Reflection on the Words that end in
ed
, I have heard in
Conversation from one of the greatest Genius's this Age has produced
. I think we may add to the foregoing Observation, the Change which
has happened in our Language, by the Abbreviation of several Words that
are terminated in
eth
, by substituting an
s
in the room
of the last Syllable, as in
drowns, walks, arrives
, and
innumerable other Words, which in the Pronunciation of our Forefathers
were
drowneth, walketh, arriveth
. This has wonderfully multiplied
a Letter which was before too frequent in the
English
Tongue, and
added to that
hissing
in our Language, which is taken so much
notice of by Foreigners; but at the same time humours our Taciturnity,
and eases us of many superfluous Syllables.
I might here observe, that the same single Letter on many Occasions does
the Office of a whole Word, and represents the
His
and
Her
of our Forefathers. There is no doubt but the Ear of a Foreigner, which
is the best Judge in this Case, would very much disapprove of such
Innovations, which indeed we do our selves in some measure, by retaining
the old Termination in Writing, and in all the solemn Offices of our
Religion.
As in the Instances I have given we have epitomized many of our
particular Words to the Detriment of our Tongue, so on other Occasions
we have drawn two Words into one, which has likewise very much untuned
our Language, and clogged it with Consonants, as
mayn't, can't,
shd'n't, wo'n't
, and the like, for
may not, can not, shall not,
will not
, &c.
It is perhaps this Humour of speaking no more than we needs must, which
has so miserably curtailed some of our Words, that in familiar Writings
and Conversations they often lose all but their first Syllables, as in
mob.
rep.
pos.
incog.
and the like; and as
all ridiculous Words make their first Entry into a Language by familiar
Phrases, I dare not answer for these that they will not in time be
looked upon as a part of our Tongue. We see some of our Poets have been
so indiscreet as to imitate
Hudibras's
Doggrel Expressions in
their serious Compositions, by throwing out the Signs of our
Substantives, which are essential to the English Language. Nay, this
Humour of shortning our Language had once run so far, that some of our
celebrated Authors, among whom we may reckon Sir
Roger E Estrange
in particular, began to prune their Words of all superfluous Letters, as
they termed them, in order to adjust the Spelling to the Pronunciation;
which would have confounded all our Etymologies, and have quite
destroyed our Tongue.
We may here likewise observe that our proper Names, when familiarized in
English, generally dwindle to Monosyllables, whereas in other modern
Languages they receive a softer Turn on this Occasion, by the Addition
of a new Syllable.
Nick
in
Italian
is
Nicolini
,
Jack
in French
Janot
; and so of the rest.
There is another Particular in our Language which is a great Instance of
our Frugality of Words, and that is the suppressing of several Particles
which must be produced in other Tongues to make a Sentence intelligible.
This often perplexes the best Writers, when they find the Relatives
whom, which, or they at their Mercy whether they may have Admission or
not; and will never be decided till we have something like an Academy,
that by the best Authorities and Rules drawn from the Analogy of
Languages shall settle all Controversies between Grammar and Idiom.
I have only considered our Language as it shows the Genius and natural
Temper of the
English
, which is modest, thoughtful and sincere,
and which perhaps may recommend the People, though it has spoiled the
Tongue. We might perhaps carry the same Thought into other Languages,
and deduce a greater Part of what is peculiar to them from the Genius of
the People who speak them. It is certain, the light talkative Humour of
the
French
has not a little infected their Tongue, which might be
shown by many Instances; as the Genius of the
Italians
, which is
so much addicted to Musick and Ceremony, has moulded all their Words and
Phrases to those particular Uses. The Stateliness and Gravity of the
Spaniards
shews itself to Perfection in the Solemnity of their
Language, and the blunt honest Humour of the
Germans
sounds
better in the Roughness of the High Dutch, than it would in a politer
Tongue.
C.
that
that
Swift.
Contents
Contents p.5
|
Monday, August 6, 1711 |
Steele |
... Parthis mendacior ...
Hor.
According to the Request of this strange Fellow, I shall Print the
following Letter.
Mr.
Spectator,
I shall without any manner of Preface or Apology acquaint you, that I
am, and ever have been from my Youth upward, one of the greatest Liars
this Island has produced. I have read all the Moralists upon the
Subject, but could never find any Effect their Discourses had upon me,
but to add to my Misfortune by new Thoughts and Ideas, and making me
more ready in my Language, and capable of sometimes mixing seeming
Truths with my Improbabilities. With this strong Passion towards
Falshood in this kind, there does not live an honester Man or a
sincerer Friend; but my Imagination runs away with me, and whatever is
started I have such a Scene of Adventures appears in an Instant before
me, that I cannot help uttering them, tho', to my immediate Confusion,
I cannot but know I am liable to be detected by the first Man I meet.
Upon occasion of the mention of the Battel of
Pultowa, I could
not forbear giving an Account of a Kinsman of mine, a young Merchant
who was bred at
Mosco, that had too much Metal to attend Books
of Entries and Accounts, when there was so active a Scene in the
Country where he resided, and followed the Czar as a Volunteer: This
warm Youth, born at the Instant the thing was spoke of, was the Man
who unhorsed the
Swedish General, he was the Occasion that the
Muscovites kept their Fire in so soldier-like a manner, and
brought up those Troops which were covered from the Enemy at the
beginning of the Day;
besides this, he had at last the good Fortune to
be the Man who took Count
Piper1 With all this Fire I knew
my Cousin to be the Civilest Creature in the World. He never made any
impertinent Show of his Valour, and then he had an excellent Genius
for the World in every other kind.
I had Letters from him (here I felt
in my Pockets) that exactly spoke the Czar's Character, which I knew
perfectly
2 well; and I could not forbear concluding, that I lay
with his Imperial Majesty twice or thrice a Week all the while he
lodged at
Deptford3. What is worse than all this, it is
impossible to speak to me, but you give me some occasion of coming out
with one Lie or other, that has neither Wit, Humour, Prospect of
Interest, or any other Motive that I can think of in Nature. The other
Day, when one was commending an Eminent and Learned Divine, what
occasion in the World had I to say, Methinks he would look more
Venerable if he were not so fair a man? I remember the Company smiled.
I have seen the Gentleman since, and he is Coal-Black. I have
Intimations every Day in my Life that no Body believes me, yet I am
never the better. I was saying something the other Day to an old
Friend at
Will's Coffee-house, and he made me no manner of
Answer; but told me, that an Acquaintance of
Tully the Orator
having two or three times together said to him, without receiving any
Answer, That upon his Honour he was but that very Month forty Years of
Age; Tully answer'd, Surely you think me the most incredulous Man in
the World, if I don't believe what you have told me every Day this ten
Years. The Mischief of it is, I find myself wonderfully inclin'd to
have been present at every Occurrence that is spoken of before me;
this has led me into many Inconveniencies, but indeed they have been
the fewer, because I am no ill-natur'd Man, and never speak Things to
any Man's Disadvantage. I never directly defame, but I do what is as
bad in the Consequence, for I have often made a Man say such and such
a lively Expression, who was born a mere Elder Brother. When one has
said in my Hearing, Such a one is no wiser than he should be, I
immediately have reply'd, Now 'faith, I can't see that, he said a very
good Thing to my Lord such a one, upon such an Occasion, and the like.
Such an honest Dolt as this has been watch'd in every Expression he
uttered, upon my Recommendation of him, and consequently been subject
to the more Ridicule. I once endeavoured to cure my self of this
impertinent Quality, and resolved to hold my Tongue for seven Days
together; I did so, but then I had so many Winks and unnecessary
Distortions of my Face upon what any body else said, that I found I
only forbore the Expression, and that I still lied in my Heart to
every Man I met with. You are to know one Thing (which I believe
you'll say is a pity, considering the Use I should have made of it) I
never Travelled in my Life; but I do not know whether I could have
spoken of any Foreign Country with more Familiarity than I do at
present, in Company who are Strangers to me. I have cursed the Inns in
Germany; commended the Brothels at
Venice; the Freedom
of Conversation in
France; and tho' I never was out of this
dear Town, and fifty Miles about it, have been three Nights together
dogged by Bravoes for an Intreague with a Cardinal's Mistress at
Rome.
It were endless to give you Particulars of this kind, but I can assure
you, Mr.
Spectator, there are about Twenty or Thirty of us in this
Town, I mean by this Town the Cities of
London and
Westminster; I
say there are in Town a sufficient Number of us to make a Society
among our selves; and since we cannot be believed any longer, I beg of
you to print this my Letter, that we may meet together, and be under
such Regulation as there may be no Occasion for Belief or Confidence
among us. If you think fit, we might be called
The Historians, for
Liar is become a very harsh Word. And that a Member of the Society
may not hereafter be ill received by the rest of the World, I desire
you would explain a little this sort of Men, and not let us
Historians be ranked, as we are in the Imaginations of ordinary
People, among common Liars, Makebates, Impostors, and Incendiaries.
For your Instruction herein, you are to know that an Historian in
Conversation is only a Person of so pregnant a Fancy, that he cannot
be contented with ordinary Occurrences. I know a Man of Quality of our
Order, who is of the wrong Side of Forty-three, and has been of that
Age, according to
Tully's Jest, for some Years since, whose Vein is
upon the Romantick. Give him the least Occasion, and he will tell you
something so very particular that happen'd in such a Year, and in such
Company, where by the by was present such a one, who was afterwards
made such a thing. Out of all these Circumstances, in the best
Language in the World, he will join together with such probable
Incidents an Account that shews a Person of the deepest Penetration,
the honestest Mind, and withal something so Humble when he speaks of
himself, that you would Admire. Dear Sir, why should this be Lying!
There is nothing so instructive. He has withal the gravest Aspect;
something so very venerable and great! Another of these Historians is
a Young Man whom we would take in, tho' he extreamly wants Parts, as
People send Children (before they can learn any thing) to School, to
keep them out of Harm's way.
He tells things which have nothing at all
in them, and can neither please
nor4 displease, but merely take
up your Time to no manner of Purpose, no manner of Delight; but he is
Good-natured, and does it because he loves to be saying something to
you, and entertain you.
I could name you a Soldier that
hath5 done very great things
without Slaughter; he is prodigiously dull and slow of Head, but what
he can say is for ever false, so that we must have him.
Give me leave to tell you of one more who is a Lover; he is the most
afflicted Creature in the World, lest what happened between him and a
Great Beauty should ever be known. Yet again, he comforts himself.
Hang the Jade her Woman. If Mony can keep the Slut trusty I will
do it, though I mortgage every Acre; Anthony
and Cleopatra
for that; All for Love and the World well lost ...
Then, Sir, there is my little Merchant, honest
Indigo of the
Change, there's my Man for Loss and Gain, there's Tare and
Tret, there's lying all round the Globe; he has such a prodigious
Intelligence he knows all the
French are doing, or what we
intend or ought to intend, and has it from such Hands. But, alas,
whither am I running! While I complain, while I remonstrate to you,
even all this is a Lie, and there is not one such Person of Quality,
Lover, Soldier, or Merchant as I have now described in the whole
World, that I know of. But I will catch my self once in my Life, and
in spite of Nature speak one Truth, to wit that I am
Your Humble Servant, &c.
T.
Prime Minister of Charles XII.
exactly
In the Spring of 1698.
or
has
Contents
Contents p.5
|
Tuesday, August 7, 1711 |
Steele |
At hæc etiam Servis semper libera fuerunt, timerent, gauderent, dolerent, suo
potius quam alterius arbitrio.
Tull. Epist.
It is no small Concern to me, that I find so many Complaints from that
Part of Mankind whose Portion it is to live in Servitude, that those
whom they depend upon will not allow them to be even as happy as their
Condition will admit of. There are, as these unhappy Correspondents
inform me, Masters who are offended at a chearful Countenance, and think
a Servant is broke loose from them, if he does not preserve the utmost
Awe in their Presence. There is one who says, if he looks satisfied, his
Master asks him what makes him so pert this Morning; if a little sour,
Hark ye, Sirrah, are not you paid your Wages? The poor Creatures live in
the most extreme Misery together: The Master knows not how to preserve
Respect, nor the Servant how to give it. It seems this Person is of so
sullen a Nature, that he knows but little Satisfaction in the midst of a
plentiful Fortune, and secretly frets to see any Appearance of Content,
in one that lives upon the hundredth Part of his Income, who is unhappy
in the Possession of the Whole. Uneasy Persons, who cannot possess their
own Minds, vent their Spleen upon all who depend upon them: which, I
think, is expressed in a lively manner in the following Letters.
August 2, 1711.
Sir,
I have read your Spectator of the third of the last Month, and wish I
had the Happiness of being preferred to serve so good a Master as Sir
Roger. The Character of my Master is the very Reverse of that good and
gentle Knight's. All his Directions are given, and his Mind revealed,
by way of Contraries: As when any thing is to be remembered, with a
peculiar Cast of Face he cries, Be sure to forget now. If I am
to make haste back, Don't come these two Hours; be sure to call by
the Way upon some of your Companions. Then another excellent Way
of his is, if he sets me any thing to do, which he knows must
necessarily take up half a Day, he calls ten times in a Quarter of an
Hour to know whether I have done yet. This is his Manner; and the same
Perverseness runs through all his Actions, according as the
Circumstances vary. Besides all this, he is so suspicious, that he
submits himself to the Drudgery of a Spy. He is as unhappy himself as
he makes his Servants: He is constantly watching us, and we differ no
more in Pleasure and Liberty than as a Gaoler and a Prisoner. He lays
Traps for Faults, and no sooner makes a Discovery, but falls into such
Language, as I am more ashamed of for coming from him, than for being
directed to me. This, Sir, is a short Sketch of a Master I have served
upwards of nine Years; and tho' I have never wronged him, I confess my
Despair of pleasing him has very much abated my Endeavour to do it. If
you will give me leave to steal a Sentence out of my Master's
Clarendon, I shall tell you my Case in a Word, Being used
worse than I deserved, I cared less to deserve well than I had
done.
I am, Sir,
Your Humble Servant,
Ralph Valet.
Dear Mr. Specter, I am the next thing to a Lady's Woman, and am under
both my Lady and her Woman. I am so used by them both, that I should
be very glad to see them in the Specter. My Lady her self is of no
Mind in the World, and for that Reason her Woman is of twenty Minds in
a Moment. My Lady is one that never knows what to do with her self;
she pulls on and puts off every thing she wears twenty times before
she resolves upon it for that Day. I stand at one end of the Room, and
reach things to her Woman. When my Lady asks for a thing, I hear and
have half brought it, when the Woman meets me in the middle of the
Room to receive it, and at that Instant she says No she will not have
it. Then I go back, and her Woman comes up to her, and by this time
she will have that and two or three things more in an Instant: The
Woman and I run to each other; I am loaded and delivering the things
to her, when my Lady says she wants none of all these things, and we
are the dullest Creatures in the World, and she the unhappiest Woman
living, for she shan't be dress'd in any time. Thus we stand not
knowing what to do, when our good Lady with all the Patience in the
World tells us as plain as she can speak, that she will have Temper
because we have no manner of Understanding; and begins again to dress,
and see if we can find out of our selves what we are to do. When she
is Dressed she goes to Dinner, and after she has disliked every thing
there, she calls for the Coach, then commands it in again, and then
she will not go out at all, and then will go too, and orders the
Chariot. Now, good Mr. Specter, I desire you would in the Behalf of
all who serve froward Ladies, give out in your Paper, that nothing can
be done without allowing Time for it, and that one cannot be back
again with what one was sent for, if one is called back before one can
go a Step for that they want. And if you please let them know that all
Mistresses are as like as all Servants.
I am
Your Loving Friend,
Patience Giddy.
These are great Calamities; but I met the other Day in the five Fields
towards
Chelsea
, a pleasanter Tyrant than either of the above
represented. A fat Fellow was puffing on in his open Waistcoat; a Boy of
fourteen in a Livery, carrying after him his Cloak, upper Coat, Hat,
Wig, and Sword. The poor Lad was ready to sink with the Weight, and
could not keep up with his Master, who turned back every half Furlong,
and wondered what made the lazy Young Dog lag behind.
There is something very unaccountable, that People cannot put themselves
in the Condition of the Persons below them, when they consider the
Commands they give. But there is nothing more common, than to see a
Fellow (who if he were reduced to it, would not be hired by any Man
living) lament that he is troubled with the most worthless Dogs in
Nature.
It would, perhaps, be running too far out of common Life to urge, that
he who is not Master of himself and his own Passions, cannot be a proper
Master of another. Æquanimity in a Man's own Words and Actions, will
easily diffuse it self through his whole Family.
Pamphilio
has
the happiest Household of any Man I know, and that proceeds from the
humane regard he has to them in their private Persons, as well as in
respect that they are his Servants. If there be any Occasion, wherein
they may in themselves be supposed to be unfit to attend their Master's
Concerns, by reason of an Attention to their own, he is so good as to
place himself in their Condition. I thought it very becoming in him,
when at Dinner the other Day he made an Apology for want of more
Attendants. He said,
One of my Footmen is gone to the Wedding of his
Sister, and the other I don't expect to Wait, because his Father died
but two Days ago
.
T.
Contents
Contents p.5
|
Wednesday, August 8, 1711 |
Steele |
Utitur in re non Dubia testibus non necessariis.
Tull.
One meets now and then with Persons who are extreamly learned and knotty
in Expounding clear Cases.
Tully
tells
of an Author that
spent some Pages to prove that Generals could not perform the great
Enterprizes which have made them so illustrious, if they had not had
Men. He asserted also, it seems, that a Minister at home, no more than a
Commander abroad, could do any thing without other Men were his
Instruments and Assistants. On this Occasion he produces the Example of
Themistodes, Pericles, Cyrus
, and
Alexander
himself, whom
he denies to have been capable of effecting what they did, except they
had been followed by others. It is pleasant enough to see such Persons
contend without Opponents, and triumph without Victory.
The Author above-mentioned by the Orator, is placed for ever in a very
ridiculous Light, and we meet every Day in Conversation such as deserve
the same kind of Renown, for troubling those with whom they converse
with the like Certainties. The Persons that I have always thought to
deserve the highest Admiration in this kind are your ordinary
Story-tellers, who are most religiously careful of keeping to the Truth
in every particular Circumstance of a Narration, whether it concern the
main End or not. A Gentleman whom I had the Honour to be in Company with
the other Day, upon some Occasion that he was pleased to take, said, He
remembered a very pretty Repartee made by a very witty Man in King
Charles's
time upon the like Occasion. I remember (said he, upon
entring into the Tale) much about the time of
Oates's
Plot, that
a Cousin-German of mine and I were at the
Bear
in
Holborn:
No, I am out, it was at the
Cross
Keys, but
Jack Thompson
was there, for he was very great with the Gentleman who made the Answer.
But I am sure it was spoken some where thereabouts, for we drank a
Bottle in that Neighbourhood every Evening: But no matter for all that,
the thing is the same; but ...
He was going on to settle the Geography of the Jest when I left the
Room, wondering at this odd turn of Head which can play away its Words,
with uttering nothing to the Purpose, still observing its own
Impertinencies, and yet proceeding in them. I do not question but he
informed the rest of his Audience, who had more Patience than I, of the
Birth and Parentage, as well as the Collateral Alliances of his Family
who made the Repartee, and of him who provoked him to it.
It is no small Misfortune to any who have a just Value for their Time,
when this Quality of being so very Circumstantial, and careful to be
exact, happens to shew it self in a Man whose Quality obliges them to
attend his Proofs, that it is now Day, and the like. But this is
augmented when the same Genius gets into Authority, as it often does.
Nay I have known it more than once ascend the very Pulpit. One of this
sort taking it in his Head to be a great Admirer of Dr.
Tillotson
and Dr.
Beveridge
, never failed of proving out of these great
Authors Things which no Man living would have denied him upon his
own
single Authority. One Day resolving to come to the Point in hand, he
said, According to that excellent Divine, I will enter upon the Matter,
or in his Words, in the fifteenth Sermon of the Folio Edition, Page 160.
I shall briefly explain the Words, and then consider the Matter
contained in them
.
This honest Gentleman needed not, one would think, strain his Modesty so
far as to alter his Design of
Entring into the Matter
, to that of
Briefly explaining
. But so it was, that he would not even be
contented with that Authority, but added also the other Divine to
strengthen his Method, and told us, With the Pious and Learned Dr.
Beveridge
, Page 4th of his 9th Volume, I
shall endeavour to
make it as plain as I can from the Words which I have now read, wherein
for that Purpose we shall consider
... This Wiseacre was reckoned by
the Parish, who did not understand him, a most excellent Preacher; but
that he read too much, and was so Humble that he did not trust enough to
his own Parts.
Next to these ingenious Gentlemen, who argue for what no body can deny
them, are to be ranked a sort of People who do not indeed attempt to
prove insignificant things, but are ever labouring to raise Arguments
with you about Matters you will give up to them without the least
Controversy. One of these People told a Gentleman who said he saw Mr.
such a one go this Morning at nine a Clock towards the
Gravel-Pits
, Sir, I must beg your pardon for that, for tho' I am
very loath to have any Dispute with you, yet I must take the liberty to
tell you it was nine when I saw him at
St. James's
. When Men of
this Genius are pretty far gone in Learning they will put you to prove
that Snow is white, and when you are upon that Topick can say that there
is really no such thing as Colour in Nature; in a Word, they can turn
what little Knowledge they have into a ready Capacity of raising Doubts;
into a Capacity of being always frivolous and always unanswerable. It
was of two Disputants of this impertinent and laborious kind that the
Cynick said,
One of these Fellows is Milking a Ram, and the other
holds the Pail
.
On Rhetorical Invention
.
Contents
Contents p.5