that the
Cicero,
Tusc. Quæst.
Bk. IV. near the close. Again
de Fato
, c. 5, he says that the physiognomist Zopyrus pronounced
Socrates stupid and dull, because the outline of his throat was not
concave, but full and obtuse.
who he was.
seen
Plato in the
Symposium
; where Alcibiades is made to
draw the parallel under the influence of wine and revelry. He compares
the person of Socrates to the sculptured figures of the Sileni and the
Mercuries in the streets of Athens, but owns the spell by which he was
held, in presence of Socrates, as by the flute of the Satyr Marsyas.
which
that we
Dr Henry More.
Contents
Contents p.3
|
Saturday, June 9, 1711 |
Steele |
... Nimium ne crede colori.
Virg.
It has been the Purpose of several of my Speculations to bring People to
an unconcerned Behaviour, with relation to their Persons, whether
beautiful or defective. As the Secrets of the
Ugly Club
were
exposed to the Publick, that Men might see there were some noble Spirits
in the Age, who are not at all displeased with themselves upon
Considerations which they had no Choice in: so the Discourse concerning
Idols
tended to lessen the Value People put upon themselves from
personal Advantages, and Gifts of Nature. As to the latter Species of
Mankind, the Beauties, whether Male or Female, they are generally the
most untractable People of all others. You are so excessively perplexed
with the Particularities in their Behaviour, that, to be at Ease, one
would be apt to wish there were no such Creatures. They expect so great
Allowances, and give so little to others, that they who have to do with
them find in the main, a Man with a better Person than ordinary, and a
beautiful Woman, might be very happily changed for such to whom Nature
has been less liberal. The Handsome Fellow is usually so much a
Gentleman, and the Fine Woman has something so becoming, that there is
no enduring either of them. It has therefore been generally my Choice to
mix with chearful Ugly Creatures, rather than Gentlemen who are Graceful
enough to omit or do what they please; or Beauties who have Charms
enough to do and say what would be disobliging in any but themselves.
Diffidence and Presumption, upon account of our Persons, are equally
Faults; and both arise from the Want of knowing, or rather endeavouring
to know, our selves, and for what we ought to be valued or neglected.
But indeed, I did not imagine these little Considerations and Coquetries
could have the ill Consequences as I find they have by the following
Letters of my Correspondents, where it seems Beauty is thrown into the
Account, in Matters of Sale, to those who receive no Favour from the
Charmers.
June 4
Mr. Spectator,.
After I have assured you I am in every respect one of the Handsomest
young Girls about Town — I need be particular in nothing but the make
of my Face, which has the Misfortune to be exactly Oval. This I take
to proceed from a Temper that naturally inclines me both to speak and
hear.
With this Account you may wonder how I can have the Vanity to offer my
self as a Candidate, which I now do, to a Society, where the
Spectator
and
Hecatissa have been admitted with so much Applause. I don't
want to be put in mind how very Defective I am in every thing that is
Ugly: I am too sensible of my own Unworthiness in this Particular, and
therefore I only propose my self as a Foil to the Club.
You see how honest I have been to confess all my Imperfections, which
is a great deal to come from a Woman, and what I hope you will
encourage with the Favour of your Interest.
There can be no Objection made on the Side of the matchless
Hecatissa, since it is certain I shall be in no Danger of
giving her the least occasion of Jealousy: And then a Joint-Stool in
the very lowest Place at the Table, is all the Honour that is coveted
by
Your most Humble and Obedient Servant,
Rosalinda.
P.S. I have sacrificed my Necklace to put into the Publick Lottery
against the Common Enemy. And last
Saturday, about Three a
Clock in the Afternoon, I began to patch indifferently on both Sides
of my Face.
London, June 7, 1711.
Mr.
Spectator,
'Upon reading your late Dissertation concerning
Idols, I cannot
but complain to you that there are, in six or seven Places of this
City, Coffee-houses kept by Persons of that Sisterhood. These
Idols sit and receive all Day long the adoration of the Youth
within such and such Districts: I know, in particular, Goods are not
entered as they ought to be at the Custom-house, nor Law-Reports
perused at the Temple; by reason of one Beauty who detains the young
Merchants too long near
Change, and another Fair One who keeps
the Students at her House when they should be at Study. It would be
worth your while to see how the Idolaters alternately offer Incense to
their
Idols, and what Heart-burnings arise in those who wait
for their Turn to receive kind Aspects from those little Thrones,
which all the Company, but these Lovers, call the Bars. I saw a
Gentleman turn as pale as Ashes, because an
Idol turned the
Sugar in a Tea-Dish for his Rival, and carelessly called the Boy to
serve him, with a
Sirrah! Why don't you give the Gentleman the Box
to please himself? Certain it is, that a very hopeful young Man
was taken with Leads in his Pockets below Bridge, where he intended to
drown himself, because his
Idol would wash the Dish in which
she had but just
then1 drank Tea, before she would let him use it.
I am, Sir, a Person past being Amorous, and do not give this
Information out of Envy or Jealousy, but I am a real Sufferer by it.
These Lovers take any thing for Tea and Coffee; I saw one Yesterday
surfeit to make his Court; and all his Rivals, at the same time, loud
in the Commendation of Liquors that went against every body in the
Room that was not in Love. While these young Fellows resign their
Stomachs with their Hearts, and drink at the
Idol in this
manner, we who come to do Business, or talk Politicks, are utterly
poisoned: They have also Drams for those who are more enamoured than
ordinary; and it is very common for such as are too low in
Constitution to ogle the
Idol upon the Strength of Tea, to
fluster themselves with warmer Liquors: Thus all Pretenders advance,
as fast as they can, to a Feaver or a Diabetes. I must repeat to you,
that I do not look with an evil Eye upon the Profit of the
Idols, or the Diversion of the Lovers; what I hope from this
Remonstrance, is only that we plain People may not be served as if we
were Idolaters; but that from the time of publishing this in your
Paper, the
Idols would mix Ratsbane only for their Admirers, and
take more care of us who don't love them.
I am,
Sir,
Yours,
T.T.
2
R.
just before
This letter is ascribed to Laurence Eusden.
Contents
Contents p.4
This to give Notice,
That the three Criticks
who last Sunday
settled the Characters
of my Lord Rochester
and Boileau,
in the Yard of a Coffee House in Fuller's Rents,
will meet this next Sunday
at the same Time and Place,
to finish the Merits of several Dramatick Writers:
And will also make an End of the Nature of True Sublime.
|
Monday, June 11, 1711 |
Steele |
Quid Domini facient, audent cum tulia Fures?
Virg.
May 30, 1711.
Mr. Spectator,
I have no small Value for your Endeavours to lay before the World what
may escape their Observation, and yet highly conduces to their
Service. You have, I think, succeeded very well on many Subjects; and
seem to have been conversant in very different Scenes of Life. But in
the Considerations of Mankind, as a Spectator, you should not omit
Circumstances which relate to the inferior Part of the World, any more
than those which concern the greater. There is one thing in particular
which I wonder you have not touched upon, and that is the general
Corruption of Manners in the Servants of Great Britain. I am a Man
that have travelled and seen many Nations, but have for seven Years
last past resided constantly in London, or within twenty Miles of
it: In this Time I have contracted a numerous Acquaintance among the
best Sort of People, and have hardly found one of them happy in their
Servants. This is matter of great Astonishment to Foreigners, and all
such as have visited Foreign Countries; especially since we cannot but
observe, That there is no Part of the World where Servants have those
Privileges and Advantages as in England: They have no where else
such plentiful Diet, large Wages, or indulgent Liberty: There is no
Place wherein they labour less, and yet where they are so little
respectful, more wasteful, more negligent, or where they so frequently
change their Masters. To this I attribute, in a great measure, the
frequent Robberies and Losses which we suffer on the high Road and in
our own Houses. That indeed which gives me the present Thought of this
kind, is, that a careless Groom of mine has spoiled me the prettiest
Pad in the World with only riding him ten Miles, and I assure you, if
I were to make a Register of all the Horses I have known thus abused
by Negligence of Servants, the Number would mount a Regiment. I wish
you would give us your Observations, that we may know how to treat
these Rogues, or that we Masters may enter into Measures to reform
them. Pray give us a Speculation in general about Servants, and you
make me
Pray do not omit the Mention
of Grooms in particular.
Yours,
Philo-Britannicus
This honest Gentleman, who is so desirous that I should write a Satyr
upon Grooms, has a great deal of Reason for his Resentment; and I know
no Evil which touches all Mankind so much as this of the Misbehaviour of
Servants.
The Complaint of this Letter runs wholly upon Men-Servants; and I can
attribute the Licentiousness which has at present prevailed among them,
to nothing but what an hundred before me have ascribed it to, The Custom
of giving Board-Wages: This one Instance of false Œconomy is sufficient
to debauch the whole Nation of Servants, and makes them as it were but
for some part of their Time in that Quality. They are either attending
in Places where they meet and run into Clubs, or else, if they wait at
Taverns, they eat after their Masters, and reserve their Wages for other
Occasions. From hence it arises, that they are but in a lower Degree
what their Masters themselves are; and usually affect an Imitation of
their Manners: And you have in Liveries, Beaux, Fops, and Coxcombs, in
as high Perfection as among People that keep Equipages. It is a common
Humour among the Retinue of People of Quality, when they are in their
Revels, that is when they are out of their Masters Sight, to assume in a
humourous Way the Names and Titles of those whose Liveries they wear. By
which means Characters and Distinctions become so familiar to them, that
it is to this, among other Causes, one may impute a certain Insolence
among our Servants, that they take no Notice of any Gentleman though
they know him ever so well, except he is an Acquaintance of their
Master's.
My Obscurity and Taciturnity leave me at Liberty, without Scandal, to
dine, if I think fit, at a common Ordinary, in the meanest as well as
the most sumptuous House of Entertainment.
in the other Day at a
Victualling-House near the House of Peers, I heard the Maid come down
and tell the Landlady at the Bar, That my Lord Bishop swore he would
throw her out
a
Window, if she did not bring up more Mild Beer,
and that my Lord Duke would have a double Mug of Purle. My Surprize was
encreased, in hearing loud and rustick Voices speak and answer to each
other upon the publick Affairs, by the Names of the most Illustrious of
our Nobility; till of a sudden one came running in, and cry'd the House
was rising. Down came all the Company together, and away! The Alehouse
was immediately filled with Clamour, and scoring one Mug to the Marquis
of such a Place, Oyl and Vinegar to such an Earl, three Quarts to my new
Lord for wetting his Title, and so forth. It is a Thing too notorious to
mention the Crowds of Servants, and their Insolence, near the Courts of
Justice, and the Stairs towards the Supreme Assembly, where there is an
universal Mockery of all Order, such riotous Clamour and licentious
Confusion, that one would think the whole Nation lived in Jest, and
there were no such thing as Rule and Distinction among us.
The next Place of Resort, wherein the servile World are let loose, is at
the Entrance of
Hide-Park
, while the Gentry are at the Ring.
Hither People bring their Lacqueys out of State, and here it is that all
they say at their Tables, and act in their Houses, is communicated to
the whole Town. There are Men of Wit in all Conditions of Life; and
mixing with these People at their Diversions, I have heard Coquets and
Prudes as well rallied, and Insolence and Pride exposed, (allowing for
their want of Education) with as much Humour and good Sense, as in the
politest Companies.
is a general Observation, That all Dependants run
in some measure into the Manners and Behaviour of those whom they serve:
You shall frequently meet with Lovers and Men of Intrigue among the
Lacqueys, as well as at
White's
or in the Side-Boxes. I
remember some Years ago an Instance of this Kind. A Footman to a Captain
of the Guard used frequently, when his Master was out of the Way, to
carry on Amours and make Assignations in his Master's Cloaths. The
Fellow had a very good Person, and there are very many Women that think
no further than the Outside of a Gentleman: besides which, he was almost
as learned a Man as the Colonel himself: I say, thus qualified, the
Fellow could scrawl
Billets-doux
so well, and furnish a Conversation
on the common Topicks, that he had, as they call it, a great deal of
good Business on his Hands. It happened one Day, that coming down a
Tavern-Stairs in his Master's fine Guard-Coat, with a well-dress'd Woman
masked, he met the Colonel coming up with other Company; but with a
ready Assurance he quitted his Lady, came up to him, and said,
Sir, I
know you have too much Respect for yourself to cane me in this
honourable Habit: But you see there is a Lady in the Case, and I hope on
that Score also you will put off your Anger till I have told you all
another time.
After a little Pause the Colonel cleared up his
Countenance, and with an Air of Familiarity whispered his Man apart,
Sirrah, bring the Lady with you to ask Pardon for you;
then aloud,
Look to it
, Will,
I'll never forgive you else.
The Fellow went back
to his Mistress, and telling her with a loud Voice and an Oath, That was
the honestest Fellow in the World, convey'd her to an Hackney-Coach.
But the many Irregularities committed by Servants in the Places
above-mentioned, as well as in the Theatres, of which Masters are
generally the Occasions, are too various not to need being resumed on
another Occasion.
R.
of the
White's
, established as a chocolate-house in 1698,
had a polite character for gambling, and was a haunt of sharpers and gay
noblemen before it became a Club.
Contents
Contents p.4
|
Tuesday, June 12, 1711 |
Addison |
... Petite hinc juvenesque senesque
Finem animo certum, miserisque viatica canis.
Cras hoc fiet. Idem eras fiet. Quid? quasi magnum
Nempe diem donas? sed cum lux altera venit,
Jam cras hesternum consumpsimus; ecce aliud cras
Egerit hos annos, et semper paulum erit ultra.
Nam quamvis prope te, quamvis temone sub uno
Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum.
Per.
As my Correspondents upon the Subject of Love are very numerous, it is
my Design, if possible, to range them under several Heads, and address
my self to them at different Times. The first Branch of them, to whose
Service I shall Dedicate these Papers, are those that have to do with
Women of dilatory Tempers, who are for spinning out the Time of
Courtship to an immoderate Length, without being able either to close
with their Lovers, or to dismiss them. I have many Letters by me filled
with Complaints against, this sort of Women. In one of them no less a
Man than a Brother of the Coif tells me, that he began his Suit
Vicesimo nono Caroli secundi
, before he had been a Twelvemonth at
the
Temple;
that he prosecuted it for many Years after he was
called to the Bar; that at present he is a Sergeant at Law; and
notwithstanding he hoped that Matters would have been long since brought
to an Issue, the Fair One still
demurrs
. I am so well pleased
with this Gentleman's Phrase, that I shall distinguish this Sect of
Women by the Title of
Demurrers
. I find by another Letter from
one that calls himself
Thirsis
, that his Mistress has been
Demurring above these seven Years. But among all my Plaintiffs of this
Nature, I most pity the unfortunate
Philander
, a Man of a
constant Passion and plentiful Fortune, who sets forth that the timorous
and irresolute
Silvia
has demurred till she is past
Child-bearing.
Strephon
appears by his Letter to be a very
cholerick Lover, and irrevocably smitten with one that demurrs out of
Self-interest. He tells me with great Passion that she has bubbled him
out of his Youth; that she drilled him on to Five and Fifty, and that he
verily believes she will drop him in his old Age, if she can find her
Account in another. I shall conclude this Narrative with a Letter from
honest Sam Hopewell, a very pleasant Fellow, who it seems has at last
married a
Demurrer:
I must only premise, that Sam, who is a very
good Bottle-Companion, has been the Diversion of his Friends, upon
account of his Passion, ever since the Year One thousand Six hundred and
Eighty one.
Dear Sir,
'You know very well my Passion for Mrs. Martha, and what a
Dance she has led me: She took me at the Age of Two and Twenty, and
dodged with me above Thirty Years. I have loved her till she is grown
as Grey as a Cat, and am with much ado become the Master of her
Person, such as it is at present. She is however in my Eye a very
charming old Woman. We often lament that we did not marry sooner, but
she has no Body to blame for it but her self: You know very well that
she would never think of me whilst she had a Tooth in her Head. I have
put the Date of my Passion (Anno Amoris Trigesimo primo)
instead of a Posy, on my Wedding-Ring. I expect you should send me a
Congratulatory Letter, or, if you please, an Epithalamium, upon this
Occasion.
Mrs. Martha's and
Yours Eternally,
Sam Hopewell
In order to banish an Evil out of the World, that does not only produce
great Uneasiness to private Persons, but has also a very bad Influence
on the Publick, I shall endeavour to shew the Folly of
Demurrage
from
two or three Reflections which I earnestly recommend to the Thoughts of
my fair Readers.
First of all I would have them seriously think on the Shortness of their
Time. Life is not long enough for a Coquet to play all her Tricks in. A
timorous Woman drops into her Grave before she has done deliberating.
Were the Age of Man the same that it was before the Flood, a Lady might
sacrifice half a Century to a Scruple, and be two or three Ages in
demurring. Had she Nine Hundred Years good, she might hold out to the
Conversion of the
Jews
before she thought fit to be prevailed upon.
But, alas! she ought to play her Part in haste, when she considers that
she is suddenly to quit the Stage, and make Room for others.
In the second Place, I would desire my Female Readers to consider, that
as the Term of Life is short, that of Beauty is much shorter. The finest
Skin wrinkles in a few Years, and loses the Strength of its Colourings
so soon, that we have scarce Time to admire it. I might embellish this
Subject with Roses and Rain-bows, and several other ingenious Conceits,
which I may possibly reserve for another Opportunity.
There is a third Consideration which I would likewise recommend to a
Demurrer, and that is the great Danger of her falling in Love when she
is about Threescore, if she cannot satisfie her Doubts and Scruples
before that Time. There is a kind of
latter Spring
, that sometimes
gets into the Blood of an old Woman and turns her into a very odd sort
of an Animal. I would therefore have the Demurrer consider what a
strange Figure she will make, if she chances to get over all
Difficulties, and comes to a final Resolution, in that unseasonable Part
of her Life.
I would not however be understood, by any thing I have here said, to
discourage that natural Modesty in the Sex, which renders a Retreat from
the first Approaches of a Lover both fashionable and graceful: All that
I intend, is, to advise them, when they are prompted by Reason and
Inclination, to demurr only out of Form, and so far as Decency requires.
A virtuous Woman should reject the first Offer of Marriage, as a good
Man does that of a Bishoprick; but I would advise neither the one nor
the other to persist in refusing what they secretly approve. I would in
this Particular propose the Example of
Eve
to all her Daughters,
as
Milton
has represented her in the following Passage, which I
cannot forbear transcribing intire, tho' only the twelve last Lines are
to my present Purpose.
The Rib he form'd and fashion'd with his Hands;
Under his forming Hands a Creature grew,
Man-like, but diff'rent Sex; so lovely fair!
That what seem'd fair in all the World, seem'd now
Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain'd
And in her Looks; which from that time infus'd
Sweetness into my Heart, unfelt before:
And into all things from her Air inspir'd
The Spirit of Love and amorous Delight.
She disappear'd, and left me dark! I wak'd
To find her, or for ever to deplore
Her Loss, and other Pleasures all1 abjure;
When out of Hope, behold her, not far off,
Such as I saw her in my Dream, adorn'd
With what all Earth or Heaven could bestow
To make her amiable: On she came,
Led by her heav'nly Maker, though unseen,
And guided by his Voice, nor uninform'd
Of nuptial Sanctity and Marriage Rites:
Grace was in all her Steps, Heav'n in her Eye,
In every Gesture Dignity and Love.
I overjoyed, could not forbear aloud.
This Turn hath made Amends; thou hast fulfill'd
Thy Words, Creator bounteous and benign!
Giver of all things fair! but fairest this
Of all thy Gifts, nor enviest. I now see
Bone of my Bone, Flesh of my Flesh, my Self....
She heard me thus, and tho' divinely brought,
Yet Innocence and Virgin Modesty,
Her Virtue, and the Conscience of her Worth,
That would be woo'd, and not unsought be won,
Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retir'd
The more desirable; or, to say all,
Nature her self, tho' pure of sinful Thought,
Wrought in her so, that seeing me, she turn'd2.
I followed her: she what was Honour knew,
And with obsequious Majesty approved
My pleaded Reason. To the Nuptial Bower
I led her blushing like the Morn3 ...
to
fled;
P. L. Bk. VIII.
Contents
Contents p.4
|
Wednesday, June 13, 1711 |
Addison |
... Magnus sine viribus Ignis
Incassum furit
Virg.
is not, in my Opinion, a Consideration more effectual to
extinguish inordinate Desires in the Soul of Man, than the Notions of
Plato
and his Followers
upon that Subject. They tell us, that
every Passion which has been contracted by the Soul during her Residence
in the Body, remains with her in a separate State; and that the Soul in
the Body or out of the Body, differs no more than the Man does from
himself when he is in his House, or in open Air. When therefore the
obscene Passions in particular have once taken Root and spread
themselves in the Soul, they cleave to her inseparably, and remain in
her for ever, after the Body is cast off and thrown aside. As an
Argument to confirm this their Doctrine they observe, that a lewd Youth
who goes on in a continued Course of Voluptuousness, advances by Degrees
into a libidinous old Man; and that the Passion survives in the Mind
when it is altogether dead in the Body; nay, that the Desire grows more
violent, and (like all other Habits) gathers Strength by Age, at the
same time that it has no Power of executing its own Purposes. If, say
they, the Soul is the most subject to these Passions at a time when it
has the least Instigations from the Body, we may well suppose she will
still retain them when she is entirely divested of it. The very
Substance of the Soul is festered with them, the Gangrene is gone too
far to be ever cured; the Inflammation will rage to all Eternity.