which he compofes himfelf in his former pofture, until fuch time as fomething new fets him again at work.

It has been obferved, his blow was fo welltimed, that the moft judicious critic could never except against it. As foon as any shining thought is expreffed in the poet or any uncommon grace appears in the actor, he fmites the bench or wainscot. If the audience does not concur with him, he fmites a fecond time, and if the audience is not yet awaked, looks round him with great wrath, and repeats the blow a third time, which never fails to produce the clap. He fometimes lets the audience begin the clap of themfelves, and at the conclufion of their ap plaufe ratifies it with a fingle thwack..

He is of fo great ufe to the play-houfe, that it is faid a former director of it, upon his not being able to pay his attendance by reafon of fickness, kept one in pay to officiate for him until fuch time as he recovered; but the perfon fo employed, though he laid about him with incredible violence, did it in fuch wrong places, that the audience foon found out that it was not their old friend the trunk-maker.

It has been remarked, that he has not yet exerted himself with vigour this feafon. He fometimes plies at the opera; and upon Nicolini's first appearance, was faid to have demolished three benches in the fury of his applaufe. He has broken half a dozen oaken planks upon Dogget, and feldom goes away from a tragedy of Shakespear, without leaving the wainscot extremely shattered.

The players do not only connive at his obftre perous approbation, but very chearfully repair at their own coft whatever damages he makes. They had once a thought of erecting a kind of wooden anvil for his ufe, that thould be made of a very founding plank, in order to render his ftrokes more deep and mellow; but as this might not have been distinguished from the mufic of a kettle-drum, the project was laid aside.

In the mean while, I cannot but take notice of the great ufe it is to an audience, that a perfon fhould thus prefide over their heads like the director of a concert, in order to awaken their attention, and beat time to their applaufes; or, to raise my fimile, I have fometimes fancied the trunk-maker in the upper gallery to be like Virgil's ruler of the winds, feated upon the top of a mountain, who when he ftruck his fceptre upon the fide of it, roufed an hurricane, and fet the whole cavern in an uproar.

It is certain the trunk-maker has faved many a good play, and brought many a graceful actor into reputation, who would not otherwife have been taken notice of. It is very visible, as the audience is not a little abafhed, if they find themfelves betrayed into a clap, when their friend in the upper gallery does not come into it; fo the actors do not value themselves upon the clap, but regard it as a mere brutum fulmen, or empty noife, when it has not the found of the oaken plant in it. I know it has been given out by thofe who are enemies to the trunk-maker, that he has fometime been bribed to be in the interest of a bad poet, or a vicious player; but this is a furmife which has no foundation; his ftrokes are always juít, and his admonitions feasonable; he does not deal about his blows at random, but always hits the right nail upon the head. The inexpreffible force wherewith he lays them on,

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fufficiently fhews the evidence and ftrength of his conviction. His zeal for a good author is indeed outrageous, and breaks down every fence and partition, every board and plank, that stands within the expreffion of his applaufe.

As I do not care for terminating my thoughts in barren fpeculations, or in reports of pure matter of fact, without drawing fomething from them for the advantage of my countrymen, I fhall take the liberty to make an humble propofal, that whenever the trunk-maker fhall depart this life, or whenever he shall have lost the spring of his arm by ficknefs, old age, infirmity, or the like, fome able-bodied critic fhould be advanced to this poft, and have a competent falary fettled on him for life, to be furnished with bamboos for operas, crabtree cudgels for comedies, and baken planks for tragedy, at the public expence. And to the end that this place fhould be always difpofed of according to merit, I would have none preferred to it, who has not given convincing proofs both of a found judgment and a strong arm, and who could not, upon occafion, either knock down an ox, or write a comment upon Horace's Art of Poetry. In fhort, I would have him a due composition of Hercules and Apollo, and fo rightly qualified for th s important office, that the trunk-maker may not be miffed by our pofterity. C

No 236. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30.
Hor. Ars Poet, v. 398.
With laws connubial tyrants to restrain.

-Dare jura maritis.

• Mr. Spectator,

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OU have not spoken in fo direct a manner upon the fubject of Marriage as that 'important cafe deferves. It would not be improper to obferve upon the peculiarity in the youth of Great-Britain, of railing and laugh'ing at that inftitution; and when they fall into it, from a profligate habit of mind, being infenfible of the fatisfaction in that way of life, and treating their wives with the most barbarous difrefpe&t.

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Particular circumstances and caft of temper, muft teach a man the probability of mighty uneafineffes in that ftate, for unquestionably fome there are whofe very difpofitions are ftrangely averfe to conjugal friendship; but no one, I believe, is by his own natural com'plexion prompted to teaze and torment another for no reafon but being nearly allied to him and can there be any thing more base, or ferve to fink a man fo much below his own diftinguishing characteristic, I mean reason, than returning evil for good in fo open a manner, as that of treating an helplefs creature with unkindnefs, who has had fo good an opi nion of him as to believe what he faid relating to one of the greateft concerns of life, by delivering her happiness in this world to his care and protection? Muft not that man be aban'doned even to all manner of humanity, who can deceive a woman with appearances of af'fection and kindness, for no other end but to torment her with more eafe and authority? Is any thing more unlike a gentleman, than when his honour is engaged for the performing his promifes, becaufe nothing but that can oblige him to it, to become afterwards falfe

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It is not impoffible, on the contrary, that part of the punishment of fuch as are excluded from blifs, may confift, not only in their being denied this privilege, but in having their appetites at the fame time vaftly increased, without any fatisfaction afforded to them. In thefe, the vain purfuit of knowledge fhall, perhaps, add to their infelicity, and bewilder them into labyrinths of error, darkness, distraction and uncertainty of every thing but their own evil ftate. Milton has thus reprefented the fallen angels reasoning together in a kind of refpite from their torments, and creating to themfelves a new difquiet amidst their very amufements; he could not properly have defcribed the fports of condemned fpirits, without that caft of horror and melancholy he has fo judiciously mingled with them.

"Others apart fat on a hill retired, "In thoughts more elevate, and reafon'd high "Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, "Fixt fate, free will, foreknowledge abfolute,

And found no end in wandering mazes loft.',

In our prefent condition, which is a middle ftate, our minds are, as it were, chequered with truth and falfhood; and as our faculties are narrow, and our views imperfect, it is impoffible but our curiofity must meet with many repulfes. The bufinefs of mankind in this life being rather to act than to know, their portion of knowledge is dealt to them acccordingly.

From hence it is, that the reafon of the inquifitive has fo long been exercifed with difficulties, in accounting for the promiscuous diftribution of good and evil to the virtuous and the wicked in this world. From hence come all thofe pathetic complaints of fo many tragical events, which happen to the wife and the good; and of fuch fur prifing profperity, which is often the reward of the guilty and the foolish; that reafon is fometimes puzzled, and at a lofs what to pronounce upon fo myfterious a dispensation.

Piato expreffes his abhorrence of fome fables of the poets, which feem to reflect on the gods as the authors of injuftice; and lays it down as a principle, that whatever is permitted to befal a just man, whether poverty, fickness, or any of thofe things which feem to be evils, fhall either in life or death conduce to his good. My reader will obferve how agreeable this maxim is to what we find delivered by a greater authority. Seneca has written a difcourfe purpofely on this fubject, in which he takes pains, after the doctrine of the Stoics, to fhew that adverfity is not in itself an evil; and mentions a noble faying of Demetrius, "That nothing would be more unhappy than a "man who had never known affliction." He compares profperity to the indulgence of a fond mother to a child, which often proves his ruin; but the affection of the divine being to that of a wife father who would have his fons exercised with-labour, difappointment, and pain, that they may gather ftrength and improve their fortitude. On this occafion the philofopher rifes into that celebrated fentiment, "That there is not on

earth a fpectacle more worthy the regard of "a Creator intent on his works than a brave

ἐς

man fuperior to his fufferings;" to which he

This thought will appear yet more reafonable, if we confider human life as a state of probation, and adverfity as the poft of honour in it, affigned often to the beft and most select spirits.

But what I would chiefly infift on here, is, that we are not at prefent in a proper fituation to judge of the counfels by which providence acts, fince but little arrives at our knowledge, and even that little we difcern imperfectly; or according to the elegant figure in holy writ, "We fee but "in part, and as in a glafs darkly." It is to be confidered, that providence in its œconomy regards the whole fyftem of time, and things together, fo that we cannot difcover the beautiful connexion between incidents which lie widely feparated in time, and by lofing fo many links of the chain, our reasonings become broken and imperfect. Thus thofe parts of the moral world which have not an abfolute, may yet have a relative beauty, in refpect of fome other parts concealed from us, but open to his eye before whom "paft, "prefent, and to come," are fet together in one point of view: and thofe events, the permiffion of which feems now to accufe his goodness, may in the confummation of things both magnify his goodness, and exalt his wisdom. And this is enough to check our prefumption, fince it is in vain to apply our measures of regularity to matters of which we know neither the antecedents nor the confequents, the beginning nor the end,

I fhall relieve my readers from this abftracted thought, by relating here a Jewish tradition concerning Mofes, which feems to be a kind of parable, illuftrating what I have last mentioned. That great prophet, it is faid, was called up by a voice from heaven to the top of a mountain; where, in a conference with the Supreme Being, he was permitted to propofe to him fome queftions concerning his adminiftration of the univerfe. In the midft of this divine colloquy he was commanded to look down on the plain below. At the foot of the mountain there iffed out a clear fpring of water, at which a foldier alighted from his horfe to drink. He was no fooner gone than a little boy came to the fame place, and finding a purfe of gold which the foldier had dropped, took it up and went away with it. Immediately after this came an infirm old man, weary with age and travelling, and having quenched his thirst, fat down to reft himfelf by the fide of the fpring. The foldier miffing his purfe returns to fearch for it, and demands it of the old man, who affirms he had not seen it, and appeals to heaven in witness of his innocence. The foldier not believing his proteftations, kills him. Mofes fell on his face with horror and amazement, when the divine voice thus prevented his expoftulation; Be not furprifed, Mofes, nor afk why the judge of the whole earth has fuffered this thing to come to pafs: the child is the occafion that the blood of the old man is fpilt; but know, that the old man whom thou faweft, was the murderer of that child's father." с

No.

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wide deviations from the original, and in a ⚫ftile fo far differing from the author's, that the tranflator feems rather to have taken hints for the expreffing his own fenfe and thoughts, than to have endeavoured to render thofe of Ariftanetus. In the following tranflation, I have kept as near the meaning of the Greek as I could, and have only added a few words to make the fentences in English fit together a little better than they would otherwife have done. The ftory feems to be taken from that of Pigmalion and the ftatue in Ovid: fome of the thoughts are of the fame turn, and the ⚫ whole is written in a kind of poetical profe.

Philopinax to Chromation.

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EVER was man more overcome with fo fantastical a paflion as mine. I have "painted a beautiful woman, and am defpairing, dying for the picture. My own fkill has "undone me; it is not the dart of Venus, but my own pencil has thus wounded me. Ah "me! with what anxiety am I neceffitated to adore my own idol! How miférable am I, "whilft every one must as much pity the pain86 ter as he praifes the picture, and own my " torment more than equal to my art! But why

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do I thus complain? Have there not been "more unhappy and unnatural paffions than "mine? Yes, I have feen the reprefentations "of Phædra, Narciffus, and Pafiphae. Phædra was unhappy in her love; that of Pafi"phae was monftrous; and whilft the other caught at his beloved likeness, he deftroyed "the watery image, which ever eluded his em" braces. The fountain reprefented Narciffus "to himself, and the picture both that and him, thirsting after his adored image. But I am yet lefs unhappy, I enjoy her prefence continually, and if I touch her, I deftroy not the beauteous form, but the looks pleased, and a fweet fmile fits in the charming fpace which divides her lips. One would fwear that voice "and fpeech were iffuing out, and that one's ears felt the melodious found. How often have Ì, deceived by a lover's credulity, heark"ened if he had not fomething to whifper me? and when fruftrated of my hopes, how often * have I taken my revenge in kiffes from her cheeks and eyes, and foftly wooed her to my embrace, whilft the, as to me it feemed, only withheld her tongue the more to inflame me? But, madman that I am, fhall I be thus taken with the reprefentation only of a beauteous face, and flowing hair, and thus wafte myfelf, and melt to tears for a fhadow? Ah, fure it is fomething more, it is a reality! for fee her beauties thine out with new luftre, * and she seems to upbraid me with fuch unkind reproaches. Oh may I have a living miftrefs "of this form, that when I fhall compare the 6 werk of nature with that of art, I may be ftill es at a lofs which to choose, and be long perplexed with the pleasing uncertainty !”

The univerfities of Europe, for many years carried on their debates by fyllogifm, infomuch that we fee the knowledge of feveral centuries Jaid out into objections and anfwers, and all the good fenfe of the age cut and minced into almoft an infinitude of distinctions.

When our univerfities found that there was no end of wrangling this way, they invented a kind of argument, which is not reducible to any mood or figure of Ariftotle. It was called the Argumentum Bafilinum, ethers write it Bacilinum or Baculinum, which is pretty well expreffed in our English word, club-law. When they were not able to confute their antagonist, they knocked him down. It was their method in thefe polemical debates, first to discharge their fyllogifms, and afterwards to betake themfelves to their clubs, until fuch time as they had one way or other confounded their gain fayers. There is in Oxford a narrow defile, to make ufe of a military term, where the partifans ufed to encounter, for which reason it still retains the name of Logic-lane. I have heard an old gentleman, a physician, make his boafts, that when he was a young fellow, he marched feveral times at the head of a troop of Scotifts, and cudgelled a body of Smiglefians half the length of High-street, until they had difperfed themfelves for fhelter into their refpective garrifons.

There is a way of managing an argument nor much unlike the former, which is made ufe of

by