides those Distinctions; or those Distinctions will avail only to +keep up common Decencies and Ceremonies, and not to preserve a real +Place of Favour or Esteem in the Opinion and common Sense of their +Fellow-Creatures. + +The Folly of People's Procedure, in imagining that nothing more is +necessary than Property and superior Circumstances to support them in +Distinction, appears in no way so much as in the Domestick part of Life. +It is ordinary to feed their Humours into unnatural Excrescences, if I +may so speak, and make their whole Being a wayward and uneasy Condition, +for want of the obvious Reflection that all Parts of Human Life is a +Commerce. It is not only paying Wages, and giving Commands, that +constitutes a Master of a Family; but Prudence, equal Behaviour, with +Readiness to protect and cherish them, is what entitles a Man to that +Character in their very Hearts and Sentiments. It is pleasant enough to +Observe, that Men expect from their Dependants, from their sole Motive +of Fear, all the good Effects which a liberal Education, and affluent +Fortune, and every other Advantage, cannot produce in themselves. A Man +will have his Servant just, diligent, sober and chaste, for no other +Reasons but the Terrour of losing his Master's Favour; when all the Laws +Divine and Human cannot keep him whom he serves within Bounds, with +relation to any one of those Virtues. But both in great and ordinary +Affairs, all Superiority, which is not founded on Merit and Virtue, is +supported only by Artifice and Stratagem. Thus you see Flatterers are +the Agents in Families of Humourists, and those who govern themselves by +any thing but Reason. Make-Bates, distant Relations, poor Kinsmen, and +indigent Followers, are the Fry which support the Oeconomy of an +humoursome rich Man. He is eternally whispered with Intelligence of who +are true or false to him in Matters of no Consequence, and he maintains +twenty Friends to defend him against the Insinuations of one who would +perhaps cheat him of an old Coat. + +I shall not enter into farther Speculation upon this Subject at present, +but think the following Letters and Petition are made up of proper +Sentiments on this Occasion. + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + I am a Servant to an old Lady who is governed by one she calls her + Friend; who is so familiar an one, that she takes upon her to advise + her without being called to it, and makes her uneasie with all about + her. Pray, Sir, be pleased to give us some Remarks upon voluntary + Counsellors; and let these People know that to give any Body Advice, + is to say to that Person, I am your Betters. Pray, Sir, as near as you + can, describe that eternal Flirt and Disturber of Families, Mrs. + _Taperty_, who is always visiting, and putting People in a Way, as + they call it. If you can make her stay at home one Evening, you will + be a general Benefactor to all the Ladies Women in Town, and + particularly to + + _Your loving Friend_, + + Susan Civil. + + + + _Mr_. SPECTATOR, + + 'I am a Footman, and live with one of those Men, each of whom is said + to be one of the best humoured Men in the World, but that he is + passionate. Pray be pleased to inform them, that he who is passionate, + and takes no Care to command his Hastiness, does more Injury to his + Friends and Servants in one half Hour, than whole Years can attone + for. This Master of mine, who is the best Man alive in common Fame, + disobliges Some body every Day he lives; and strikes me for the next + thing I do, because he is out of Humour at it. If these Gentlemen + [knew [2]] that they do all the Mischief that is ever done in + Conversation, they would reform; and I who have been a Spectator of + Gentlemen at Dinner for many Years, have seen that Indiscretion does + ten times more Mischief than Ill-nature. But you will represent this + better than _Your abused_ + + _Humble Servant_, + + Thomas Smoaky. + + + + _To the_ SPECTATOR, + + The humble Petition of _John Steward_, _Robert Butler_, _Harry Cook_, + and _Abigail Chambers_, in Behalf of themselves and their Relations, + belonging to and dispersed in the several Services of most of the + great Families within the Cities of _London and Westminster_; + + Sheweth, + + That in many of the Families in which your Petitioners live and are + employed, the several Heads of them are wholly unacquainted with what + is Business, and are very little Judges when they are well or ill used + by us your said Petitioners. + + That for want of such Skill in their own Affairs, and by Indulgence + of their own Laziness and Pride, they continually keep about them + certain mischievous Animals called Spies. + + That whenever a Spy is entertained, the Peace of that House is from + that Moment banished. + + That Spies never give an Account of good Services, but represent our + Mirth and Freedom by the Words Wantonness and Disorder. + + That in all Families where there are Spies, there is a general + Jealousy and Misunderstanding. + + That the Masters and Mistresses of such Houses live in continual + Suspicion of their ingenuous and true Servants, and are given up to + the Management of those who are false and perfidious. + + That such Masters and Mistresses who entertain Spies, are no longer + more than Cyphers in their own Families; and that we your Petitioners + are with great Disdain obliged to pay all our Respect, and expect all + our Maintenance from such Spies. + + Your Petitioners therefore most humbly pray, that you would represent + the Premises to all Persons of Condition; and your Petitioners, as in + Duty bound, shall for ever Pray, &c. + + +T. + + + +[Footnote 1: Perriwig] + + +[Footnote 2: "know", and in first reprint.] + + +END OF VOLUME I. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Spectator, Volume 1 +by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPECTATOR, VOLUME 1 *** + +This file should be named 8spt110.txt or 8spt110.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8spt111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8spt110a.txt + +Produced by Jon Ingram, Clytie Sidall and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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