My Friend
Will. Honeycomb
has told me, for above this half Year, that he
had a great mind to try his Hand at a
Spectator
, and that he would
fain have one of his writing in my Works. This Morning I received from
him the following Letter, which, after having rectified some little
Orthographical Mistakes, I shall make a Present of to the Publick.
Dear SPEC.
'I was, about two Nights ago, in Company with very agreeable young
People of both Sexes, where talking of some of your Papers which are
written on Conjugal Love, there arose a Dispute among us, whether
there were not more bad Husbands in the World than bad Wives. A
Gentleman, who was Advocate for the Ladies, took this occasion to tell
us the story of a famous Siege in Germany, which I have since found
related in my Historical Dictionary, after the following manner. When
the Emperor Conrade the Third had besieged Guelphus, Duke of
Bavaria, in the City of Hensberg, the Women finding that the Town
could not possibly hold out long, petitioned the Emperor that they
might depart out of it, with so much as each of them could carry. The
Emperor knowing they could not convey away many of their Effects,
granted them their Petition; When the Women, to his great Surprize,
came out of the Place with every one her Husband upon her back. The
Emperor was so moved at the sight, that he burst into Tears, and after
having very much extolled the Women for their conjugal Affection, gave
the Men to their Wives, and received the Duke into his Favour.
'The Ladies did not a little triumph at this Story, asking us at the
same time, whether in our Consciences we believed that the Men of any
Town in Great Britain would, upon the same Offer, and at the same
Conjuncture, have loaden themselves with their Wives; or rather,
whether they would not have been glad of such an opportunity to get
rid of them? To this my very good Friend Tom Dapperwit, who took
upon him to be the Mouth of our Sex, replied, that they would be very
much to blame if they would not do the same good Office for the Women,
considering that their Strength would be greater, and their Burdens
lighter. As we were amusing our selves with Discourses of this nature,
in order to pass away the Evening, which now begins to grow tedious,
we fell into that laudable and primitive Diversion of Questions and
Commands. I was no sooner vested with the regal Authority, but I
enjoined all the Ladies, under pain of my Displeasure, to tell the
Company ingenuously, in case they had been in the Siege
abovementioned, and had the same Offers made them as the good Women of
that Place, what every one of them would have brought off with her,
and have thought most worth the saving? There were several merry
Answers made to my Question, which entertained us till Bed-time. This
filled my Mind with such a huddle of Ideas, that upon my going to
sleep, I fell into the following Dream.
'I saw a Town of this Island, which shall be nameless, invested on
every side, and the Inhabitants of it so straitned as to cry for
Quarter. The General refused any other Terms than those granted to the
abovementioned Town of Hensberg, namely, that the married Women
might come out with what they could bring along with them. Immediately
the City-Gates flew open, and a Female Procession appeared. Multitudes
of the Sex following one another in a row, and staggering under their
respective Burdens. I took my Stand upon an Eminence in the Enemies
Camp, which was appointed for the general Rendezvous of these Female
Carriers, being very deSir ous to look into their several Ladings. The
first of them had a huge Sack upon her Shoulders, which she set down
with great Care: Upon the opening of it, when I expected to have seen
her Husband shot out of it, I found it was filled with China-Ware. The
next appeared in a more decent Figure, carrying a handsome young
Fellow upon her Back: I could not forbear commending the young Woman
for her Conjugal Affection, when to my great Surprize, I found that
she had left the good Man at home, and brought away her Gallant. I saw
the third, at some distance, with a little withered Face peeping over
her Shoulder, whom I could not suspect for any but her Spouse, till
upon her setting him down I heard her call him dear Pugg, and found
him to be her Favourite Monkey. A fourth brought a huge Bale of Cards
along with her; and the fifth a Bolonia Lap-Dog; for her Husband, it
seems, being a very Burly Man, she thought it would be less trouble
for her to bring away little Cupid. The next was the Wife of a rich
Usurer, loaden with a Bag of Gold; she told us that her Spouse was
very old, and by the course of Nature could not expect to live long;
and that to shew her tender regards for him, she had saved that which
the poor Man loved better than his Life. The next came towards us with
her Son upon her Back, who, we were told, was the greatest Rake in the
Place, but so much the Mother's Darling, that she left her Husband
behind with a large Family of hopeful Sons and Daughters, for the sake
of this Graceless Youth.
'It would be endless to mention the several Persons, with their
several Loads that appeared to me in this strange Vision. All the
Place about me was covered with packs of Ribbands, Brocades,
Embroidery, and Ten thousand other Materials, sufficient to have
furnished a whole Street of Toy-shops. One of the Women, having an
Husband who was none of the heaviest, was bringing him off upon her
Shoulders, at the same time that she carried a great bundle of
Flanders-lace under her Arm; but finding herself so overloaden, that
she could not save both of them, she dropp'd the good Man, and brought
away the Bundle. In short, I found but one Husband among this great
Mountain of Baggage, who was a lively Cobler, that kick'd and spurr'd
all the while his Wife was carrying him on, and, as it was said, had
scarce passed a Day in his Life without giving her the Discipline of
the Strap.
'I cannot conclude my Letter, Dear Spec., without telling thee one
very odd Whim in this my Dream, I saw, methoughts, a dozen Women
employed in bringing off one Man; I could not guess who it should be,
till upon his nearer approach I discover'd thy short Phiz. The Women
all declared that it was for the sake of thy Works, and not thy
Person, that they brought thee off, and that it was on condition that
thou should'st continue the Spectator. If thou thinkest this Dream
will make a tolerable one, it is at thy Service, from,
'Dear Spec.
'Thine, Sleeping and Waking,
'Will. Honeycomb.'
The Ladies will see, by this Letter, what I have often told them, that
Will
. is one of those old-fashioned Men of Wit and Pleasure of the Town,
that shews his Parts by Raillery on Marriage, and one who has often
tried his Fortune that way without Success. I
however dismiss his
Letter, without observing, that the true Story on which it is built does
Honour to the Sex, and that in order to abuse them, the Writer is
obliged to have recourse to Dream and Fiction
.
At the end of this number and in all following numbers
there is a change in the colophon, caused by the addition of Tonson's
name to Buckley's. It runs henceforth thus:
LONDON: Printed for S. Buckley and J. Tonson: And Sold by A.
Baldwin in Warwick-Lane. But an announcement at the head of the
advertisement sets forth that Advertisements for this Paper continue
to be taken in by S. Buckley at the Dolphin in Little-Britain, J.
Tonson at Shakespear's Head in the Strand, C. Lillie at the
Corner of Beauford Buildings, and A. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane.
Contents
|
Friday, October 3, 1712 |
Addison |
—Huc natas adjice septem,
Et totidem juvenes, et mox generosque nurusque.
Quærite nunc, habeat quam nostra superbia causam.
Ov.
Met.translation
Sir ,
'You who are so well acquainted with the Story of
Socrates, must
have read how, upon his making a Discourse concerning Love, he pressed
his Point with so much Success, that all the Batchelors in his
Audience took a Resolution to Marry by the first Opportunity, and that
all the married Men immediately took Horse and galloped home to their
Wives. I am apt to think your Discourses, in which you have drawn so
many agreeable Pictures of Marriage, have had a very good Effect this
way in
England. We are obliged to you, at least for having taken off
that Senseless Ridicule, which for many Years the Witlings of the Town
have turned upon their Fathers and Mothers. For my own part, I was
born in Wedlock, and I don't care who knows it; For which Reason,
among many others, I should look upon my self as a most insufferable
Coxcomb, did I endeavour to maintain that Cuckoldom was inseparable
from Marriage, or to make use of
Husband and
Wife as Terms of
Reproach. Nay,
Sir , I will go one step further, and declare to you
before the whole World, that I am a married Man, and at the same time
I have so much Assurance as not to be ashamed of what I have done.
'Among the several Pleasures that accompany this state of Life, and
which you have described in your former Papers, there are two you have
not taken Notice of, and which are seldom cast into the Account, by
those who write on this Subject. You must have observed, in your
Speculations on Human Nature, that nothing is more gratifying to the
Mind of Man than Power or Dominion; and this I think my self amply
possessed of, as I am the Father of a Family. I am perpetually taken
up in giving out Orders, in prescribing Duties, in hearing Parties, in
administring Justice, and in distributing Rewards and Punishments. To
speak in the Language of the Centurion,
I say unto one, Go, and he
goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my Servant, Do
This, and he doth it. In short,
Sir , I look upon my Family as a
Patriarchal Sovereignty, in which I am my self both King and Priest.
All great Governments are nothing else but Clusters of these little
private Royalties, and therefore I consider the Masters of Families as
small Deputy-Governors presiding over the several little Parcels and
Divisions of their Fellow Subjects.
As I take great pleasure in the
Administration of my Government in particular, so I look upon my self
not only as a more useful, but as a much greater and happier Man than
any Batchelor in
England of
my1 Rank and Condition.
'There is another accidental Advantage in Marriage, which has likewise
fallen to my share, I mean the having a Multitude of Children. These I
cannot but regard as very great Blessings. When I see my little Troop
before me, I rejoice in the Additions which I have made to my Species,
to my Country, and to my Religion, in having produced such a Number of
reasonable Creatures, Citizens, and Christians. I am pleased to see my
self thus perpetuated; and as there is no Production comparable to
that of a human Creature, I am more proud of having been the Occasion
of ten such glorious Productions, than if I had built a hundred
Pyramids at my own Expence, or published as many Volumes of the finest
Wit and Learning. In what a beautiful Light has the Holy Scripture
represented
Abdon, one of the Judges of
Israel, who had forty Sons
and thirty Grandsons, that rode on Threescore and Ten Ass-Colts,
according to the Magnificence of the Eastern Countries? How must the
Heart of the old Man rejoice, when he saw such a beautiful Procession
of his own Descendants, such a numerous Cavalcade of his own raising?
For my own part, I can sit in my Parlour with great content, when I
take a review of half a dozen of my little Boys mounting upon
Hobby-Horses, and of as many little Girls tutoring their Babies, each
of them endeavouring to excel the rest, and to do something that may
gain my Favour and Approbation. I cannot question but he who has
blessed me with so many Children, will assist my Endeavours in
providing for them. There is one thing I am able to give each of them,
which is a virtuous Education. I think it is
Sir Francis Bacon's
Observation, that in a numerous Family of Children the eldest is often
spoiled by the Prospect of an Estate, and the youngest by being the
Darling of the Parent; but that some one or other in the middle, who
has not perhaps been regarded, has made his way in the World, and
over-topped the rest. It is my Business to implant in every one of my
Children the same Seeds of Industry, and the same honest Principles.
By this Means I think I have a fair Chance, that one or other of them
may grow considerable in some or other way of Life, whether it be in
the Army, or in the Fleet, in Trade, or any of the three learned
Professions; for you must know,
Sir , that from long Experience and
Observation, I am persuaded of what seems a Paradox to most of those
with whom I converse, namely, That a Man who has many Children, and
gives them a good Education, is more likely to raise a Family, than he
who has but one, notwithstanding he leaves him his whole Estate. For
this reason I cannot forbear amusing my self with finding out a
General, an Admiral, or an Alderman of
London, a Divine, a
Physician, or a Lawyer, among my little People who are now perhaps in
Petticoats; and when I see the Motherly Airs of my little Daughters
when they are playing with their Puppets, I cannot but flatter my self
that their Husbands and Children will be happy in the Possession of
such Wives and Mothers.
'If you are a Father, you will not perhaps think this Letter
impertinent: but if you are a single Man, you will not know the
Meaning of it, and probably throw it into the Fire: Whatever you
determine of it, you may assure yourself that it comes from one who is
'
Your most humble Servant, and Well-wisher,
'Philogamus.'
O.
my own
Contents
|
Saturday, October 4, 1712 |
Parnell |
Durum: sed levius sit patientiâ
Quicquid corrigere est nefas.
Hor.
translation
As some of the finest Compositions among the Ancients are in Allegory, I
have endeavoured, in several of my Papers, to revive that way of
Writing, and hope I have not been altogether unsuccessful in it; for I
find there is always a great Demand for those particular Papers, and
cannot but observe that several Authors have endeavoured of late to
excel in Works of this Nature. Among these, I do not know any one who
has succeeded better than a very ingenious Gentleman, to whom I am much
obliged for the following Piece, and who was the Author of the Vision in
the
.
O.
How are we tortured with the Absence of what we covet to possess, when
it appears to be lost to us! What Excursions does the Soul make in
Imagination after it! And how does it turn into it self again, more
foolishly fond and dejected, at the Disappointment? Our Grief, instead
of having recourse to Reason, which might restrain it, searches to find
a further Nourishment. It calls upon Memory to relate the several
Passages and Circumstances of Satisfactions which we formerly enjoyed:
the Pleasures we purchased by those Riches that are taken from us; or
the Power and Splendour of our departed Honours; or the Voice, the
Words, the Looks, the Temper, and Affections of our Friends that are
deceased. It needs must happen from hence that the Passion should often
swell to such a Size as to burst the Heart which contains it, if Time
did not make these Circumstances less strong and lively, so that Reason
should become a more equal Match for the Passion, or if another De
Sir
e
which becomes more present did not overpower them with a livelier
Representation. These are Thoughts which I had, when I fell into a kind
of Vision upon this Subject, and may therefore stand for a proper
Introduction to a Relation of it.
I found my self upon a naked Shore, with Company whose afflicted
Countenances witnessed their Conditions. Before us flowed a Water deep,
silent, and called the River of
Tears
, which issuing from two
Fountains on an upper Ground, encompassed an Island that lay before us.
The Boat which plied in it was old and shattered, having been sometimes
overset by the Impatience and Haste of single Passengers to arrive at
the other side. This immediately was brought to us by
Misfortune
who
steers it, and we were all preparing to take our places, when there
appeared a Woman of a mild and composed Behaviour, who began to deter us
from it, by representing the Dangers which would attend our Voyage.
Hereupon some who knew her for
Patience
, and some of those too who
till then cry'd the loudest, were persuaded by her, and returned back.
The rest of us went in, and she (whose Good-nature would not suffer her
to forsake Persons in Trouble) de
Sir
ed leave to accompany us, that she
might at least administer some small Comfort or Advice while we sailed.
We were no sooner embarked but the Boat was push'd off, the Sheet was
spread; and being filled with
Sighs
, which are the Winds of that
Country, we made a passage to the farther Bank, through several
Difficulties of which the most of us seemed utterly regardless.
When we landed, we perceived the Island to be strangely overcast with
Fogs, which no Brightness could pierce, so that a kind of gloomy Horror
sat always brooding over it. This had something in it very shocking to
easy Tempers, insomuch that some others, whom
Patience
had by this
time gained over, left us here, and privily convey'd themselves round
the Verge of the Island to find a Ford by which she told them they might
escape.
For my part, I still went along with those who were for piercing into
the Centre of the Place; and joining our selves to others whom we found
upon the same Journey, we marched solemnly as at a Funeral, through
bordering Hedges of Rosemary, and through a Grove of Yew-trees, which
love to overshadow Tombs and flourish in Church-yards. Here we heard on
every side the Wailings and Complaints of several of the Inhabitants,
who had cast themselves disconsolately at the Feet of Trees; and as we
chanced to approach any of these, we might perceive them wringing their
Hands, beating their Breasts, tearing their Hair, or after some other
manner visibly agitated with Vexation. Our Sorrows were heightened by
the Influence of what we heard and saw, and one of our Number was
wrought up to such a Pitch of Wildness, as to talk of hanging himself
upon a Bough which shot temptingly across the Path we travelled in; but
he was restrained from it by the kind Endeavours of our above-mentioned
Companion.
We had now gotten into the most dusky silent part of the Island, and by
the redoubled Sounds of Sighs, which made a doleful Whistling in the
Branches, the thickness of Air which occasioned faintish Respiration,
and the violent Throbbings of Heart which more and more affected us, we
found that we approached the
Grotto of Grief
. It was a wide, hollow,
and melancholy Cave, sunk deep in a Dale, and watered by Rivulets that
had a Colour between Red and Black. These crept slow and half congealed
amongst its Windings, and mixed their heavy Murmur with the Echo of
Groans that rolled through all the Passages. In the most retired Part of
it sat the
Doleful Being
her self; the Path to her was strowed with
Goads, Stings and Thorns; and her Throne on which she sat was broken
into a Rock, with ragged Pieces pointing upwards for her to lean upon. A
heavy Mist hung above her, her Head oppressed with it reclined upon her
Arm: Thus did she reign over her disconsolate Subjects, full of her self
to stupidity, in eternal Pensiveness, and the profoundest Silence. On
one side of her stood
Dejection
just dropping into a Swoon, and
Paleness
wasting to a Skeleton; on the other side were
Care
inwardly
tormented with Imaginations, and
Anguish
suffering outward
Troubles
to suck the Blood from her Heart in the shape of
Vultures
. The whole
Vault had a genuine Dismalness in it, which a few scattered Lamps, whose
bluish Flames arose and sunk in their Urns, discovered to our Eyes with
Encrease. Some of us fell down, overcome and spent with what they
suffered in the way, and were given over to those Tormentors that stood
on either hand of the Presence; others, galled and mortified with Pain,
recover'd the Entrance, where
Patience
, whom we had left behind, was
still waiting to receive us.
With her (whose Company was now become more grateful to us by the want
we had found of her) we winded round the Grotto, and ascended at the
back of it, out of the mournful Dale in whose Bottom it lay. On this
Eminence we halted, by her Advice, to pant for Breath; and lifting our
Eyes, which till then were fixed downwards, felt a sullen sort of
Satisfaction, in observing through the Shades what Numbers had entred
the Island. The Satisfaction, which appears to have Ill-nature in it,
was excusable, because it happened at a time when we were too much taken
up with our own concern, to have respect to that of others; and
therefore we did not consider them as suffering, but ourselves as not
suffering in the most forlorn Estate. It had also the Ground-work of
Humanity and Compassion in it, tho' the Mind was then too dark and too
deeply engaged to perceive it; but as we proceeded onwards, it began to
discover it self, and from observing that others were unhappy, we came
to question one another, when it was that we met, and what were the sad
Occasions that brought us together. Then we heard our Stories, we
compared them, we mutually gave and received
Pity
, and so by degrees
became tolerable Company.
A considerable part of the troublesome Road was thus deceived; at length
the Openings among the Trees grew larger, the Air seemed thinner, it lay
with less oppression upon us, and we could now and then discern tracks
in it of a lighter Greyness, like the Breakings of Day, short in
duration, much enlivening, and called in that Country
Gleams of
Amusement
. Within a short while these Gleams began to appear more
frequent, and then brighter and of a longer continuance; the
Sighs
that hitherto filled the Air with so much Dolefulness, altered to the
Sound of common Breezes, and in general the Horrors of the Island were
abated.
When we had arrived at last at the Ford by which we were to pass out, we
met with those fashionable Mourners who had been ferried over along with
us, and who being unwilling to go as far as we, had coasted by the Shore
to find the place, where they waited our coming; that by shewing
themselves to the World only at the time when we did, they might seem
also to have been among the Troubles of the Grotto. Here the Waters that
rolled on the other side so deep and silent, were much dried up, and it
was an easier matter for us to wade over.
The River being crossed, we were received upon the further Bank by our
Friends and Acquaintance, whom
Comfort
had brought out to congratulate
our Appearance in the World again. Some of these blamed us for staying
so long away from them, others advised us against all Temptations of
going back again; every one was cautious not to renew our Trouble, by
asking any particulars of the Journey; and all concluded, that in a case
of so much Melancholy and Affliction, we could not have made choice of a
fitter Companion than
Patience
. Here
Patience
, appearing serene at
her Praises, delivered us over to
Comfort
.
Comfort
smiled at his
receiving the Charge; immediately the Sky purpled on that side to which
he turned, and double Day at once broke in upon me.
Contents
|
Monday, October 6, 1712 |
Steele |
Melius, pejus, prosit, obsit, nil vident nisi quod lubent.
Ter.
translation
When Men read, they taste the Matter with which they are entertained,
according as their own respective Studies and Inclinations have prepared
them, and make their Reflections accordingly. Some perusing
Roman
Writers, would find in them, whatever the Subject of the Discourses
were, parts which implied the Grandeur of that People in their Warfare
or their Politicks. As for my part, who am a meer SPECTATOR, I drew this
Morning Conclusions of their Eminence in what I think great, to wit, in
having worthy Sentiments, from the reading a Comedy of
Terence
. The
Play was the
Self-Tormentor
. It is from the Beginning to the End a
perfect Picture of human Life, but I did not observe in the whole one
Passage that could raise a Laugh. How well disposed must that People be,
who could be entertained with Satisfaction by so sober and polite Mirth?
In the first Scene of the Comedy, when one of the old Men accuses the
other of Impertinence for interposing in his Affairs, he answers,
I am
a Man, and cannot help feeling any Sorrow that can arrive at Man
. It is
said, this Sentence was received with an universal Applause. There
cannot be a greater Argument of the general good Understanding of a
People, than a sudden Consent to give their Approbation of a Sentiment
which has no Emotion in it. If it were spoken with never so great Skill
in the Actor, the Manner of uttering that Sentence could have nothing in
it which could strike any but People of the greatest Humanity, nay
People elegant and skilful in Observations upon it. It is possible he
might have laid his Hand on his Breast, and with a winning Insinuation
in his Countenance, expressed to his Neighbour that he was a Man who
made his case his own; yet I'll engage a Player in
Covent-Garden
might
hit such an Attitude a thousand times before he would have been
regarded. I have
that a Minister of State in the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth
had all manner of Books and Ballads brought to him, of what
kind soever, and took great Notice how much they took with the People;
upon which he would, and certainly might, very well judge of their
present Dispositions, and the most proper way of applying them according
to his own purposes
. What passes on the Stage, and the Reception it
meets with from the Audience, is a very useful Instruction of this Kind.
According to what you may observe there on our Stage, you see them often
moved so directly against all common Sense and Humanity, that you would
be apt to pronounce us a Nation of Savages. It cannot be called a
Mistake of what is pleasant, but the very contrary to it is what most
assuredly takes with them. The other Night an old Woman carried off with
a Pain in her Side, with all the Distortions and Anguish of Countenance
which is natural to one in that Condition, was laughed and clapped off
the Stage.
Terence's
Comedy, which I am speaking of, is indeed written
as if he hoped to please none but such as had as good a Taste as
himself. I
not but reflect upon the natural Description of the
innocent young Woman made by the Servant to his Master.
When I came to
the House, said he,
an old Woman opened the Door, and I followed her
in, because I could by entring upon them unawares better observe what
was your Mistress's ordinary manner of spending her Time, the only way
of judging any one's Inclinations and Genius. I found her at her Needle
in a sort of second Mourning, which she wore for an Aunt she had lately
lost. She had nothing on but what shewed she dressed only for herself.
Her Hair hung negligently about her Shoulders. She had none of the Arts
with which others use to set themselves off, but had that Negligence of
Person which is remarkable in those who are careful of their Minds—Then
she had a Maid who was at work near her, that was a Slattern, because
her Mistress was careless; which I take to be another Argument of your
security in her; for the Go-betweens
of Women of Intrigue are rewarded
too well to be dirty. When you were named, I told her you deSir ed to see
her, she threw down her Work for Joy, covered her Face, and decently hid
her Tears2
He must be a very good Actor, and draw Attention rather
from his own Character than the Words of the Author, that could gain it
among us for this Speech, though so full of Nature and good Sense.
The intolerable Folly and Confidence of Players putting in Words of
their own, does in a great measure feed the absurd Taste of the
Audience. But however that is, it is ordinary for a Cluster of Coxcombs
to take up the House to themselves, and equally insult both the Actors
and the Company. These Savages, who want all manner of Regard and
Deference to the rest of Mankind, come only to shew themselves to us,
without any other Purpose than to let us know they despise us.
The gross of an Audience is composed of two sorts of People, those who
know no Pleasure but of the Body, and those who improve or command
corporeal Pleasures by the addition of fine Sentiments of the Mind. At
present the intelligent part of the Company are wholly subdued, by the
Insurrections of those who know no Satisfactions but what they have in
common with all other Animals.
This is the reason that when a Scene tending to Procreation is acted,
you see the whole Pit in such a Chuckle, and old Letchers, with Mouths
open, stare at the loose Gesticulations on the Stage with shameful
Earnestness; when the justest Pictures of human Life in its calm
Dignity, and the properest Sentiments for the Conduct of it, pass by
like meer Narration, as conducing only to somewhat much better which is
to come after. I have seen the whole House at some times in so proper a
Disposition, that indeed I have trembled for the Boxes, and feared the
Entertainment would end in the Representation of the Rape of the
Sabines
.
I would not be understood in this Talk to argue, that nothing is
tolerable on the Stage but what has an immediate Tendency to the
Promotion of Virtue. On the contrary, I can allow, provided there is
nothing against the Interests of Virtue, and is not offensive to
Good-manners, that things of an indifferent nature may be represented.
For
Reason I have no Exception to the well-drawn Rusticities in the
Country-Wake
; and there is something so miraculously pleasant in
Dogget's
acting the aukward Triumph and comick Sorrow of
Hob
in
different Circumstances, that I shall not be able to stay away whenever
it is acted. All that vexes me is, that the Gallantry of taking the
Cudgels for
Gloucestershire
, with the Pride of Heart in tucking
himself up, and taking Aim at his Adversary, as well as the other's
Protestation in the Humanity of low Romance, That he could not promise
the Squire to break
Hob's
Head, but he would, if he could, do it in
Love; then flourish and begin: I say, what vexes me is, that such
excellent Touches as these, as well as the Squire's being out of all
patience at
Hob's
Success, and venturing himself into the Croud, are
Circumstances hardly taken Notice of, and the height of the Jest is only
in the very Point that Heads are broken. I am confident, were there a
Scene written, wherein
Penkethman
should break his Leg by wrestling
with
Bullock
, and
Dicky
come in to set it, without one word said but
what should be according to the exact Rules of Surgery in making this
Extention, and binding up the Leg, the whole House should be in a Roar
of Applause at the dissembled Anguish of the Patient, the help given by
him who threw him down, and the handy Address and arch Looks of the
Surgeon. To enumerate the entrance of Ghosts, the Embattling of Armies,
the Noise of Heroes in Love, with a thousand other Enormities, would be
to transgress the bounds of this Paper, for which reason it is possible
they may have hereafter distinct Discourses; not forgetting any of the
Audience who shall set up for Actors, and interrupt the Play on the
Stage; and Players who shall prefer the Applause of Fools to that of the
reasonable part of the Company.