The letter is, with other contributions not now traceable
to him, by Henry Martyn, son of Edward Martyn, Esq., of Melksham, Wilts.
He was bred to the bar, but his health did not suffer him to practise.
He has been identified with the Cottilus of
of the
Spectator
. In
1713 Henry Martyn opposed the ratification of the Treaty of Commerce
made with France at the Peace of Utrecht in a Paper called
The British
Merchant, or Commerce Preserved,
which was a reply to Defoe's
Mercator, or Commerce Retrieved.
Martyn's paper is said to have been a
principal cause of the rejection of the Treaty, and to have procured him
the post of Inspector-General of Imports and Exports. He died at
Blackheath, March 25, 1721, leaving one son, who became Secretary to the
Commissioners of Excise. As an intimate friend of Steele's, it has been
thought that Henry Martyn suggested a trait or two in the Sir Andrew
Freeport of the
Spectator's
Club.
Sept. 20, 1696.
These anecdotes are from Plutarch's
Life of Pyrrhus
.
Contents
|
Thursday,
September 27, 1711 |
Addison |
His lacrymis vitam damus, et miserescimus ultrò.
Virg.
translation
I am more pleased with a Letter that is filled with Touches of Nature
than of Wit. The following one is of this Kind.
Sir,
'Among all the Distresses which happen in Families, I do not remember
that you have touched upon the Marriage of Children without the
Consent of their Parents.
I am one of
these1 unfortunate Persons.
I was about Fifteen when I took the Liberty to choose for my self; and
have ever since languished under the Displeasure of an inexorable
Father, who, though he sees me happy in the best of Husbands, and
blessed with very fine Children, can never be prevailed upon to
forgive me. He was so kind to me before this unhappy Accident, that
indeed it makes my Breach of Duty, in some measure, inexcusable; and
at the same Time creates in me such a Tenderness towards him, that I
love him above all things, and would die to be reconciled to him. I
have thrown myself at his Feet, and besought him with Tears to pardon
me; but he always pushes me away, and spurns me from him; I have
written several Letters to him, but he will neither open nor receive
them. About two Years ago I sent my little Boy to him, dressed in a
new Apparel; but the Child returned to me crying, because he said his
Grandfather would not see him, and had ordered him to be put out of
his House. My Mother is won over to my Side, but dares not mention me
to my Father for fear of provoking him. About a Month ago he lay sick
upon his Bed, and in great Danger of his Life: I was pierced to the
Heart at the News, and could not forbear going to inquire after his
Health. My Mother took this Opportunity of speaking in my Behalf: she
told him with abundance of Tears, that I was come to see him, that I
could not speak to her for weeping, and that I should certainly break
my Heart if he refus'd at that Time to give me his Blessing, and be
reconciled to me. He was so far from relenting towards me, that he bid
her speak no more of me, unless she had a mind to disturb him in his
last Moments; for, Sir, you must know that he has the Reputation of an
honest and religious Man, which makes my Misfortune so much the
greater. God be thanked he is since recovered: But his severe Usage
has given me such a Blow, that I shall soon sink under it, unless I
may be relieved by any Impressions which the reading of this in your
Paper may make upon him.
I am, &c.
Of all Hardnesses of Heart there is none so inexcusable as that of
Parents towards their Children. An obstinate, inflexible, unforgiving
Temper is odious upon all Occasions; but here it is unnatural.
Love,
Tenderness, and Compassion, which are apt to arise in us towards those
who
depend upon us, is that by which the whole World of Life is
upheld. The Supreme Being, by the transcendent Excellency and Goodness
of his Nature, extends his Mercy towards all his Works; and because his
Creatures have not such a spontaneous Benevolence and Compassion towards
those who are under their Care and Protection, he has implanted in them
an Instinct, that supplies the Place of this inherent Goodness. I have
illustrated this kind of Instinct in former Papers, and have shewn how
it runs thro' all the Species of brute Creatures, as indeed the whole
Animal Creation subsists by it.
This Instinct in Man is more general and uncircumscribed than in Brutes,
as being enlarged by the Dictates of Reason and Duty. For if we consider
our selves attentively, we shall find that we are not only inclined to
love those who descend from us, but that we bear a kind of
Greek: atorgáe
or natural Affection, to every thing which relies upon us for
its Good and Preservation. Dependance is a perpetual Call upon Humanity,
and a greater Incitement to Tenderness and Pity than any other Motive
whatsoever.
The Man therefore who, notwithstanding any Passion or Resentment, can
overcome this powerful Instinct, and extinguish natural Affection,
debases his Mind even below Brutality, frustrates, as much as in him
lies, the great Design of Providence, and strikes out of his Nature one
of the most Divine Principles that is planted in it.
innumerable Arguments
which
might be brought against such an
unreasonable Proceeding, I shall only insist on one. We make it the
Condition of our Forgiveness that we forgive others. In our very Prayers
we desire no more than to be treated by this kind of Retaliation. The
Case therefore before us seems to be what they call a Case in Point; the
Relation between the Child and Father being what comes nearest to that
between a Creature and its Creator. If the Father is inexorable to the
Child who has offended, let the Offence be of never so high a Nature,
how will he address himself to the Supreme Being under the tender
Appellation of a Father, and desire of him such a Forgiveness as he
himself refuses to grant?
this I might add many other religious, as well as many prudential
Considerations; but if the last mentioned Motive does not prevail, I
despair of succeeding by any other, and shall therefore conclude my
Paper with a very remarkable Story, which is recorded in an old
Chronicle published by Freher, among the Writers of the German History
.
Eginhart, who was Secretary to Charles the Great, became exceeding
popular by his Behaviour in that Post. His great Abilities gain'd him
the Favour of his Master, and the Esteem of the whole Court. Imma, the
Daughter of the Emperor, was so pleased with his Person and
Conversation, that she fell in Love with him. As she was one of the
greatest Beauties of the Age, Eginhart answer'd her with a more than
equal Return of Passion. They stifled their Flames for some Time, under
Apprehension of the fatal Consequences that might ensue. Eginhart at
length resolving to hazard all, rather than be deprived of one whom his
Heart was so much set upon,
himself one Night into the
Princess's Apartment, and knocking gently at the Door, was admitted as a
Person
who
had something to communicate to her from the Emperor.
He was with her in private most Part of the Night; but upon his
preparing to go away about Break of Day, he observed that there had
fallen a great Snow during his Stay with the Princess. This very much
perplexed him, lest the Prints of his Feet in the Snow might make
Discoveries to the King, who often used to visit his Daughter in the
Morning. He acquainted the Princess Imma with his Fears; who, after some
Consultations upon the Matter, prevailed upon him to let her carry him
through the Snow upon her own Shoulders. It happened, that the Emperor
not being able to sleep, was at that time up and walking in his Chamber,
when upon looking through the Window he perceived his Daughter tottering
under her Burden, and carrying his first Minister across the Snow; which
she had no sooner done, but she returned again with the utmost Speed to
her own Apartment. The Emperor was extreamly troubled and astonished at
this Accident; but resolved to speak nothing of it till a proper
Opportunity. In the mean time, Eginhart knowing that what he had done
could not be long a Secret, determined to retire from Court; and in
order to it begged the Emperor that he would be pleased to dismiss him,
pretending a kind of Discontent at his not having been rewarded for his
long Services. The Emperor would not give a direct Answer to his
Petition,
told him he would think of it, and
appointed
a
certain Day when he would let him know his Pleasure. He then called
together the most faithful of his Counsellors, and acquainting them with
his Secretary's Crime, asked them their Advice in so delicate an Affair.
They most of them gave their Opinion, that the Person could not be too
severely punished who had thus dishonoured his Master. Upon the whole
Debate, the Emperor declared it was his Opinion, that Eginhart's
Punishment would rather encrease than diminish the Shame of his Family,
and that therefore he thought it the most adviseable to wear out the
Memory of the Fact, by marrying him to his Daughter. Accordingly
Eginhart was called in, and acquainted by the Emperor, that he should no
longer have any Pretence of complaining his Services were not rewarded,
for that the
Imma should be given
him
in Marriage, with a
Dower suitable to her Quality; which was soon after performed
accordingly.
L.
those
that
that
Marquard Freher, who died at Heidelberg in 1614, aged 49,
was Counsellor to the Elector Palatine, and Professor of Jurisprudence
at Heidelberg, until employed by the Elector (Frederick IV) as his
Minister in Poland, and at other courts. The chief of many works of his
were, on the Monetary System of the Ancient Romans and of the German
Empire in his day, a History of France, a collection of Writers on
Bohemian History, and another of Writers on German History,
Rerum
Germanicarum Scriptores,
in three volumes. It is from a Chronicle of the
monastery of Lorsch (or Laurisheim), in Hesse Darmstadt, under the year
805, in the first volume of the last-named collection, that the story
about Eginhart was taken by Bayle, out of whose
Dictionary
Addison got
it. Bayle, indeed, specially recommends it as good matter for a story.
Imma, the chronicle says, had been betrothed to the Grecian Emperor.
that
fixed on
to him
Contents
|
Friday,
September 28, 1711 |
Steele |
As all Parts of humane Life come under my Observation, my Reader must
not make uncharitable Inferences from my speaking knowingly of that Sort
of Crime which is at present treated of. He will, I hope, suppose I know
it only from the Letters of Correspondents, two of which you shall have
as follow.
Mr. Spectator,
'It is wonderful to me that among the many Enormities which you have
treated of, you have not mentioned that of Wenching, and particularly
the Insnaring Part; I mean, that it is a Thing very fit for your Pen,
to expose the Villany of the Practice of deluding Women. You are to
know, Sir, that I myself am a Woman who have been one of the Unhappy
that have fallen into this Misfortune, and that by the Insinuation of
a very worthless Fellow, who served others in the same Manner both
before my Ruin and since that Time. I had, as soon as the Rascal left
me, so much Indignation and Resolution, as not to go upon the Town, as
the Phrase is, but took to Work for my Living in an obscure Place, out
of the Knowledge of all with whom I was before acquainted.
It is the ordinary Practice and Business of Life with a Set of idle
Fellows about this Town, to write Letters, send Messages, and form
Appointments with little raw unthinking Girls, and leave them after
Possession of them, without any Mercy, to Shame, Infamy, Poverty, and
Disease. Were you to read the nauseous Impertinences which are written
on these Occasions, and to see the silly Creatures sighing over them,
it could not but be Matter of Mirth as well as Pity. A little Prentice
Girl of mine has been for some time applied to by an Irish Fellow, who
dresses very fine, and struts in a laced Coat, and is the Admiration
of Seamstresses who are under Age in Town. Ever since I have had some
Knowledge of the Matter, I have debarred my Prentice from Pen, Ink and
Paper. But the other Day he bespoke some Cravats of me: I went out of
the Shop, and left his Mistress to put them up into a Band-box in
order to be sent to him when his Man called. When I came into the Shop
again, I took occasion to send her away, and found in the Bottom of
the Box written these Words, Why would you ruin a harmless Creature
that loves you? then in the Lid, There is no resisting Strephon: I
searched a little farther, and found in the Rim of the Box, At Eleven
of clock at Night come in an Hackney-Coach at the End of our Street.
This was enough to alarm me; I sent away the things, and took my
Measures accordingly. An Hour or two before the appointed Time I
examined my young Lady, and found her Trunk stuffed with impertinent
Letters, and an old Scroll of Parchment in Latin, which her Lover had
sent her as a Settlement of Fifty Pounds a Year: Among other things,
there was also the best Lace I had in my Shop to make him a Present
for Cravats. I was very glad of this last Circumstance, because I
could very conscientiously swear against him that he had enticed my
Servant away, and was her Accomplice in robbing me: I procured a
Warrant against him accordingly. Every thing was now prepared, and the
tender Hour of Love approaching, I, who had acted for myself in my
Youth the same senseless Part, knew how to manage accordingly.
Therefore after having locked up my Maid, and not being so much unlike
her in Height and Shape, as in a huddled way not to pass for her, I
delivered the Bundle designed to be carried off to her Lover's Man,
who came with the Signal to receive them. Thus I followed after to the
Coach, where when I saw his Master take them in, I cryed out, Thieves!
Thieves! and the Constable with his Attendants seized my expecting
Lover. I kept my self unobserved till I saw the Crowd sufficiently
encreased, and then appeared to declare the Goods to be mine; and had
the Satisfaction to see my Man of Mode put into the Round-House, with
the stolen Wares by him, to be produced in Evidence against him the
next Morning. This Matter is notoriously known to be Fact; and I have
been contented to save my Prentice, and take a Year's Rent of this
mortified Lover, not to appear further in the Matter. This was some
Penance; but, Sir, is this enough for a Villany of much more
pernicious Consequence than the Trifles for which he was to have been
indicted? Should not you, and all Men of any Parts or Honour, put
things upon so right a Foot, as that such a Rascal should not laugh at
the Imputation of what he was really guilty, and dread being accused
of that for which he was arrested?
In a word, Sir, it is in the Power of you, and such as I hope you are,
to make it as infamous to rob a poor Creature of her Honour as her
Cloaths. I leave this to your Consideration, only take Leave (which I
cannot do without sighing) to remark to you, that if this had been the
Sense of Mankind thirty Years ago, I should have avoided a Life spent
in Poverty and Shame.
I am, Sir,
Your most humble Servant,
Alice Threadneedle.
Round-House, Sept. 9.
Mr. Spectator,
'I am a Man of Pleasure about Town, but by the Stupidity of a dull
Rogue of a Justice of Peace, and an insolent Constable, upon the Oath
of an old Harridan, am imprisoned here for Theft, when I designed only
Fornication. The Midnight Magistrate, as he conveyed me along, had you
in his Mouth, and said, this would make a pure Story for the
Spectator. I hope, Sir, you won't pretend to Wit, and take the Part of
dull Rogues of Business. The World is so altered of late Years, that
there was not a Man who would knock down a Watchman in my Behalf, but
I was carried off with as much Triumph as if I had been a Pick-pocket.
At this rate, there is an end of all the Wit and Humour in the World.
The Time was when all the honest Whore-masters in the Neighbourhood
would have rose against the Cuckolds to my Rescue. If Fornication is
to be scandalous, half the fine things that have been writ by most of
the Wits of the last Age may be burnt by the common Hangman. Harkee,
Mr. Spec, do not be queer; after having done some things pretty
well, don't begin to write at that rate that no Gentleman can read
thee. Be true to Love, and burn your Seneca. You do not expect
me to write my Name from hence, but I am
Your unknown humble,
&c.'
Contents
|
Saturday,
September 29, 1711 |
Addison |
Greek: Idmen pseúdea pollà légein etymoisin homoia, Idmen d' eut' ethél_omen alaethéa mytháesasthai. Hesiod.translation
Fables were the first Pieces of Wit that made their Appearance in the
World, and have been still highly valued, not only in Times of the
greatest Simplicity, but among the most polite Ages of Mankind.
Jotham's
of the Trees
is the oldest that is extant, and
as beautiful as any which have been made since that Time.
Nathan's
Fable of the poor Man and his Lamb
is
more
ancient than any that is extant, besides the above-mentioned, and had so
good an Effect, as to convey Instruction to the Ear of a King without
offending it, and to bring the Man after God's own Heart to a right
Sense of his Guilt and his Duty. We find
Æsop
in the most distant
Ages of
Greece
;
if we look into the very Beginnings of the
Commonwealth of
Rome
, we see a Mutiny among the Common People
appeased by a
Fable of the Belly and the Limbs
, which was indeed
very proper to gain the Attention of an incensed Rabble, at a Time when
perhaps they would have torn to Pieces any Man who had preached the same
Doctrine to them in an open and direct Manner. As Fables took their
Birth in the very Infancy of Learning, they never flourished more than
when Learning was at its greatest Height. To justify this Assertion, I
shall put my Reader in mind of
Horace
, the greatest Wit and
Critick in the
Augustan
Age; and of
Boileau
, the most
correct Poet among the Moderns: Not to mention
La Fontaine
, who
by this Way of Writing is come more into Vogue than any other Author of
our Times.
The Fables I have here mentioned are raised altogether upon Brutes and
Vegetables, with some of our own Species mixt among them, when the Moral
hath so required. But besides this kind of Fable, there is another in
which the Actors are Passions, Virtues, Vices, and other imaginary
Persons of the like Nature. Some of the ancient Criticks will have it,
that the
Iliad
and
Odyssey
of Homer are Fables of this Nature: and that
the several Names of Gods and Heroes are nothing else but the Affections
of the Mind in a visible Shape and Character. Thus they tell us, that
Achilles, in the first
Iliad
, represents Anger, or the Irascible Part of
Human Nature; That upon drawing his Sword against his Superior in a full
Assembly,
Pallas
is only another Name for Reason, which checks
and advises him upon that Occasion; and at her first Appearance touches
him upon the Head, that Part of the Man being looked upon as the Seat of
Reason. And thus of the rest of the Poem. As for the
Odyssey
, I think it
is plain that
Horace
considered it as one of these Allegorical
Fables, by the Moral which he has given us of several Parts of it. The
greatest
Italian
Wits have applied themselves to the Writing of
this latter kind of Fables: As
Spencer's Fairy-Queen
is one
continued Series of them from the Beginning to the End of that admirable
Work. If we look into the finest Prose Authors of Antiquity, such as
Cicero
,
Plato
,
Xenophon
, and many others, we shall
find that this was likewise their Favourite Kind of Fable. I shall only
further observe upon it, that the first of this Sort that made any
considerable Figure in the World,
that of
Hercules
meeting
with Pleasure and Virtue; which was invented by
Prodicus
, who
lived before
Socrates
, and in the first Dawnings of Philosophy.
He used to travel through
Greece
by vertue of this Fable, which
procured him a kind Reception in all the Market-towns, where he never
failed telling it as soon as he had gathered an Audience about him
.
After this short Preface, which I have made up of such Materials as my
Memory does at present suggest to me, before I present my Reader with a
Fable of this Kind, which I design as the Entertainment of the present
Paper, I must in a few Words open the Occasion of it.
In the Account which
Plato
gives us of the Conversation and
Behaviour of
Socrates
, the Morning he was to die, he tells the
following Circumstance.
When Socrates his Fetters were knocked off (as was usual to be done on
the Day that the condemned Person was to be executed) being seated in
the midst of his Disciples, and laying one of his Legs over the other,
in a very unconcerned Posture, he began to rub it where it had been
galled by the Iron; and whether it was to shew the Indifference with
which he entertained \the Thoughts of his approaching Death, or (after
his usual Manner) to take every Occasion of Philosophizing upon some
useful Subject, he observed the Pleasure of that Sensation which now
arose in those very Parts of his Leg, that just before had been so much
pained by the Fetter. Upon this he reflected on the Nature of Pleasure
and Pain in general, and how constantly they succeeded one another. To
this he added,
if a Man of a good Genius for a Fable were to
represent the Nature of Pleasure and Pain in that Way of Writing, he
would probably join them together after such a manner, that it would be
impossible for the one to come into any Place without being followed by
the other
.
I
t is possible, that if Plato had thought it proper at such a Time to
describe Socrates launching out into a Discourse
which
was not of
a piece with the Business of the Day, he would have enlarged upon this
Hint, and have drawn it out into some beautiful Allegory or Fable. But
since he has not done it, I shall attempt to write one myself in the
Spirit of that Divine Author.
There were two Families which from the Beginning of the World were as
opposite to each other as Light and Darkness. The one of them lived in
Heaven, and the other in Hell. The youngest Descendant of the first
Family was Pleasure, who was the Daughter of Happiness, who was the
Child of Virtue, who was the Offspring of the Gods. These, as I said
before,
had their Habitation in Heaven.
The youngest of the opposite
Family was Pain, who was the Son of Misery, who was the Child of Vice,
who was the Offspring of the Furies. The Habitation of this Race of
Beings was in Hell.
The middle Station of Nature between these two opposite Extremes was the
Earth, which was inhabited by Creatures of a middle Kind, neither so
Virtuous as the one, nor so Vicious as the other, but partaking of the
good and bad Qualities of these two opposite Families.
Jupiter
considering that this Species commonly called Man, was too virtuous
to be miserable, and too vicious to be happy; that he might make a
Distinction between the Good and the Bad, ordered the two youngest of
the above-mentioned Families, Pleasure who was the Daughter of
Happiness, and Pain who was the Son of Misery, to meet one another upon
this Part of Nature which lay in the half-Way between them, having
promised to settle it upon them both, provided they could agree upon the
Division of it, so as to share Mankind between them.
Pleasure and Pain were no sooner met in their new Habitation, but they
immediately agreed upon this Point, that Pleasure should take Possession
of the Virtuous, and Pain of the Vicious Part of that Species which was
given up to them. But upon examining to which of them any Individual
they met with belonged, they found each of them had a Right to him; for
that, contrary to what they had seen in their old Places of Residence,
there was no Person so Vicious who had not some Good in him, nor any
Person so Virtuous who had not in him some Evil. The Truth of it is,
they generally found upon Search, that in the most vicious Man Pleasure
might lay a Claim to an hundredth Part, and that in the most virtuous
Man Pain might come in for at least two Thirds. This they saw would
occasion endless Disputes between them, unless they could come to some
Accommodation. To this end there was a Marriage proposed between them,
and at length concluded: By this means it is that we find Pleasure and
Pain are such constant Yoke-fellows, and that they either make their
Visits together, or are never far asunder. If Pain comes into an Heart,
he is quickly followed by Pleasure; and if Pleasure enters, you may be
sure Pain is not far off.
But notwithstanding this Marriage was very convenient for the two
Parties, it did not seem to answer the Intention of