N° 364

#7

I have been the more particular in my quota-
tions out of the eleventh book of Paradife Loft,
because it is not generally reckoned among the
moft fhining books of this poem; for which rea-
fon the reader might be apt to overlook thofe ma-
ny paffages in it which deferve our admiration.
The eleventh and twelfth are indeed built upon
that fingle circumftance of the removal of our
first parents from Paradife; but though this is
not in itfelf fo great a fubject as that in most of
the foregoing books, it is extended and diversified
with fo many furprifing incidents and pleafing
epifodes, that thefe two laft books can by no
means be looked upon as unequal parts of this
divine poem.
1 muft further add, that, had not
Milton reprefented our first parents as driven out
of Paradife, his Fall of Man would not have been
complete, and confequently his action would have
been imperfect.
Ļ

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MONDAY, APRIL 28.

-Navibus atque

Quadrigis petimus bene vivere.

HOR. Ep. 11. 1. 1. V. 29.-
We ride and fail in queft of happiness.

and do an irreparable injury to his wonderful ⚫ capacity.

CREECH.

" I happened to visit at the house last week, and miffing the young gentleman at the tea'table, where he feldom fails to officiate, could not

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upon fo extraordinary a circumstance avoid enquiring after him. My lady told me he was < gone out with her woman, in order to make 'fome preparations for their equipage; for that

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The intended very speedily to carry him to travel. The oddnefs of the expreffion fhocked me a little; however, I foon recovered myself enough to let her know, that all I was willing to understand by it was that the defigned this fummer to fhew her fon his eftate in a diftant county, in which he had never yet been. But fhe foon took care to rob me of that agrecable mistake, and let me into the whole affair. She ' enlarged upon young master's prodigious improvements, and his comprehenfive knowledge of all book-learning; concluding, that it was now high time he should be made acquainted with men and things; that he had refolved he fhould make the tour of France and Italy, but could not bear to have him out of her fight, and therefore intended to go along with him,

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I was going to rally her for fo extravagant a ' refolution, but found myself not in a fit humour to meddle with a fubject that demanded the moft foft and delicate touch imaginable, I was 'afraid of dropping fomething that might feem to bear hard either upon the fon's abilities, or 6 the mother's difcretion; being fenfible that in both these cafes, though supported with all the 'powers of reason, I should instead of gaining her ladyship over to my opinion, only expofe myself to her difefteem: I therefore immedi ately determined to refer the whole matter to the Spectator.

When I came to reflect at night, as my cuf tom is, upon the occurrences of the day, I I could not but believe that this humour of carrying a boy to travel in his mother's lap, and that upon the pretence of learning men and things, is a cafe of an extraordinary nature, and carries on it a particular stamp of folly., I did not remember to have met with its parrallel within the compafs of my obfervation, though I could call to mind fome not extremely unlike it from hence my thoughts took occafion to ramble into the general notion of traveling, as it is now made a part of education. Nothing is more frequent than to take a lad from grammar and taw, and under the tuition of foine poor fcholar, who is willing to be banished for thirty pounds a year, and a little victuals, fend him crying and fnivelling into foreign countries, Thus he fpends his time as children do at puppet-fhows, and with much the fame advantage, in ftaring and gaping at an amazing variety of ftrange things; ftrange indeed to one who not prepared to comprehend the reafons and meaning of them; whilft he fhould be laying the folid foundations of knowledge in his mind, and furnishing it with just rules to direct his future progrefs in life under • fome fkilful mafter of the art of inftruction.

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• Mr. Spectator,

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LADY of my acquaintance, for whom I have too much refpect to be eafy while The is doing an indifcreet action, has given occafion to this trouble: the is a widow, to whom the indulgence of a tender husband has intrusted the management of a very great fortune, and a fon about fixteen, both which she is extremely fond of. The boy has parts of the middle fize, neither fhining nor defpicable, and has paffed the common exercises of his years with tolerable advantage, but is withal what you would call a forward youth: by the help of this laft qualification, which ferves as a varnish to all the reft, he is enabled to make the best ufe of his learning, and difplay it at full length upon all occafions. Laft fummer he diftinguished himself two or three times very remarkably, by puzzling the vicar before an affembly of moft of the ladies in the neighbourhood; and from fuch weighty confideratious as thefe, as it too often unfortunately falls out, the mother is become invincibly perfuaded that her fon is a great fcholar; and that to chain him down to the ordinary methods of education with others I of his age, would be to cramp his faculties,

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Can there be a more aftonishing thought in nature, than to confider how men fhould fall into fo palpable a mistake? It is a large field, and may very well exercise a sprightly genius; but I do not remember you have yet taken a

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turn

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turn in it. I wifh,Sir, you would make peopleder of a fet of drums. Thefe warlike founds understand, that to travel is really the laft step (methinks) are very improper in a marriageto be taken in the inftitution of youth; and concert, and give great offence; they seem to to fet out with it, is to begin where they should infinuate, that the joys of this ftate are fhort, end. and that jars and difcord foon enfue. I fear they have been ominous to many matches, and fometimes proved a prelude to a battle in the honey-moon. A nod from you may huth them; therefore, pray, Sir, let them be filenced, that for the future none but foft airs may ufher in the morning of a bridal night, which will be a favour not only to thofe who come after, but to me, who can fill subscribe myself,

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Your most humble

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Certainly the true end of vifiting foreign parts, is to look into their customs and policies, and obferve in what particulars they excel or ⚫ come short of our own; to unlearn fome odd ⚫ peculiarities in our manners, and wear off fuch aukward stiffnesses and affectations in our behaviour, as poffibly may have been contracted from conftantly affociating with one nation of men, by a more free, general, and mixed con ⚫ verfation but how can any of thefe advan tages be attained by one who is a mere stranger ⚫ to the customs and policies of his native coun · try, and has not yet fixed in his mind the first principles of manners and behaviour? Tỏ endeavour it, is to build a gaudy ftructuré without any foundataion; or, if I may be allowed the expreffion, to work a rich embroid.to ery upon a cobweb.

Another end of travelling, which deferves to be confidered, is the improving our taste of the beft authors of antiquity, by seeing the places where they lived, and of which they wrote; to · compare the natural face of the country with the defcriptions they have given us, and obferve how well the picture agrees with the original. This muft certainly be a moft charming exercife to the mind that is rightly turned for it; befides that it may in a good measure be made ⚫ fubfervient to morality, if the perfon is capable of drawing juft conclufions concerning the uncertainty of human things, from the ruinous alterations time and barbarity have brought upon fo many palaces, cities, and whole countries, which make the most illuftrious figure in hiftory. And this hint may not be a little improved by examining every little spot of ground T that we find celebrated as the fcene of fome famous action, or retaining any footsteps of a · Cato, Cicero, or Brutus, or fome fuch great vir " tuous man, A nearer view of any fuch particular, though really little and trifling in itself, may ferve the more powerfully to warm a ge nerous mind to an emulation of their virtues, ⚫ and a greater ardency of ambition to imitate ⚫ their bright examples, if it comes duly temper⚫ed and prepared for the impreffion. But this I believe you will hardly think thofe to who

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are fo far from entering into the fenfe and fpirit T

of the ancients, that they do not yet understand their language with any exactness.'

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But I have wandered from my purpofe,
which was only to defire you to fave, if poffible,
a fond English mother, and mother's own fon,
from being fhewn a ridiculous fpectacle through
the moft polite parts of Europe. Pray tell them,
that though to be fea-fick, or jumbled in an
outlandish ftage-coach, may perhaps be health-
ful for the conftitution of the body, yet it is apt
to caufe fuch a dizziness in young empty heads,
as too often lafts their life-time.
'I am, SIR,

Your humble fervant,
Philip Homebred.'

· SIR,

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Birchin-Lane. WAS married on Sunday laft, and went peaceably to bed; but to my great surprise, was awakened the next morning by the thun! der

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and most obedient fervant, Robin Bridegroom,'

• Mr. Spectator,

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AM one of that fort of women whom the

I part arefapt

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But to fhew them that I have very little regard their rallery, I fhall be glad to fee them all. at the Amorous Widow, or the Wanton Wife, which is to be acted, for the benefit of Mrs. Porter, on Monday the 28th inftant. I affure you, I can laugh at an amorous widow, or wanton wife, with as little temptation to imitate them, as I could at any other vicious character. Mrs Porter obliged me fo very much in the exquifite fenfe the feemed to have of the honourable fentiments and noble paffions in the character of Hermione, that I shall appear in her behalf at a comedy, though I have no great relith for any entertainments where the mirth is not feafoned with a certain feverity, which ought to recommend it to people who pretend to keep reafon and authority over all their actions.

No 365.

TUESDAY, APRIL 29. Vere magis, quia vere calor redit offibus

VIRG. Georg, 3. V. 272. But moft in fpring; the kindly fpring infpires Reviving heat, and kindles genial fires.

HE author of the Menagiana acquaints us, that difcourfing one day with feveral ladies of quality about the effects of the month of May, which infufes a kindly warmth into the earth, and all its inhabitants; the Marchionefs of S- who was one of the company, told him, that though he would promife to be chafte in every month befides, the could not engage for herfelf in May.' 'As the beginning therefore of this month is now very near, I defign this paper for a caveat to the fair fex, and publifh it before April is quite out, that if any of them should be caught tripping, they may not pretend they had not timely notice,

I am induced to this, being perfuaded the above-mentioned obfervation is as well calculated for our climate as for that of France, and thrat fome of our British ladies are of the famé constitution with the French Marchioness.

I fhall leave it among phyficians to determine what may be the cause of such an anniversary inclination; whether or no it is that the spirits, after

after having been as it were frozen and congealed by winter, are now turned loofe, and fet a rambling; or that the gay profpects of fields and meadows, with the courtship of the birds in every bush, naturally unbend the mind and foften it to pleasure or that, as fome have imagined, a woman is prompted by a kind of inftinct to throw herself on a bed of flowers, and not to let those beautiful couches which nature has provided lie ufelefs. However it be, the effects of this month on the lower part of the fex, who act without disguise, are very visible. It is at this time that we fee the young wenches in a country parish dancing, round a May-pole, which one of our learned antiquaries fuppofes to be a relique of a certain Pagan worship that I do not think fit to mention.

It is likewife on the first day of this month that we fee the ruddy milk-maid exerting herself in a most sprightly manner under a pyramid of filver tankards, and, like the virgin Tarpeia, oppreffed by the coftly ornaments which her benefactors lay upon her.

I need not mention the ceremony of the green gown, which is also peculiar to this gay season.

The fame periodical love fits reign through the whole fex, as Mr. Dryden well obferves in his defcription of this merry month.

For thee, fweet month, the groves green liv'ries
wear,

If not the firft, the fairest of the year,
For thee the Graces lead the dancing hours,
And Nature's ready pencil paints the flow'rs.
The fprightly May commands our youth to keep
The vigils of her night, and breaks their fleep;
Each gentle breaft with kindly warmth the moves,
Infpires new flames, revives extinguish'd loves.

Accordingly among the works of the great mafters in painting, who have drawn this genial feafon of the year, we often obferve Cupids confused with Zephyrs flying up and down promifcuously in feveral parts of the picture. I cannot but add from my own experience, that about this time of the year love-letters come up to me in great numbers, from all quarters of the nation.

I received an epiftle in particular by the laft poft from a Yorkshire gentleman, who makes heavy complaints of one Zelinda, whom it seems he has courted unfuccefsfully these three years paft. He tells me that he defigns to try her this May, and if he does not carry his point, he will never think of her more.

Having thus fairly admonished the female fex, and laid before them the dangers they are exposed to in this critical month, I fhall in the next place lay down fome rules and directions for the better avoiding thofe calentures, which are so very frequent in this season.

this head with Virgil's advice to young people, while they are gathering wild ftrawberries and nofegays, that they fhould have a care of the fnake in the grass.'

In the fecond place, I cannot but approve those prefcriptions, which our aftrological phyficians give in their almanacks for this month; fuch as a fpare and fimple diet, with the moderate ufe of phlebotomy.'

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Under this head of abftinence I shall also advise my fair readers to be in a particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, chocolate, novels, and the like inflamers, which I look upon as very dangerous to be made ufe of during this great carnival of nature.

-That fair field
Of Enna, where Proferpine gath'ring flow'rs,
Herfelf a fairer flow'r, by gloomy Dis
Was gather'd-

As I have often declared, that I have nothing more at heart than the honour of my dear country-women, I would beg them to confider, whenever their refolutions begin to fail them, that there are but one-and-thirty days of this soft seafon, and that if they can but weather out this one month, the reft of the year will be easy to them. As for that part of the fair fex who stay in town, I would advife them to be particularly cautious how they give themselves up to their most innocent entertainments. If they cannot forbear the play-house, I would recommend tragedy to them, rather than comedy; and fhould think the puppetfhow much safer for them than the opera all the while the fun is in Gemini.

In the first place, I would advise them never to venture abroad in the fields, but in the company of a parent, a guardian, or fome other fober dif

creet apt T

HOR. Od. 22.1. 1. v. 17,

Set me where on fome pathlefs plain
The fwarthy Africans complain,

To fee the chariot of the fun

So near the fcorching country run:
The burning zone, the frozen ifles,
Shall hear me fing of Celia's fmiles;
All cold but in her breast I will defpife,
And dare all heat but that of Celia's eyes.

ROSCOMMON.

HERE are fuch wild inconfiftencies in the thoughts of a man in love, that I have often reflected there can be no reason for allow

are to trip in a flowery meadow, and fhall further obferve to them, that Proferpine was out a may-ing him more liberty than others poffeffed with ing, when he met with that fatal adventure, to which Milton alludes, when he mentions

phrenzy, but that his diftemper has no malevólence in it to any mortal. That devotion to his miftrefs kindles in his mind a general tenderness, which exerts itself towards every object as well as his fair one. When this paffion is reprefented by writers, it is common with them to endeavour at certain quaintneffes and turns of imagination,

Since I am going into quotations, Ishall conclude which are apparently the work of a mind at ease;

but

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but the men of true taste can easily diftinguish the exertion of a mind which overflows with tender fentiments, and the labour of one which is. only defcribing diftrefs. In performances of this kind, the most abfurd of all things is to be witty; every fentiment must grow out of the occafion, and be fuitable to the circumftances of the character. Where this rule is tranfgreffed, the humble fervant, in all the fine things he fays, is but fhewing his mistress how well he can drefs, inftead of faying how well he loves. Lace and diapery is as much a man, as wit and turn is paffion.

• Mr. Spectator,

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HE following verfes are a translation of a Lapland love-fong, which I met with in Scheffer's hiftory of that country. I was agreeably furprifed to find a fpirit of tenderness and poetry in a region which I never fufpted for 'delicacy. In hotter climates, though altogether uncivilized, I had not wondered if I had found fome fweet wild notes among the natives, where they live in groves of oranges, and hear the melody of birds about them: but a Lapland lyric, breathing fentiments of love and poetry, not unworthy old Greece or Rome; a regular ode from a climate pinched with froft, • and curfed with darkness fo great a part of the year; where it is amazing that the poor natives fhould get food, or be tempted to propagate their fpecies: this, I confefs, feemed a greater miracle to me, than the famous flories of their drums, their winds and enchantments.

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I am the bolder in commending this northern fong, because I have faithfully kept to the fentiments, without adding or diminishing; and pretend to no greater praife from my transla tion, than they who fmooth and clean the furs of that country which have fuffered by carriage. The numbers in the original are as loose and unequal, as thofe in which the Bri tifh ladies fport their pindarics; and perhaps the fairest of them might not think it a difagreeable prefent from a lover: but I have ventured to bind it in ftri&ter meafures, as being more proper for our tongue, though perhaps wilder graces may better fuit the genius of the Laponian language.

It will be neceffary to imagine, that the author of this fong, not having the liberty of vifiting his miftrefs at her father's houfe, was in hopes of fpying her at a distance in the fields.

"No longer then perplex thy breaft,
"When thoughts torment, the first are beft;
"'Tis mad to go, 'tis death to stay,
"Away to Orra, haite ayvay.

• Mr. Spectator,

April the roth.

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Am one of thofe defpicable creatures called·· a chambermaid, and have lived with a miftrefs for fome time, whom I love as my life, which has made my duty and pleasure infeparable. My greatest delight has been in being employed about her perfon; and indeed she is f very feldom out of humour for a woman of her quality but here lies my complaint, Sir; to bear with me is all the encouragement the is pleased to bestow upon me; for the gives her caft-off clothes from me to others: fome the is pleafed to bestow in the houfe to thofe that ⚫ neither want nor wear them, and fome to hang

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ers-on, that frequent the house daily, who come dreffed out in them. This, Sir, is a very mortifying fight to me, who am a little neceffitous for clothes, and love to appear what I am, and caufes an uneafinefs, fo that I cannot ferve with that chearfulness as formerly; which my mistrefs takes notice of, and calls envy and ill-temper at feeing others preferred before me. My mistress has a younger fifter lives in the 'houfe with her, that is fome thousands below her in eftate, who is continually heaping her favours on her maid; fo that the can appear

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every Sunday, for the first quarter, in a fresh fuit of clothes of her miftrefs's giving, with all other things fuitable. All this I fee without envying, but not without wifhing my mistress would a little confider what a difcouragement it is to me to have my perquifites divided be 'tween fawners and jobbers, which others enjoy entire to themfelves. I have fpoken to my miftrefs, but to little purpofe; I have defired to be difcharged (for indeed I fret myfelf to nothing) but that the answers with filence. f beg, Sir, your direction what to do, for I am fully refolved to follow your counfel; who am Your admirer

fome years as a towel or a napkin, may by this S the Spectator is in a kin a paper of news

means be raised from a dunghill, and become the