T.
£100,000.
Contents
|
Thursday, August 7, 1712 |
Addison |
—Jam sævus apertam
In rabiem cæpit verti jocus, et per honestas
Ire minax impunè domos—translation
There is nothing so scandalous to a Government, and detestable in the
Eyes of all good Men, as defamatory Papers and Pamphlets; but at the
same time there is nothing so difficult to tame, as a Satyrical Author.
An angry Writer, who cannot appear in Print, naturally vents his Spleen
in Libels and Lampoons. A gay old Woman, says the Fable, seeing all her
Wrinkles represented in a large Looking-glass, threw it upon the Ground
in a Passion, and broke it into a thousand Pieces, but as she was
afterwards surveying the Fragments with a spiteful kind of Pleasure, she
could not forbear uttering her self in the following Soliloquy. What
have I got by this revengeful Blow of mine, I have only multiplied my
Deformity, and see an hundred ugly Faces, where before I saw but one.
It has been proposed,
to oblige every Person that writes a Book, or a
Paper, to swear himself the Author of it, and enter down in a publick
Register his Name and Place of Abode
.
This, indeed, would have effectually suppressed all printed Scandal,
which generally appears under borrowed Names, or under none at all. But
it is to be feared, that such an Expedient would not only destroy
Scandal, but Learning. It would operate promiscuously, and root up the
Corn and Tares together. Not to mention some of the most celebrated
Works of Piety, which have proceeded from Anonymous Authors, who have
made it their Merit to convey to us so great a Charity in secret: There
are few Works of Genius that come out at first with the Author's Name.
The Writer generally makes a Tryal of them in the World before he owns
them; and, I believe, very few, who are capable of Writing, would set
Pen to Paper, if they knew, before-hand, that they must not publish
their Productions but on such Conditions. For my own part, I must
declare, the Papers I present the Publick are like Fairy Favours, which
shall last no longer than while the Author is concealed.
That which makes it particularly difficult to restrain these Sons of
Calumny and Defamation is, that all Sides are equally guilty of it, and
that every dirty Scribler is countenanced by great Names, whose
Interests he propagates by such vile and infamous Methods. I have never
yet heard of a Ministry, who have inflicted an exemplary Punishment on
an Author that has supported their Cause with Falsehood and Scandal, and
treated, in a most cruel manner, the names of those who have been looked
upon as their Rivals and Antagonists. Would a Government set an
everlasting Mark of their Displeasure upon one of those infamous
Writers, who makes his Court to them by tearing to Pieces the Reputation
of a Competitor, we should quickly see an End put to this Race of
Vermin, that are a Scandal to Government, and a Reproach to Human
Nature. Such a Proceeding would make a Minister of State shine in
History, and would fill all Mankind with a just Abhorrence of Persons
who should treat him unworthily, and employ against him those Arms which
he scorned to make use of against his Enemies.
I cannot think that any one will be so unjust as to imagine, what I have
here said is spoken with a Respect to any Party or Faction. Every one
who has in him the Sentiments either of a Christian or a Gentleman,
cannot but be highly offended at this wicked and ungenerous Practice,
which is so much in use among us at present, that it is become a kind of
National Crime, and distinguishes us from all the Governments that lie
about us. I cannot but look upon the finest Strokes of Satyr which are
aimed at particular Persons, and which are supported even with the
Appearances of Truth, to be the Marks of an evil Mind, and highly
Criminal in themselves. Infamy, like other Punishments, is under the
Direction and Distribution of the Magistrate, and not of any private
Person. Accordingly we learn from a Fragment of
Cicero
, that tho'
there were very few Capital Punishments in the twelve Tables, a Libel or
Lampoon which took away the good Name of another, was to be punished by
Death. But this is far from being our Case. Our Satyr is nothing but
Ribaldry, and
Billingsgate
. Scurrility passes for Wit; and he who can
call Names in the greatest Variety of Phrases, is looked upon to have
the shrewdest Pen. By this Means the Honour of Families is ruined, the
highest Posts and greatest Titles are render'd cheap and vile in the
Sight of the People; the noblest Virtues, and most exalted Parts,
exposed to the Contempt of the Vicious and the Ignorant. Should a
Foreigner, who knows nothing of our private Factions, or one who is to
act his Part in the World when our present Heats and Animosities are
forgot, should, I say, such an one form to himself a Notion of the
greatest Men of all Sides in the
British
Nation, who are now living,
from the Characters which are given them in some or other of those
abominable Writings which are daily Published among us, what a Nation of
Monsters must we appear!
As this cruel Practice tends to the utter Subversion of all Truth and
Humanity among us, it deserves the utmost Detestation and Discouragement
of all who have either the Love of their Country, or the Honour of their
Religion at Heart. I would therefore earnestly recommend it to the
Consideration of those who deal in these pernicious Arts of Writing; and
of those who take Pleasure in the Reading of them. As for the first, I
have spoken of them in former Papers, and have not stuck to rank them
with the Murderer and Assassin. Every honest Man sets as high a Value
upon a good Name, as upon Life it self; and I cannot but think that
those who privily assault the one, would destroy the other, might they
do it with the same Secrecy and Impunity.
As for Persons who take Pleasure in the reading and dispersing of such
detestable Libels, I am afraid they fall very little short of the Guilt
of the first Composers. By a Law of the Emperors
Valentinian
and
Valens
, it was made Death for any Person not only to write a Libel,
but if he met with one by chance, not to tear or burn it. But because I
would not be thought singular in my Opinion of this Matter, I shall
conclude my Paper with the Words of Monsieur
Bayle
, who was a Man of
great Freedom of Thought, as well as of exquisite Learning and Judgment.
I
cannot imagine, that a Man who disperses a Libel is less de
Sir ous of
doing Mischief than the Author himself. But what shall we say of the
Pleasure which a Man takes in the reading of a Defamatory Libel? Is it
not an heinous Sin in the Sight of God? We must distinguish in this
Point. This Pleasure is either an agreeable Sensation we are afflicted
with, when we meet with a witty Thought which is well expressed, or it
is a Joy which we conceive from the Dishonour of the Person who is
defamed. I will say nothing to the first of these Cases; for perhaps
some would think that my Morality is not severe enough, if I should
affirm that a Man is not Master of those agreeable Sensations, any
more than of those occasioned by Sugar or Honey, when they touch his
Tongue; but as to the second, every one will own that Pleasure to be a
heinous Sin. The Pleasure in the first Case is of no Continuance; it
prevents our Reason and Reflection, and may be immediately followed by
a secret Grief, to see our Neighbour's Honour blasted. If it does not
cease immediately, it is a Sign that we are not displeased with the
Ill-nature of the Satyrist, but are glad to see him defame his Enemy
by all kinds of Stories; and then we deserve the Punishment to which
the Writer of the Libel is subject. I shall here add the Words of a
Modern Author.
St. Gregory
upon excommunicating those Writers who
had dishonoured Castorius, does not except those who read their Works;
because, says he,
if Calumnies have always been the delight of the
Hearers, and a gratification of those Persons who have no other
Advantage over honest Men, is not he who takes Pleasure in reading
them as guilty as he who composed them? It is an uncontested Maxim,
that they who approve an Action would certainly do it if they could;
that is, if some Reason of Self-love did not hinder them. There is no
difference, says
Cicero, between advising a Crime, and approving it
when committed. The
Roman Law confirmed this Maxim, having subjected
the Approvers and Authors of this Evil to the same Penalty. We may
therefore conclude, that those who are pleased with reading Defamatory
Libels, so far as to approve the Authors and Dispersers of them, are
as guilty as if they had composed them: for if they do not write such
Libels themselves, it is because they have not the Talent of Writing,
or because they will run no hazard
1.
The Author produces other Authorities to confirm his Judgment in this
particular.
C.
Dissertation upon Defamatory Libels.
§17.
Contents
|
Friday, August 8, 1712 |
Addison |
Est natura Hominum Novitatis avida.
Plin. apud Lill.
translation
There is no Humour in my Countrymen, which I am more enclined to wonder
at, than their general Thirst after News. There are about half a Dozen
Ingenious Men, who live very plentifully upon this Curiosity of their
Fellow-Subjects. They all of them receive the same Advices from abroad,
and very often in the same Words; but their Way of Cooking it is so
different, that there is no Citizen, who has an Eye to the publick Good,
that can leave the Coffee-house with Peace of Mind before he has given
every one of them a Reading. These several Dishes of News are so very
agreeable to the Palate of my Countrymen, that they are not only pleased
with them when they are served up hot, but when they are again set cold
before them, by those penetrating Politicians, who oblige the Publick
with their Reflections and Observations upon every piece of Intelligence
that is sent us from abroad. The Text is given us by one set of Writers,
and the Comment by another.
But notwithstanding we have the same Tale told us in so many different
papers, and if occasion requires in so many Articles of the same Paper;
notwithstanding a Scarcity of Foreign Posts we hear the same Story
repeated, by different Advices from
Paris
,
Brussels
, the
Hague
,
and from every great Town in
Europe;
notwithstanding the Multitude of
Annotations, Explanations, Reflections, and various Readings which it
passes through, our Time lies heavy on our Hands till the Arrival of a
fresh Mail: We long to receive further particulars, to hear what will be
the next Step, or what will be the Consequences of that which has been
already taken. A Westerly Wind keeps the whole Town in Suspence, and
puts a Stop to Conversation.
This general Curiosity has been raised and inflamed by our late Wars,
and, if rightly directed, might be of good Use to a Person who has such
a Thirst awakened in him. Why should not a Man, who takes Delight in
reading every thing that is new, apply himself to History, Travels, and
other Writings of the same kind, where he will find perpetual Fuel for
his Curiosity, and meet with much more Pleasure and Improvement, than in
these Papers of the Week? An honest Tradesman, who languishes a whole
Summer in Expectation of a Battel, and perhaps is balked at last, may
here meet with half a dozen in a Day. He may read the News of a whole
Campaign, in less time than he now bestows upon the Products of any
single Post. Fights, Conquests and Revolutions lye thick together. The
Reader's Curiosity is raised and satisfied every Moment, and his
Passions
or gratified, without being detained in a State of
uncertainty from Day to Day, or lying at the Mercy of Sea
and
Wind. In short, the Mind is not here kept in a perpetual Gape after
Knowledge, nor punished with that Eternal Thirst, which is the Portion
of all our modern News-mongers and Coffee-house Politicians.
All Matters of Fact, which a Man did not know before, are News to him;
and I do not see how any Haberdasher in
Cheapside
is more concerned in
the present Quarrel of the Cantons, than he was in that of the League.
At least, I believe every one will allow me, it is of more Importance to
an
Englishman
to know the History of his Ancestors, than that of his
Contemporaries who live upon the Banks of the
Danube
or the
Borysthenes
. As for those who are of another Mind, I shall recommend
to them the following Letter, from a Projector, who is willing to turn a
Penny by this remarkable Curiosity of his Countrymen.
Mr. SPECTATOR,
'You must have observed, that Men who frequent Coffee-houses, and
delight in News, are pleased with every thing that is Matter of Fact,
so it be what they have not heard before. A Victory, or a Defeat, are
equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a Cardinal's Mouth pleases
them one Post, and the opening of it another. They are glad to hear
the
French Court is removed to
Marli, and are afterwards as much
delighted with its Return to
Versailles. They read the
Advertisements with the same Curiosity as the Articles of publick
News; and are as pleased to hear of a Pye-bald Horse that is stray'd
out of a Field near
Islington, as of a whole Troop that has been
engaged in any Foreign Adventure. In short, they have a Relish for
every thing that is News, let the matter of it be what it will; or to
speak more properly, they are Men of a Voracious Appetite, but no
Taste. Now,
Sir , since the great Fountain of News, I mean the War, is
very near being dried up; and since these Gentlemen have contracted
such an inextinguishable Thirst after it; I have taken their Case and
my own into Consideration, and have thought of a Project which may
turn to the Advantage of us both. I have Thoughts of publishing a
daily Paper, which shall comprehend in it all the most remarkable
Occurences in every little Town, Village and Hamlet, that lye within
ten Miles of
London, or in other Words, within the Verge of the
Penny-Post. I have pitched upon this Scene of Intelligence for two
Reasons; first, because the Carriage of Letters will be very cheap;
and secondly, because I may receive them every Day. By this means my
Readers will have their News fresh and fresh, and many worthy Citizens
who cannot Sleep with any Satisfaction at present, for want of being
informed how the World goes, may go to Bed contentedly, it being my
Design to put out my Paper every Night at nine-a-Clock precisely. I
have already established Correspondences in these several Places, and
received very good Intelligence.
By my last Advices from
Knights-bridge I hear that a Horse was
clapped into the Pound on the third Instant, and that he was not
released when the Letters came away.
We are informed from
Pankridge2 that a dozen Weddings were lately
celebrated in the Mother Church of that Place, but are referred to
their next Letters for the Names of the Parties concerned.
Letters from
Brompton advise. That the Widow
Bligh had received
several Visits from
John Milldew, which affords great matter of
Speculation in those Parts.
By a Fisherman which lately touched at
Hammersmith, there is Advice
from
Putney, that a certain Person well known in that Place, is like
to lose his Election for Church-warden; but this being Boat-news, we
cannot give entire Credit to it.
Letters from
Paddington bring little more, than that
William
Squeak, the Sow-gelder, passed through that Place the 5th Instant.
They advise from
Fulham, that things remained there in the same
State they were. They had Intelligence, just as the Letters came away,
of a Tub of excellent Ale just set abroach at
Parson's Green; but
this wanted Confirmation.
I have here,
Sir , given you a Specimen of the News with which I intend
to entertain the Town, and which, when drawn up regularly in the Form
of a News Paper, will, I doubt not, be very acceptable to many of
those Publick-spirited Readers, who take more delight in acquainting
themselves with other People's Business than their own. I hope a Paper
of this kind, which lets us know what is done near home, may be more
useful to us, than those which are filled with Advices from
Zug and
Bender, and make some amends for that Dearth of Intelligence, which
we may justly apprehend from times of Peace. If I find that you
receive this Project favourably, I will shortly trouble you with one
or two more; and in the mean time am, most worthy
Sir , with all due
Respect,
Your most Obedient,
and most Humble Servant.
or
Pancras
.
Contents
|
Saturday, August 9, 1712 |
Addison |
There is not a more pleasing Exercise of the Mind than Gratitude. It is
accompanied with such an inward Satisfaction, that the Duty is
sufficiently rewarded by the Performance. It is not like the Practice of
many other Virtues, difficult and painful, but attended with so much
Pleasure, that were there no positive Command which enjoin'd it, nor any
Recompence laid up for it hereafter, a generous Mind would indulge in
it, for the natural Gratification that accompanies it.
If Gratitude is due from Man to Man, how much more from Man to his
Maker? The Supream Being does not only confer upon us those Bounties
which proceed more immediately from his Hand, but even those Benefits
which are conveyed to us by others. Every Blessing we enjoy, by what
Means soever it may be derived upon us, is the Gift of him who is the
great Author of Good, and Father of Mercies.
If Gratitude, when exerted towards one another, naturally produces a
very pleasing Sensation in the Mind of a Grateful Man; it exalts the
Soul into Rapture, when it is employed on this great Object of
Gratitude; on this Beneficent Being who has given us every thing we
already possess, and from whom we expect every thing we yet hope for.
Most of the Works of the Pagan Poets were either direct Hymns to their
Deities, or tended indirectly to the Celebration of their respective
Attributes and Perfections. Those who are acquainted with the Works of
the Greek and Latin Poets which are still extant, will upon Reflection
find this Observation so true, that I shall not enlarge upon it. One
would wonder that more of our Christian Poets have not turned their
Thoughts this way, especially if we consider, that our Idea of the
Supream Being is not only infinitely more Great and Noble than what
could possibly enter into the Heart of an Heathen, but filled with every
thing that can raise the Imagination, and give an Opportunity for the
sublimest Thoughts and Conceptions.
Plutarch
tells of a Heathen who was singing an Hymn to
Diana
, in
which he celebrated her for her Delight in Human Sacrifices, and other
Instances of Cruelty and Revenge; upon which a Poet who was present at
this piece of Devotion, and seems to have had a truer Idea of the Divine
Nature, told the Votary, by way of Reproof, that in recompence for his
Hymn, he heartily wished he might have a Daughter of the same Temper
with the Goddess he celebrated. It was indeed impossible to write the
Praises of one of those false Deities, according to the Pagan Creed,
without a mixture of Impertinence and Absurdity.
The
Jews
, who before the Times of Christianity were the only People
that had the Knowledge of the True God, have set the Christian World an
Example how they ought to employ this Divine Talent of which I am
speaking. As that Nation produced Men of great Genius, without
considering them as inspired Writers, they have transmitted to us many
Hymns and Divine Odes, which excel those that are delivered down to us
by the Ancient
Greeks
and
Romans
, in the Poetry, as much as in the
Subject to which it was consecrated. This I think might easily be shewn,
if there were occasion for it.
I have already communicated to the Publick some Pieces of Divine Poetry,
and as they have met with a very favourable Reception, I
from time
to time publish any Work of the same nature which has not yet appeared
in Print
, and may be acceptable to my Readers.
| I |
When all thy Mercies, O my God,
My rising Soul surveys;
Transported with the View, I'm lost
In Wonder, Love, and Praise: |
| II |
O how shall Words with equal Warmth
The Gratitude declare
That glows within my ravish'd Heart?
But thou canst read it there. |
| III |
Thy Providence my Life sustain'd,
And all my Wants redrest,
When in the silent Womb I lay,
And hung upon the Breast. |
| IV |
To all my weak Complaints and Cries,
Thy Mercy lent an Ear,
Ere yet my feeble Thoughts had learnt
To form themselves in Pray'r.
|
| V |
Unnumbered Comforts to my Soul
Thy tender Care bestow'd,
Before my infant Heart conceiv'd
From whom those Comforts flow'd. |
| VI |
When in the slippery Paths of Youth
With heedless Steps I ran,
Thine Arm unseen convey'd me safe
And led me up to Man. |
| VII |
Through hidden Dangers, Toils, and Deaths,
It gently clear'd my Way,
And through the pleasing Snares of Vice,
More to be fear'd than they. |
| VIII |
When worn with Sickness oft hast thou
With Health renew'd my Face,
And when in Sins and Sorrows sunk
Revived my Soul with Grace. |
| IX |
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. |
| X |
Ten thousand thousand precious Gifts
My Daily Thanks employ,
Nor is the least a chearful Heart,
That tastes those Gifts with Joy. |
| XI |
Through every Period of my Life
Thy Goodness I'll pursue;
And after Death in distant Worlds
The Glorious Theme renew. |
| XII |
When Nature fails, and Day and Night
Divide thy Works no more,
My Ever-grateful Heart, O Lord,
Thy Mercy shall adore. |
| XIII |
Through all Eternity to Thee
A joyful Song I'll raise,
For oh! Eternity's too short
To utter all thy Praise. |
C.
By himself.
Contents
|
Monday, August 11, 1712 |
Steele |
Sine me, Vacivum tempus ne quod dem mihi Laboris.
Ter.
Heau.translation
It is an inexpressible Pleasure to know a little of the World, and be of
no Character or Significancy in it. To be ever unconcerned, and ever
looking on new Objects with an endless Curiosity, is a Delight known
only to those who are turned for Speculation: Nay, they who enjoy it,
must value Things only as they are the Objects of Speculation, without
drawing any worldly Advantage to themselves from them, but just as they
are what contribute to their Amusement, or the Improvement of the Mind.
I lay one Night last Week at
Richmond
; and being restless, not out of
Dissatisfaction, but a certain busie Inclination one sometimes has, I
rose at Four in the Morning, and took Boat for
London
, with a
Resolution to rove by Boat and Coach for the next Four and twenty Hours,
till the many different Objects I must needs meet with should tire my
Imagination, and give me an Inclination to a Repose more profound than I
was at that Time capable of. I beg People's Pardon for an odd Humour I
am guilty of, and was often that Day, which is saluting any Person whom
I like, whether I know him or not. This is a Particularity would be
tolerated in me, if they considered that the greatest Pleasure I know I
receive at my Eyes, and that I am obliged to an agreeable Person for
coming abroad into my View, as another is for a Visit of Conversation at
their own Houses.
The Hours of the Day and Night are taken up in the Cities of
London
and
Westminster
by People as different from each other as those who
are born in different Centuries. Men of Six a Clock give way to those of
Nine, they of Nine to the Generation of Twelve, and they of Twelve
disappear, and make Room for the fashionable World, who have made Two a
Clock the Noon of the Day.
When we first put off from Shore, we soon fell in with a Fleet of
Gardeners bound for the several Market-Ports of
London
; and it was the
most pleasing Scene imaginable to see the Chearfulness with which those
industrious People ply'd their Way to a certain Sale of their Goods. The
Banks on each Side are as well peopled, and beautified with as agreeable
Plantations, as any Spot on the Earth; but the
Thames
it self, loaded
with the Product of each Shore, added very much to the Landskip. It was
very easie to observe by their Sailing, and the Countenances of the
ruddy Virgins, who were Super-Cargoes, the Parts of the Town to which
they were bound. There was an Air in the Purveyors for
Covent-Garden
,
who frequently converse with Morning Rakes, very unlike the seemly
Sobriety of those bound for
Stocks Market
.
Nothing remarkable happened in our Voyage; but I landed
with Ten Sail of Apricock Boats at
Strand-Bridge
, after having
put in at
Nine-Elms
, and taken in Melons, consigned by
Mr.
Cuffe
of that Place, to
Sarah Sewell
and Company, at
their Stall in
Covent-Garden
. We arrived at
Strand-Bridge
at
Six of the Clock, and were unloading: when the Hackney Coachmen
of the foregoing Night took their leave of each other
at the
Dark-House
, to go to Bed before the Day was too far
spent, Chimney-Sweepers pass'd by us as we made up to the
Market, and some Raillery happened between one of the Fruit
Wenches and those black Men, about the Devil and
Eve
, with
Allusion to their several Professions. I could not believe any
Place more entertaining than
Covent-Garden
; where I strolled
from one Fruit-Shop to another, with Crowds of agreeable
young Women around me, who were purchasing Fruit for their
respective Families. It was almost eight of the Clock before
I could leave that Variety of Objects. I took Coach and
followed a Young Lady, who tripped into another just before
me, attended by her Maid. I saw immediately she was of the
Family of the
Vainloves
. There are a set of these who of all
Things affect the Play of