C.
Bibliothecæ Historicæ
, Lib. i. § 87.
concerns to
that
Contents
|
Thursday, July 26, 1711 |
Addison |
It is our Custom at Sir
Roger's
, upon the coming in of the Post, to sit
about a Pot of Coffee, and hear the old Knight read
Dyer's
Letter; which he does with his Spectacles upon his Nose, and in an
audible Voice, smiling very often at those little Strokes of Satyr which
are so frequent in the Writings of that Author. I afterwards communicate
to the Knight such Packets as I receive under the Quality of
Spectator
.
The following Letter chancing to please him more than ordinary, I shall
publish it at his Request.
Mr.
Spectator,
'You have diverted the Town almost a whole Month at the Expence of the
Country, it is now high time that you should give the Country their
Revenge. Since your withdrawing from this Place, the Fair Sex are run
into great Extravagancies. Their Petticoats, which began to heave and
swell before you left us, are now blown up into a most enormous
Concave, and rise every Day more and more: In short, Sir, since our
Women know themselves to be out of the Eye of the
Spectator, they will
be kept within no Compass. You praised them a little too soon, for the
Modesty of their Head-Dresses; for as the Humour of a sick Person is
often driven out of one Limb into another, their Superfluity of
Ornaments, instead of being entirely Banished, seems only fallen from
their Heads upon their lower Parts. What they have lost in Height they
make up in Breadth, and contrary to all Rules of Architecture widen
the Foundations at the same time that they shorten the Superstructure.
Were they, like
Spanish Jennets, to impregnate by the Wind, they
could not have thought on a more proper Invention. But as we do not
yet hear any particular Use in this Petticoat, or that it contains any
thing more than what was supposed to be in those of Scantier Make, we
are wonderfully at a loss about it.
The Women give out, in Defence of these wide Bottoms, that they are
Airy, and very proper for the Season; but this I look upon to be only
a Pretence, and a piece of Art, for it is well known we have not had a
more moderate Summer these many Years, so that it is certain the Heat
they complain of cannot be in the Weather: Besides, I would fain ask
these tender constitutioned Ladies, why they should require more
Cooling than their Mothers before them.
I find several Speculative Persons are of Opinion that our Sex has of
late Years been very sawcy, and that the Hoop Petticoat is made use of
to keep us at a Distance. It is most certain that a Woman's Honour
cannot be better entrenched than after this manner, in Circle within
Circle, amidst such a Variety of Out-works and Lines of
Circumvallation.
A Female who is thus invested in Whale-Bone is
sufficiently secured against the Approaches of an ill-bred Fellow, who
might as well think of Sir
George Etherege's way of making Love
in a Tub
1, as in the midst of so many Hoops.
Among these various Conjectures, there are Men of Superstitious
tempers, who look upon the Hoop Petticoat as a kind of Prodigy. Some
will have it that it portends the Downfal of the
French King,
and observe that the Farthingale appeared in
England a little
before the Ruin of the
Spanish Monarchy. Others are of Opinion
that it foretels Battle and Bloodshed, and believe it of the same
Prognostication as the Tail of a Blazing Star. For my part, I am apt
to think it is a Sign that Multitudes are coming into the World rather
than going out of it.
The first time I saw a Lady dressed in one of these Petticoats, I
could not forbear blaming her in my own Thoughts for walking abroad
when she was
so near her Time, but soon recovered myself out of
my Error, when I found all the Modish Part of the Sex as
far
gone as her self. It is generally thought some crafty Women have
thus betrayed their Companions into Hoops, that they might make them
accessory to their own Concealments, and by that means escape the
Censure of the World; as wary Generals have sometimes dressed two or
three Dozen of their Friends in their own Habit, that they might not
draw upon themselves any particular Attacks of the Enemy. The
strutting Petticoat smooths all Distinctions, levels the Mother with
the Daughter, and sets Maids and Matrons, Wives and Widows, upon the
same Bottom. In the mean while I cannot but be troubled to see so many
well-shaped innocent Virgins bloated up, and waddling up and down like
big-bellied Women.
Should this Fashion get among the ordinary People our publick Ways
would be so crowded that we should want Street-room. Several
Congregations of the best Fashion find themselves already very much
streightened, and if the Mode encrease I wish it may not drive many
ordinary Women into Meetings and Conventicles. Should our Sex at the
same time take it into their Heads to wear Trunk Breeches (as who
knows what their Indignation at this Female Treatment may drive them
to) a Man and his Wife would fill a whole Pew.
You know, Sir, it is recorded of Alexander the Great
2, that in his
Indian Expedition he buried several Suits of Armour, which by his
Direction were made much too big for any of his Soldiers, in order to
give Posterity an extraordinary Idea of him, and make them believe he
had commanded an Army of Giants. I am persuaded that if one of the
present Petticoats happen to be hung up in any Repository of
Curiosities, it will lead into the same Error the Generations that lie
some Removes from us: unless we can believe our Posterity will think
so disrespectfully of their Great Grand-Mothers, that they made
themselves Monstrous to appear Amiable.
When I survey this new-fashioned
Rotonda in all its Parts, I cannot
but think of the old Philosopher, who after having entered into an
Egyptian Temple, and looked about for the Idol of the Place, at
length discovered a little Black Monkey Enshrined in the midst of it,
upon which he could not forbear crying out, (to the great Scandal of
the Worshippers) What a magnificent Palace is here for such a
Ridiculous Inhabitant!
Though you have taken a Resolution, in one of your Papers, to avoid
descending to Particularities of Dress, I believe you will not think
it below you, on so extraordinary an Occasion, to Unhoop the Fair Sex,
and cure this fashionable Tympany that is got among them. I am apt to
think the Petticoat will shrink of its own accord at your first coming
to Town; at least a Touch of your Pen will make it contract it self,
like the sensitive Plant, and by that means oblige several who are
either terrified or astonished at this portentous Novelty, and among
the rest,
Your humble Servant, &c.
C.
Love in a Tub
, Act iv, sc, 6.
In Plutarch's
Life
of him.
Contents
|
Friday, July 27, 1711 |
Addison |
Women in their Nature are much more gay and joyous than Men; whether it
be that their Blood is more refined, their Fibres more delicate, and
their animal Spirits more light and volatile; or whether, as some have
imagined, there may not be a kind of Sex in the very Soul, I shall not
pretend to determine. As Vivacity is the Gift of Women, Gravity is that
of Men. They should each of them therefore keep a Watch upon the
particular Biass which Nature has fixed in their Mind, that it may not
draw
too much, and lead them out of the Paths of Reason. This will
certainly happen, if the one in every Word and Action affects the
Character of being rigid and severe, and the other of being brisk and
airy. Men should beware of being captivated by a kind of savage
Philosophy, Women by a thoughtless Gallantry. Where these Precautions
are not observed, the Man often degenerates into a Cynick, the Woman
into a Coquet; the Man grows sullen and morose, the Woman impertinent
and fantastical.
By what I have said, we may conclude, Men and Women were made as
Counterparts to one another, that the Pains and Anxieties of the Husband
might be relieved by the Sprightliness and good Humour of the Wife. When
these are rightly tempered, Care and Chearfulness go Hand in Hand; and
the Family, like a Ship that is duly trimmed, wants neither Sail nor
Ballast.
Natural Historians observe, (for whilst I am in the Country I must fetch
my Allusions from thence) That only the Male Birds have Voices; That
their Songs begin a little before Breeding-time, and end a little after;
That whilst the Hen is covering her Eggs, the Male generally takes his
Stand upon a Neighbouring Bough within her Hearing; and by that means
amuses and diverts her with his Songs during the whole Time of her
Sitting.
This Contract among Birds lasts no longer than till a Brood of young
ones arises from it; so that in the feather'd Kind, the Cares and
Fatigues of the married State, if I may so call it, lie principally upon
the Female. On the contrary, as in our Species the Man and
the
Woman
are joined together for Life, and the main Burden rests upon the former,
Nature has given all the little Arts of Soothing and Blandishment to the
Female, that she may chear and animate her Companion in a constant and
assiduous Application to the making a Provision for his Family, and the
educating of their common Children. This however is not to be taken so
strictly, as if the same Duties were not often reciprocal, and incumbent
on both Parties; but only to set forth what seems to have been the
general Intention of Nature, in the different Inclinations and
Endowments which are bestowed on the different Sexes.
But whatever was the Reason that Man and Woman were made with this
Variety of Temper, if we observe the Conduct of the Fair Sex, we find
that they choose rather to associate themselves with a Person who
resembles them in that light and volatile Humour which is natural to
them, than to such as are qualified to moderate and counter-ballance it.
It has been an old Complaint, That the Coxcomb carries it with them
before the Man of Sense. When we see a Fellow loud and talkative, full
of insipid Life and Laughter, we may venture to pronounce him a female
Favourite: Noise and Flutter are such Accomplishments as they cannot
withstand. To be short, the Passion of an ordinary Woman for a Man is
nothing else but Self-love diverted upon another Object: She would have
the Lover a Woman in every thing but the Sex. I do not know a finer
Piece of Satyr on this Part of Womankind, than those lines of
Mr.
Dryden
,
Our thoughtless Sex is caught by outward Form,
And empty Noise, and loves it self in Man.
This is a Source of infinite Calamities to the Sex, as it frequently
joins them to Men, who in their own Thoughts are as fine Creatures as
themselves; or if they chance to be good-humoured, serve only to
dissipate their Fortunes, inflame their Follies, and aggravate their
Indiscretions.
The same female Levity is no less fatal to them after Mariage than
before: It represents to their Imaginations the faithful prudent Husband
as an honest tractable
and
domestick Animal; and turns their Thoughts
upon the fine gay Gentleman that laughs, sings, and dresses so much more
agreeably.
As this irregular Vivacity of Temper leads astray the Hearts of ordinary
Women in the Choice of their Lovers and the Treatment of their Husbands,
it operates with the same pernicious Influence towards their Children,
who are taught to accomplish themselves in all those sublime Perfections
that appear captivating in the Eye of their Mother. She admires in her
Son what she loved in her Gallant; and by that means contributes all she
can to perpetuate herself in a worthless Progeny.
The younger
Faustina
was a lively Instance of this sort of Women.
Notwithstanding she was married to
Marcus Aurelius
, one of the
greatest, wisest, and best of the
Roman
Emperors, she thought a
common Gladiator much the prettier Gentleman; and had taken such Care to
accomplish her Son
Commodus
according to her own Notions of a
fine Man, that when he ascended the Throne of his Father, he became the
most foolish and abandoned Tyrant that was ever placed at the Head of
the
Roman
Empire, signalizing himself in nothing but the fighting
of Prizes, and knocking out Men's Brains.
he had no Taste of true
Glory, we see him in several Medals and Statues
which
are still
extant of him, equipped like an
Hercules
with a Club and a Lion's
Skin.
I have been led into this Speculation by the Characters I have heard of
a Country Gentleman and his Lady, who do not live many Miles from Sir
Roger
. The Wife is an old Coquet, that is always hankering after the
Diversions of the Town; the Husband a morose Rustick, that frowns and
frets at the Name of it. The Wife is overrun with Affectation, the
Husband sunk into Brutality: The Lady cannot bear the Noise of the Larks
and Nightingales, hates your tedious Summer Days, and is sick at the
Sight of shady Woods and purling Streams; the Husband wonders how any
one can be pleased with the Fooleries of Plays and Operas, and rails
from Morning to Night at essenced Fops and tawdry Courtiers. The
Children are educated in these different Notions of their Parents. The
Sons follow the Father about his Grounds, while the Daughters read
Volumes of Love-Letters and Romances to their Mother. By this means it
comes to pass, that the Girls look upon their Father as a Clown, and the
Boys think their Mother no better than she should be.
How different are the Lives of
Aristus
and
Aspasia
? the
innocent Vivacity of the one is tempered and composed by the chearful
Gravity of the other. The Wife grows wise by the Discourses of the
Husband, and the Husband good-humour'd by the Conversations of the Wife.
Aristus
would
be so amiable were it not for his
Aspasia
, nor
Aspasia
so much
esteemed
were it not
for her
Aristus
. Their Virtues are blended in their Children, and
diffuse through the whole Family a perpetual Spirit of Benevolence,
Complacency, and Satisfaction.
C.
that
to be esteemed
Contents
|
Saturday, July 28, 1711 |
Addison |
Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum,
Cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo.
Pers.
translation
Great Masters in Painting never care for drawing People in the Fashion;
as very well knowing that the Headdress, or Periwig, that now prevails,
and gives a Grace to their Portraitures at present, will make a very odd
Figure, and perhaps look monstrous in the Eyes of Posterity. For this
Reason they often represent an illustrious Person in a
Roman
Habit, or in some other Dress that never varies. I could wish, for the
sake of my Country Friends, that there was such a kind of
everlasting
Drapery
to be made use of by all who live at a certain distance from
the Town, and that they would agree upon such Fashions as should never
be liable to Changes and Innovations.
want of this
standing
Dress
, a Man
who
takes a Journey into the Country is as much
surprised, as one
who
walks in a Gallery of old Family Pictures;
and finds as great a Variety of Garbs and Habits in the Persons he
converses with. Did they keep to one constant Dress they would sometimes
be in the Fashion, which they never are as Matters are managed at
present. If instead of running after the Mode, they would continue fixed
in one certain Habit, the Mode would some time or other overtake them,
as a Clock that stands still is sure to point right once in twelve
Hours: In this Case therefore I would advise them, as a Gentleman did
his Friend who was hunting about the whole Town after a rambling Fellow,
If you follow him you will never find him, but if you plant your self at
the Corner of any one Street, I'll engage it will not be long before you
see him.
I have already touched upon this Subject in a Speculation
which
shews how cruelly the Country are led astray in following the Town; and
equipped in a ridiculous Habit, when they fancy themselves in the Height
of the Mode. Since that Speculation I have received a Letter (which I
there hinted at) from a Gentleman who is now in the Western Circuit.
Mr.
Spectator,
'
Being a Lawyer of the
Middle-Temple,
a2 Cornishman
by Birth, I generally ride the Western Circuit for my health, and as I
am not interrupted with Clients, have leisure to make many
Observations that escape the Notice of my Fellow-Travellers.
One of the most fashionable Women I met with in all the Circuit was my
Landlady at
Stains, where I chanced to be on a Holiday. Her
Commode was not half a Foot high, and her Petticoat within some Yards
of a modish Circumference.
In the same Place I observed a young Fellow
with a tolerable Periwig, had it not been covered with a Hat that was
shaped in the
Ramillie Cock
3. As I proceeded in my Journey
I observed the Petticoat grew scantier and scantier, and about
threescore Miles from
London was so very unfashionable, that a
Woman might walk in it without any manner of Inconvenience.
Not far from
Salisbury I took notice of a Justice of Peace's
Lady
who4 was at least ten Years behindhand in her Dress, but at
the same time as fine as Hands could make her. She was flounced and
furbelowed from Head to Foot; every Ribbon was wrinkled, and every
Part of her Garments in Curl, so that she looked like one of those
Animals which in the Country we call a
Friezeland Hen.
Not many Miles beyond this Place I was informed that one of the last
Year's little Muffs had by some means or other straggled into those
Parts, and that all Women of Fashion were cutting their old Muffs in
two, or retrenching them, according to the little Model
which5
was got among them. I cannot believe the Report they have there, that
it was sent down frank'd by a Parliament-man in a little Packet; but
probably by next Winter this Fashion will be at the Height in the
Country, when it is quite out at
London.
The greatest Beau at our next Country Sessions was dressed in a most
monstrous Flaxen Periwig, that was made in King
William's Reign. The
Wearer of it goes, it seems, in his own Hair, when he is at home, and
lets his Wig lie in Buckle for a whole half Year, that he may put it
on upon Occasions to meet the Judges in it.
I must not here omit an Adventure
which5 happened to us in a
Country Church upon the Frontiers of
Cornwall. As we were in the
midst of the Service, a Lady who is the chief Woman of the Place, and
had passed the Winter at
London with her Husband, entered the
Congregation in a little Headdress, and a hoop'd Petticoat. The
People, who were wonderfully startled at such a Sight, all of them
rose up. Some stared at the prodigious Bottom, and some at the little
Top of this strange Dress.
In the mean time the Lady of the Manor
filled the
area6 of the Church, and walked up to her Pew with
an unspeakable Satisfaction, amidst the Whispers, Conjectures, and
Astonishments of the whole Congregation.
Upon our Way from hence we saw a young Fellow riding towards us full
Gallop, with a Bob Wig and a black Silken Bag tied to it. He stopt
short at the Coach, to ask us how far the Judges were behind us.
His
Stay was so very short, that we had only time to observe his new silk
Waistcoat,
which7 was unbutton'd in several Places to let us see
that he had a clean Shirt on, which was ruffled down to his middle.
From this Place, during our Progress through the most Western Parts of
the Kingdom, we fancied ourselves in King
Charles the Second's
Reign, the People having made very little Variations in their Dress
since that time.
The smartest of the Country Squires appear still in
the
Monmouth-Cock
8 and when they go a wooing (whether they have
any Post in the Militia or not) they generally put on a red Coat. We
were, indeed, very much surprized, at the Place we lay at last Night,
to meet with a Gentleman that had accoutered himself in a Night-Cap
Wig, a Coat with long Pockets, and slit Sleeves, and a pair of Shoes
with high Scollop Tops; but we soon found by his Conversation that he
was a Person who laughed at the Ignorance and Rusticity of the Country
People, and was resolved to live and die in the Mode.
Sir, If you think this Account of my Travels may be of any Advantage
to the Publick, I will next Year trouble you with such Occurrences as
I shall meet with in other Parts of
England. For I am informed there
are greater Curiosities in the Northern Circuit than in the Western;
and that a Fashion makes its Progress much slower into
Cumberland
than into
Cornwall. I
have heard in particular, that the
Steenkirk
9 arrived but two Months ago at
Newcastle, and that there
are several Commodes in those Parts which are worth taking a Journey
thither to see.
C.
that
and a
Fashion of 1706
that
that
whole Area
that
Of 1685.
Fashion of 1692-3.
Contents
|
Monday, July 30, 1711 |
Addison |
... Semperque recentes
Convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto.
Virg.
translation