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.
Scent bags. Ital. Polviglio; from Pulvillus, a little
cushion.
Contents
|
Monday, May 14, 1711 |
Steele |
... Hic vivimus Ambitiosa
Paupertate omnes ...
Juv.
translation
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.
see nothing but Magnificence and Solemnity in the Equipage of the
Relict, and an Air
of
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.
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
.
He is a good Œconomist 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.
of a
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.
Contents
|
Tuesday, May 15, 1711 |
Steele |
... Demetri teque Tigelli
Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras.
Hor.
translation
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.
present Paper shall
be employed upon Sir
Fopling Flutter
. 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.
the same time I allow it to be Nature, but it is
Nature in its utmost Corruption and Degeneracy
.
R.
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.
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.
Contents
|
Wednesday, May 16, 1711 |
Steele |
Motus doceri gaudet Ionicos
Matura Virgo, et fingitur artubus
Jam nunc, et incestos amores
De Tenero meditatur Ungui.
Hor.
translation
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 Servant1.
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.
John Hughes is the author of these two letters, and,
Chalmers thinks, also of the letters signed R. B. in Nos.
and
. 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.
Contents
|
Thursday, May 17, 1711 |
Budgell1 |
Saltare elegantius quam necesse est probæ.
Sal.
translation
, in one of his
Dialogues
, introduces a Philosopher chiding his
Friend for his being a Lover of Dancing, and a Frequenter of Balls
.
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
Lacedæmonians
, 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