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.
The next couplet Steele omits:
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.
Contents
|
Wednesday, May 23, 1711 |
Addison |
... Genus immortale manet, multosque per annos
Stat fortuna Domus, et avi numerantur avorum.
Virg.
translation
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.
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
, no Party presuming
to rise till they are relieved by those who are in course to succeed
them.
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
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.
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
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.
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
, 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.
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
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.
have an old Woman in the nature of a Vestal, whose
Business it is to cherish and perpetuate the Fire
which
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.
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
have smoaked an
Hundred Pipes at a Sitting; of others
who
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
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.
The other
(several): that
Of London in 1666.
Contents
|
Thursday, May 24, 1711 |
Addison |
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.
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
is mean and contemptible, but as it
pushes him to Actions
which
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.
is observed by Cicero
, — 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
.
would be as difficult a Task to reckon up these different kinds of
Idols
, as
Milton's
was
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.
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
.
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.
that
Tuscul. Quæst.
Lib. v. § 243.
Paradise Lost
, Bk. I.
The story is in
The Remedy of Love
Stanzas 5-10.
Contents
|
Friday, May 25, 1711 |
Addison |