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
Contents p.5
|
Saturday, July 28, 1711 |
Addison |
Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum,
Cum rota posterior curras et in axe secundo.
Pers.
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
Contents p.5
|
Monday, July 30, 1711 |
Addison |
... Semperque recentes
Convectare juvat prædas, et vivere rapto.
Virg.
As I was Yesterday riding out in the Fields with my Friend Sir
Roger
, we
saw at a little Distance from us a Troop of Gypsies. Upon the first
Discovery of them, my Friend was in some doubt whether he should not
exert the Justice of the Peace upon such a Band of Lawless Vagrants; but
not having his Clerk with him, who is a necessary Counsellor on these
Occasions, and fearing that his Poultry might fare the worse for it, he
let the Thought drop: But at the same time gave me a particular Account
of the Mischiefs they do in the Country, in stealing People's Goods and
spoiling their Servants.
If a stray Piece of Linnen hangs upon an Hedge,
says Sir
Roger, they are sure to have it; if the Hog loses his Way in
the Fields, it is ten to one but he becomes their Prey; our Geese cannot
live in Peace for them; if a Man prosecutes them with Severity, his
Hen-roost is sure to pay for it: They generally straggle into these
Parts about this Time of the Year; and set the Heads of our
Servant-Maids so agog for Husbands, that we do not expect to have any
Business done as it should be whilst they are in the Country.
I have an
honest Dairy-maid
who1 crosses their Hands with a Piece of Silver
every Summer, and never fails being promised the handsomest young Fellow
in the Parish for her pains. Your Friend the Butler has been Fool enough
to be seduced by them; and, though he is sure to lose a Knife, a Fork,
or a Spoon every time his Fortune is told him, generally shuts himself
up in the Pantry with an old Gypsie for above half an Hour once in a
Twelvemonth. Sweet-hearts are the things they live upon, which they
bestow very plentifully upon all those that apply themselves to them.
You see now and then some handsome young Jades among them: The Sluts
have very often white Teeth and black Eyes.
Sir
Roger
observing that I listned with great Attention to his Account
of a People who were so entirely new to me, told me, That if I would
they should tell us our Fortunes. As I was very well pleased with the
Knight's Proposal, we rid up and communicated our Hands to them. A
Cassandra
of the Crew, after having examined my Lines very diligently,
told me, That I loved a pretty Maid in a Corner, that I was a good
Woman's Man, with some other Particulars which I do not think proper to
relate.
Friend Sir
Roger
alighted from his Horse, and exposing his
Palm to two or three that stood by him, they crumpled it into all
Shapes, and diligently scanned every Wrinkle that could be made in it;
when one of them,
who
was older and more Sun-burnt than the rest,
told him, That he had a Widow in his Line of Life: Upon which the Knight
cried, Go, go, you are an idle Baggage; and at the same time smiled upon
me. The Gypsie finding he was not displeased in his Heart, told him,
after a farther Enquiry into his Hand, that his True-love was constant,
and that she should dream of him to-night: My old Friend cried Pish, and
bid her go on. The Gypsie told him that he was a Batchelour, but would
not be so long; and that he was dearer to some Body than he thought: The
Knight still repeated, She was an idle Baggage, and bid her go on. Ah
Master, says the Gypsie, that roguish Leer of yours makes a pretty
Woman's Heart ake; you ha'n't that Simper about the Mouth for
Nothing — The uncouth Gibberish with which all this was uttered like the
Darkness of an Oracle, made us the more attentive to it. To be short,
the Knight left the Money with her that he had crossed her Hand with,
and got up again on his Horse.
As we were riding away, Sir
Roger
told me, that he knew several sensible
People who believed these Gypsies now and then foretold very strange
things; and for half an Hour together appeared more jocund than
ordinary. In the Height of his good-Humour, meeting a common Beggar upon
the Road who was no Conjurer, as he went to relieve him he found his
Pocket was picked: That being a Kind of Palmistry at which this Race of
Vermin are very dextrous.
might here entertain my Reader with Historical Remarks on this idle
profligate People,
who
infest all the Countries of
Europe
, and
live in the midst of Governments in a kind of Commonwealth by
themselves.
instead of entering into Observations of this Nature, I
shall fill the remaining Part of my Paper with a Story
which
is
still fresh in
Holland
, and was printed in one of our Monthly Accounts
about twenty Years ago.
'
As the
Trekschuyt, or Hackney-boat, which
carries Passengers from
Leyden to
Amsterdam, was putting off, a Boy
running along the
side5 of the Canal desired to be taken in; which
the Master of the Boat refused, because the Lad had not quite Money
enough to pay the usual Fare.
An eminent Merchant being pleased with the
Looks of the Boy, and secretly touched with Compassion towards him, paid
the Money for him
6, and ordered him to be taken on board. Upon
talking with him afterwards, he found that he could speak readily in
three or four Languages, and learned upon farther Examination that he
had been stoln away when he was a Child by a Gypsie, and had rambled
ever since with a Gang of those Strollers up and down several Parts of
Europe. It happened that the Merchant, whose Heart seems to have
inclined towards the Boy by a secret kind of Instinct, had himself lost
a Child some Years before. The Parents, after a long Search for him,
gave him for drowned in one of the Canals with which that Country
abounds; and the Mother was so afflicted at the Loss of a fine Boy, who
was her only Son, that she died for Grief of it.
Upon laying together
all Particulars, and examining the several Moles and Marks
by which
the Mother used to describe the Child
when7 he was first missing,
the Boy proved to be the Son of the Merchant whose Heart had so
unaccountably melted at the Sight of him.
The Lad was very well pleased
to find a Father
who8 was so rich, and likely to leave him a good
Estate; the Father on the other hand was not a little delighted to see a
Son return to him, whom he had given for lost, with such a Strength of
Constitution, Sharpness of Understanding, and Skill in Languages.'
Here
the printed Story leaves off; but if I may give credit to Reports, our
Linguist having received such extraordinary Rudiments towards a good
Education, was afterwards trained up in every thing that becomes a
Gentleman; wearing off by little and little all the vicious Habits and
Practises that he had been used to in the Course of his Peregrinations:
, it is said, that he has since been employed in foreign Courts upon
National Business, with great Reputation to himself and Honour to
those
who sent him
, and that he has visited several Countries as a
publick Minister, in which he formerly wander'd as a Gypsie.
C.
that
that
that
that
Sides
About three pence.
by when
that
his Country
Contents
Contents p.5
|
Tuesday, July 31, 1711 |
Addison |
... Ipsæ rursum concedite Sylvæ.
Virg.
It is usual for a Man who loves Country Sports to preserve the Game in
his own Grounds, and divert himself upon those that belong to his
Neighbour.
Friend Sir
Roger
generally goes two or three Miles from
his House, and gets into the Frontiers of his Estate, before he beats
about in search of
a
Hare or Partridge, on purpose to spare his
own Fields, where he is always sure of finding Diversion, when the worst
comes to the worst. By this Means the Breed about his House has time to
encrease and multiply, besides that the Sport is the more agreeable
where the Game is the harder to come at, and
where it
does not lie so
thick as to produce any Perplexity or Confusion in the Pursuit. For
these Reasons the Country Gentleman, like the Fox, seldom preys near his
own Home.
In the same manner I have made a Month's Excursion out of the Town,
which is the great Field of Game for Sportsmen of my Species, to try my
Fortune in the Country, where I have started several Subjects, and
hunted them down, with some Pleasure to my self, and I hope to others. I
am here forced to use a great deal of Diligence before I can spring any
thing to my Mind, whereas in Town, whilst I am following one Character,
it is ten to one but I am crossed in my Way by another, and put up such
a Variety of odd Creatures in both Sexes, that they foil the Scent of
one another, and puzzle the Chace. My greatest Difficulty in the Country
is to find Sport, and in Town to chuse it. In the mean time, as I have
given a whole Month's Rest to the Cities of
London
and
Westminster
,
I promise my self abundance of new Game upon my return thither.
It is indeed high time for me to leave the Country, since I find the
whole Neighbourhood begin to grow very inquisitive after my Name and
Character. My Love of Solitude, Taciturnity, and particular way of Life,
having raised a great Curiosity in all these Parts.
The Notions which have been framed of me are various; some look upon me
as very proud,
some as very modest,
and some as very melancholy.
Will. Wimble
, as my Friend the Butler tells me, observing me very much
alone, and extreamly silent when I am in Company, is afraid I have
killed a Man. The Country People seem to suspect me for a Conjurer; and
some of them hearing of the Visit
which
I made to
Moll White
,
will needs have it that Sir
Roger
has brought down a Cunning Man with
him, to cure the old Woman, and free the Country from her Charms. So
that the Character which I go under in part of the Neighbourhood, is
what they here call a
White Witch
.
A Justice of Peace, who lives about five Miles off, and is not of Sir
Roger's
Party, has it seems said twice or thrice at his Table, that he
wishes Sir
Roger
does not harbour a Jesuit in his House, and that he
thinks the Gentlemen of the Country would do very well to make me give
some Account of my self.
On the other side, some of Sir
Roger's
Friends are afraid the old Knight
is impos'd upon by a designing Fellow, and as they have heard that he
converses very promiscuously when he is in Town, do not know but he has
brought down with him some discarded Whig, that is sullen, and says
nothing, because he is out of Place.
is the Variety of Opinions
which
are here entertained of me,
so that I pass among some for a disaffected Person, and among others for
a Popish Priest; among some for a Wizard, and among others for a
Murderer; and all this for no other Reason, that I can imagine, but
because I do not hoot and hollow and make a Noise. It is true my Friend
Sir
Roger
tells them,
That it is my way
, and that I am only a
Philosopher; but
this
will not satisfy them. They think there is
more in me than he discovers, and that I do not hold my Tongue for
nothing.