it is my prefent business to increase the number or mountain, what astonishing inftances would of buyers rather than fellers. I halten to tell they be of that Providence which watches over " you that I am, all its works?.. Sir, your moft humble and most obedient fervant, Peter Motteux.' N° 289. THURSDAY, JAN. 31. Vita fumma brevis fpem nos vetat inchoare longam. UPO I have heard of a great man in the Romish church, who, upon reading those words in the 5th chapter of Genefis, " And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty ❝years, and he died; and all the days of Seth "were nine hundred and twelve years, and he "died; and all the days of Methufelah were "nine hundred and fixty nine years, and he died;" immediately fhut himself up in a convent, and retired from the world, as not thinking any thing in this life worth pursuing, which had not regard to another. The truth of it is, there is nothing in history which is fo improving to the reader, as thofe ac counts which we meet with of the deaths of eminent perfons, and of their behaviour in that dreadful feafon. I may alfo add, that there are no parts in history which affect and please the reader in fo fenfible a manner. The reason I take to be this, because their is no other fingle circumftance in the ftory of any perfon, which can poffibly be the cafe of every one who reads it, A battle or a triumph are conjectures in which not one man in a million is likely to be engaged; but when we fee a perfon at the point of death, we cannot forbear being attentive to every thing he fays or does, because we are fure that fome time or other we shall ourselves be in the fame melancholy circumstances. The general the ftatefman, or the philofopher, are perhaps characters which we may never at in, but the dying man is one whom, fooner or later, we Life's fpan forbids us to extend our cares, And stretch our hopes beyond our years. CREECH. TPON taking my feat in a coffee-houfe I often draw the eyes of the whole room upon me, when in the hotteft feafons of news, and at a time perhaps that the Dutch mail is just come in, they hear me afk the coffee-man for his last week's Bill of Mortality: I find that I have been sometimes taken on this occafion for a parish fexton, fometimes for an undertaker, and fometimes for a doctor of phyfic. In this, however, I am guided by the spirit of a philofopher, as I take occafion from hence to reflect upon the regular increase and diminution of mankind; and confider the feveral various ways through which we pafs from life to eternity. I am very well pleafed with thefe weekly admonitions, that bring into my mind fuch thoughts as ought to be the daily entertainment of every reasonable creature; and can confider with pleasure to myfelf, by which of those deli-hall certainly refemble. verances, or, as we commonly call them, diftempers, I may poffibly make my efcape out of this world of forrows, into that condition of existence, wherein I hope to be happier than it is poffible for me at prefent to conceive. It is, perhaps, for the fame kind of reafon that few books, written in English, have been fo much perufed as Dr. Sherlock's difcourfe upon death; though at the fame time I must own, that he who has not perufed this excellent piece, has not perhaps read one of the strongest perfuafives to a religious life that ever was written in any language. The confideration, with which I fhall clofe this effay upon death, is one of the most ancient and most beaten morals that has been recommended to mankind. But its being so very common, and fo univerfally received, though it takes away from it the grace of novelty, adds very much to the weight of it, as it fhews that it falls in with the general fenfe of mankind. In fhort, I would have every one confider, that he is in this life nothing more than a paffenger, and that he is not to fet up his reft here, but to keep an attentive eye upon that state of being to which he approaches every moment, and which will be for ever fixed and permanent. fingle confideration would be fufficient to extin guifh the bitterness of hatred, the thirst of avarice, and the cruelty of ambition. But this is not all the ufe I make of the above-mentioned weekly paper. A bill of mortality is in my opinion' an unanfweiable argument for a Providence. How can we, without fuppofing ourselves under the conftant care of a fupreme Being, give any poffible account for that pice proportion, which we find in every great city, between the deaths and births of its inhabitants, and between the number of males and that of females, who are brought into the world? What elfe could adjuft in fo exact a manner the recruits of every nation to its loffes, and divide thefe new fupplies of people into fuch equal bodies of both fexes? Chance could never hold the balance with so steady a hand. Were we not counted out by an intelligent fupervifor, we should fometimes be over-charged with multitudes, and at others waste away into a defart: we should be fometimes a populus virorum, as Florus elegantly expreffes it, a generation of males." and at others a fpecies of women. I am very much pleafed with the passage of We may extend this confideration to every fpe- Antiphanes, a very ancient poet, who lived near cies of living creatures, and confider the whole an hundred years before Socrates, which repreanimal world as an huge army made up of in- fents the life of man under this view, as I have numerable corps, if I may ufe that term, whofe here tranflated it word for word. quotas have been kept entire near five thousand "grieved," fays he, " above measure for thy years, in fo wonderful a manner, that there is "deceafed friends. They are not dead, but not probably a single species loft during this long have only finished that journey which it is tract of time, Could we have general bills of "neceffary for every one of us to take. We mortality of every kind of animals, or particu- "ourselves muft go to that great place of relar ones of every fpecies in each continent and "ception in which they are all of them affemiland, I could almoft fay in every wood, marfh, bled, and in this general rendezvous of man"kind 5 This "Be not "kind, live together in another ftate of the fentiments worthy thofe of the highest fi« being." I think I have, in a former paper, taken notice of thofe beautiful metaphors in fcripture, where life is termed a pilgrimage, and thofe who pafs through it are called ftrangers and fojourners upon earth. 1 fhall conclude this with a ftory, which I have fomewhere read in the travels of Sir John Chardin; that gentleman after having told us, that the inns which receive the caravans in Perfia, and the eastern countries, are called by the name of caravánfaries, gives us a relation to the following purpose. A dervife, travelling through Tartary, being arrived at the town of Balk, went into the king's palace by mistake, as thinking it to be a public m or caravanfary. Having looked about him for fome time, he entered into a long gallery, where he laid down his wallet, and fpread his carpet, in order to repofe himself upon it, after the manner of the eastern nations. He had not been long in this pofture before he was difcovered by fome of the guards, who asked him what was his bufinefs in that place? The dervife told them he intended to take up his night's lodging in that caravanfary. The guards let him know, in a very angry manner, that the house he was in was not a caravanfary, but the king's palace. It happened that the king himself paffed through the gallery during this debate, and fmiling at the mistake of the dervife, alked him how he could poffibly be fo dull as not to diftinguish a palace from a caravanfary? Sir, fays the dervife, give me leave to ask your ma jetty a question or two. Who were the perfons that lodged in this houfe when it was first built; "The king replied, "His ancestors." And who fays the dervife, was the laft perfon that lodged here? The king replied, "his father." And who is it fays the dervife, that lodges here at prefent? The king told him, "that it was he himself." And who, fays the dervife, will be here after you? The king anfwered, the "young prince, his fon." Ah, Sir," faid the dervife, houfe that changes its inhabitants fo often, and receives fuch a perpetual fuccef"fon of guefts, is not a palace but a caravanfary. L รา gure. It was a moft exquifite pleasure to me, to obferve real tears drop from the eyes of those who had long made it their profeffion to diffemble affliction, and the player, who read, frequently throw down the book, until he had given vent to the humanity which rofe in him at fome irresistible touches of the imagined forrow. We have feldom had any female distress on the ftage, which did not, upon cool examination, appear to flow from the weaknefs rather than the misfortune of the perfon reprefented: but in this tragedy you are not entertained with the ungoverned paffions of such as are enamoured of each other, merely as they are men and women, but their regards are founded upon high conceptions of each other's virtue and merit; and the character which gives name to the play, is one who has behaved herself with heroic virtue in the moft important circumstances of a female life, thofe of a wife, a widow, and a mother, If there be those whofe minds have been too attentive upon the affairs of life, to have any notion of the paffion of love in fuch extremes as are known only to particular tempers, yet, in the above-mentioned confiderations, the forrow of the heroine will move even the generality of Domestic virtues concern all the mankind. world, and there is no one living who is not interefted that Andromache fhould be an imitable character. The generous affection to the memory of her deceased husband, that tender care for her fon, which is ever heightened with the confideration of his father, and thefe regards preferved in fpite of being tempted with the poffeffion of the highest greatnefs, are what cannot but be venerable even to fuch an audience as at prefent frequents the English theatre. My friend Will Honeycomb commended feveral tender things that were faid, and told me they were very genteel; but whifpered me, that, he feared the piece was not bufy enough for the prefent tafte. To fupply this, he recommended to the players to be very careful in their scenes, and above all things, that every part fhould be per fectly new dreffed. I was very glad to find that they did not neglect my friend's admonition, becaufe there are a great many in this clafs of criticifm who may be gained by it; but indeed the truth is, that as to the work itfelf, it is every where nature. The perfons are of the highest quality in life; even that of princes; but their quality is not reprefented by the poet, with direction that guards and waiters fhould Hor. Ars Poet, v. 97. follow them in every fcene, but their grandeur appears in greatnefs of fentiments, flowing from minds worthy their condition. To make a character truly great, this author understands that it fhould have its foundation in fuperior thoughts and maxims of conduct. It is very certain, that many an honest woman would make no difficulty, though he had been the wife of Hector, for the fake of a kingdom, to marry the enemy of her husband's family and country; and indeed who can deny but the might be still an honest woman, but no heroine? That may be defenfible, nay laudable in one character, which would be in the highest degree exceptionable in another. When Cato Uticenfis killed himself, Cottius, a Roman of cdinary quality and character, did the fame thing; upon which one faid, fmiling, "Cottius might have lived, "though Cæfar has feized the Roman liberty." Cottius's N° 290. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1. Projicit ampullas & fefquipedalia verba. TH Forgets his fwelling and gigantic words. ROSCOMMON. HE players, who know I am very much their friend, take all opportunities to exprefs a gratitude to me for being fo. They could not have a better occafion of obliging me, than one which they lately took hold of. They defired my friend Will Honeycomb to bring me to the reading of a new tragedy; it is called The Diftreffed Mother. I must confefs, though fome days are paffed fince I enjoyed that entertainment, the paffions of the feveral characters dwell strongly upon my imagination; and I congratulate the age, that they are at laft to fee truth and hunian life reprefented in the incidents which concern heroes and heroines. The file of the play is fuch as becomes thofe of the first education, and Cottius's condition might have been the fame, let things at the upper end of the world país as they would. What is further very extraordinary in this work, is, that the perfons are all of them laudable, and their misfortunes arife rather from unguarded virtue than propensity to vice. The town has an opportunity of doing itself justice in fupporting the reprefentations of paffion, forrow, indignation, even defpair itfelf, within the rules of decency, honour and good-breeding; and fince there is no one can flatter himfelf his life will be always fortunate, they may here fee forrow as they would wish to bear it whenever it arrives. I Mr. Spectator, Am appointed to act a part in a new tragedy called The Diftreffed Mother it is the celebrated grief of Oreftes which I am to 'perfonate; but I shall not act it as I ought, for I fhall feel it too intimately to be able to utter it. I was laft night repeating a paragraph to myfelf, which I took to be an expreffion of rage, and in the middle of the ⚫ fentence there was a stroke of félf-pity which quite unmanned me. Be pleafed, Sir, to print this letter, that when I am oppreffed in this manner at fuch an interval, a certain part of the audience may not think I am out ; and I hope, with this allowance, to do it to 'fatisfaction. • I am, Sir, Your most humble fervant, and Italian critics, but alfo with the ancient and modern who have written in either of the learned languages. Above all, I would have them well verfed in the Greek and Latin poets, without which a man. very often fancies that he understands a critic, when in reality he does not comprehend his meaning. It is in criticifm as in all other fciences and fpeculations; one who brings with him any implicit notions and obfervations, which he has made in his reading of the poets, will find his own reflexions methodized and explained, . and perhaps feveral little hints that had passed. in his mind, perfected and improved in the works of a good critic; whereas one who has not these previous lights is very often an utter ftranger to what he reads, and apt to put a wrong interpretation upon it.. Nor is it fufficient, that a man, who fets up. for a judge in criticifm, fhould have perused the authors above-mentioned, unlefs he has alfo a clear and logical head. Without this talent he is perpetually puzzled and perplexed amidst his own blunders, miftakes the fenfe of thofe he' would confute, or, if he chances to think right, does not know how to convey his thoughts to another with clearness and perfpicuity. Ariftotle, who was the best critic, was also one of the beft logicians that ever appeared in the world. Mr. Locke's Effay on Human Understanding would be thought a very odd book for a man to make himself master of, who would get a reputation by critical writings; though at the fame time it is very certain that an author, who has not learned the art of diftinguishing bes I was walking the other day in the tween words and things, and of ranging his • Mr. Spectator, A Park, waking the one with a very thoughts and decting them in proper lights, fhort face; I defire to know whether it was Sophia. Dear Madam, Your most humble fervant, N° 291. SATURDAY: FEB. 2. -Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis. Hor. Ars Poet. ver. 35. But in a poem elegantly writ, I will not quarrel with a flight mistake, Such as our nature's frailty may excufe. RoscoMMON. Have now confidered Milton's Paradife Loft under those four great heads of the fable, the characters, the fentiments, and the language; and have fhewn that he excels, in general, un der each of thefe heads. I hope that I have made several discoveries which may appear new, even to thofe who are verfed in critical learning. Were 1 indeed to choofe my readers, by whofe judgment I would stand or fall, they should not be fuch as are acquainted only with the French whatever notions he may have, will lofe himself in confufion and obfcurity. I might further obferve that there is not a Greek or Latin critic, who has not fhewn, even in the ftile of his criticifms, that he was a mafter of all the elegance and delicacy of his native tongue. The truth of it is there is nothing more ab furd, than for a man to fet up for a critic, without a good infight into all the parts of learning; whereas many of thofe, who have endeavoured to fignalize themselves by works of this nature, among our English writers, are not only defective in the above-mentioned particu lars, but plainly difcover, by the phrafes which they make ufe of, and by their confufed way of thinking, that they are not acquainted with the most common and ordinary fyftems of arts and fciences. A few general rules extracted out of the French authors, with certain cant words, have fometimes fet up an illiterate heavy writer for a moft judicious and formidable critic. One great mark, by which you may difcover a critic who has neither tafte nor learning, is this, that he feldom ventures to praise any paf. fage in an author which has not been before received and applauded by the public, and that his criticifm turns wholly upon little faults and er rors. This part of a critic is fo very easy to fucceed in, that we find every ordinary reader, upon the publishing of a new poem, has wit and ill-nature enough to turn feveral paffages of it into ridicule, and very often in the right place. This Mr. Dryden has very agreeably remarked in those two celebrated lines, * Errors. Errors, like ftraws, upon the furface flow; "He who would fearch for pearl, muft dive " below." A true critic ought to dwell rather upon excellencies than imperfections, to difcover the concealed beauties of a writer, and communicate to the world fuch things as are worth their obfervation. The most exquifite words and finest strokes of an author are those which very often appear the most doubtful and exceptionable to a man who wants a refifh for polite learning; and they are thefe, which a four undiftinguithing critic generally attacks with the greatest violence. Tully obferves, that it is very eafy to brand or fix a mark upon what he calls verbum ardens, or, as it may be rendered in English," a glowing bold expreffion," and to turn it into ridicule by a cold ill-natured críticifm. A little wit is equally capable of expofing a beauty, and of aggravating a fault; and though fuch a treatment of an author naturally produces indignation in the mind of an undertanding reader, it has however its effect among the generality of thofe whofe hands it falls into, the rabble of mankind being very apt to think that every thing which is laughed at, with any mixture of wit, is ridiculous in itself. Such a mirth as this is always unfeasonable in a critic, as it rather prejudices the reader than convinces him, and is capable of making a beauty, as well as a blemish, the fubject of derifion. A man who cannot write with wit on a proper fubject, is dull and ftupid; but one, who fhews it in an improper place, is as impertinent and abfurd. Befides a man who has the gift of ridicule is apt to find fault with any thing that gives him an opportunity of exerting his beloved talent, and very often cenfures a paffage, not becaufe there is any fault in it, but because he can be merry upon it. kinds of pleafantry are very unfair and difingenuous in works of criticifm, in which the greateit mafters, both ancient and modern. have always appeared with a ferious and inftructive air. Such As I intend in my next paper to fhew the defects in Milton's Paradife Loft, I thought fit to premise these few particulars, to the end that the reader may know I enter upon it, as on a very ungrateful work, and that I fhall juft point at the imperfections, without endeavouring to inflame them with ridicule. I muft alfo observe with Longinus, that the productions of a great genius, with many lapfes and inadvertencies, are infinitely preferable to the works of an inferior kind of author, which are scrupulously exact and conformable to all the rules of correct writing. I fhall conclude this paper with a story out of Boccalini, which fufficiently fhews us the opinion that judicious author entertained of the fort of critics I have been here mentioning. A famous critic, says he, having gathered together all the faults of an eminent poet, made a prefent of them to Apollo, who received them very graciously, and refolved to make the author à fuitable return for the trouble he had been at in collecting them. In order to this, he fet before him a fack of wheat, as it had been juft thrashed out of the fheaf. He then bid him pick out the chaff from among the corn, and lay it afide by itself. The critic applied himfelf to the task with great industry and pleasure, and, after having made the due feparation, was prefented by Apollo with the chaff for his pains. L N° 292. MONDAY, FEE. 4. Illam, quicquid agit, quoquè veftigia fecit, Grace on each action filently attends. A S no one can be faid to enjoy health, who is only not fick, without he feel within himself a lightfome and invigorating principle, which will not fuffer him to remain idle, but ftill fpurs him on to action; fo in the practice of every virtue, there is fome additional grace required, to give a claim of excelling in this or that particular action. A diamond may want polishing, though the value be fstill intrinfically the fame; and the fame good may be done with different degrees of luftre. No man fhould be contented with himself that he barely does well, but he fhould perform every thing in the best and moft becoming manner that he is able. Tully tells us he wrote his book of Offices, because there was no time of life in which fome correfpondent duty might not be practifed; nor is there a duty without a certain decency accompanying it, by which every virtue it is joined to will feem to be doubled. Another may do the fame thing, and yet the action want that air and beauty which diftinguish it from others; like that inimitable funfhine Titian is faid to have diffufed over his landskips; which denotes them his, and has been always unequalled by any other perfon. There is no one action in which this quality I am fpeaking of will be more fenfibly perceived, than in granting a request or doing an office of kindness. Mummius, by his way of confenting to a benefaction, fhall make it lofe its name; while Carus doubles the kindness and the obligation: from the first he defired; request drops indeed at laft, but from so doubtful a brow, that the obliged has almost as much reafon to refent the manner of beftowing it, as to be thankful for the favour itself. Carus invites with a pleafing air, to give him an opportunity of doing an act of humanity, meets the petition half way, and consents to a request with a coun tenance which proclaims the fatisfaction of his mind in affifting the diftreffed. The decency then that is to be obferved in li«. berality feems to confift in its being performed with fuch chearfulness, as may exprefs the godlike pleasure that is to be met with in obliging one's fellow-creatures; that may fhew good-nature and benevolence overflowed, and do not, as in fome men, run upon the tilt, and taste of the fediments of a grutching uncommunicative difpofition. Since I have intimated that the greatest decorun is to be preferved in the bestowing our good offices, I will illuftrate it a little by an example drawn from private life, which carries with it fuch a profufion of liberality, that it can be exceeded by nothing but the humanity and good-nature which accompanies it. It is a letter of Pliny's, which I thail here tranflate, be Because the action will beft appear in its first drefs of thought, without any foreign or ambitious ornaments. T Pliny to Quintilian. HOUGH I am fully acquainted with the contentment and juft moderation of your mind, and the conformity the education you have given your daughter bears to your own character; yet fince the is fuddenly to be martied to a person of diftinction, whofe figure in the world makes it neceffary for her to be at a more than ordinary expence in cloaths and equipage fuitable to her husband's quality; by which, though her intrinfic worth be not augmented, yet will it receive both ornament and luftre and knowing your estate to be as moderate as the riches of your mind are abundant, I must challenge to myself some part of the burden; and as a parent of your child, I prefent her with twelve hundred and fifty crowns towards thefe expences; which fum had been much larger, had I not feared the fmallnefs of it would be the greatest inducement with you to accept it. Farewel.' Thus fhould a benefaction be done with a good grace, and shine in the strongest point of light'; it should not only answer all the hopes and exigencies of the receiver, but even out-run his wishes it is this happy manner of behaviour which adds new charms to it, and foftens thofe gifts of art and nature, which otherwife would be rather diftafteful than agreeable. Without it, valour would degenerate into brutality, learning into pedantry, and the genteeleft demeanour into affectation. Even religion itself, unless décency be the handmaid which waits upon her, is apt to make people appear guilty of fournefs and ill-humour: but this fhews virtue in her firft original form, adds a comelinefs to religion, and gives its profeffors the jufteft title to the beauty of holinefs. A man fully inftructed in this art, may affume a thousand fhapes, and please in all he may do a thousand actions fhall become none other but himself; not that the things themselves are different, but the manher of doing them. If you examine each feature by itself, Aglaura and Calliclea are equally handfome; but take them in the whole, and you cannot fuffer the comparifon the one is full of numberless nameless graces, the other of as many nameless faults. The comeliness of perfon, and the decency of behaviour, add infinite weight to what is pronounced by any one. It is the want of this that often makes the rebukes and advice of old rigid perfons of no effect, and leave a difpleasure in the minds of thofe they are directed to: but youth and beauty, if accompanied with a graceful and becoming severity, is of mighty force to raife, even in the most profligate, a fenfe of fhame. In Milton, the devil is never defcribed ashamed but once, and that at the rebuke of a beauteous angel. So fpake the cherub, and his grave rebuke, The care of doing nothing unbecoming has accompanied the greateft minds to their 1ft moments. They avoided even an indecent pofture in the very article of death. Thus Cæfar gathered his robe about him, that he might not fall in a manner unbecoming of himfelt; and the greatest concern that appeared in the behaviour of Lucretia when the ftabbed herself, was, that her body should lie in an attitude worthy the mind which had inhabited it. Ne non procumbat boneftè, Extrema hæc etiam cura cadentis erat. OVID. Faft. 1. 3. v. 833. "Twas her last thought, how decently to fall. • Mr. Spectator, I Am a young woman without a fortune; but of a very high mind: that is, good Sir, I 6 am to the laft degree proud and vain. I am "ever railing at the rich, for doing things, which, upon fearch into my heart, I find I. ' am only angry because I cannot do the fame 'myself. I wear the hooped petticoat, and am all in callicoes when the fineft are in filks. It is a dreadful thing to be poor and proud; there'fore if you please, a lecture on that subject for the fatisfaction of Your uneafy humble fervant, Πασιν γας εύφρονεσι συμμαχεί τυχη. Jezebel.' Frag. Vet. Poet. The prudent still have fortune on their fide, T HE famous Gratian, in his little book wherein he lays down maxims for a man's advancing himself at court, advises his reader to affociate himself with the fortunate, and to fhun the company of the unfortunate; which, notwithstanding the baseness of the precept to an honeft mind, may have fomething ufeful in it for those who pufh their intereft in the world. It is certain a great part of what we call good or ill fortune, rifes out of right or wrong measures or fchemes of life. When I hear a man complain of his being unfortunate in all his undertakings, I fhrewdly fufpect him for a very weak man in his affairs. In conformity with this way of thinking, cardinal Richlieu ufed to fay, that unfortunate and imprudent were but two words for the fame thing. As the cardinal himself had great fhare both of prudence and good fortune, his famous antagonist, the count d'Olivarez, was difgraced at the court of Madrid, because it was alledged against him that he had never any fuccefs in his undertakings. This, fays an eminent author, was indirectly accufing him of imprudence. Cicero recommended Pompey to the Romans for their general upon three accounts, as he was a man of courage, conduct, and good fortune. It was, perhaps, for the reafon above-mentioned, namely, that a series of good fortune fuppofes a prudent management in the person whom it befalls, that not only Sylla the dictator, but feveral of the Roman emperors, as is ftill to be seen upon their medals, among their other titles gave themfelves that of Felix or fortunate. The зв heathens, |