Erranti, paffimque oculos per cuncta ferenti. Virg. Æn. 2. ver 50 Exploring ev'ry place with curious eyes.. Mr. SPECTATOR, Am very forry to find by your difcourfe upon the eye, that you have not thoroughly ftudied the nature and force of that part of a beauteous face. "Had you ever been in love, you would have faid ten thousand things, which it feems did not occur to you Do but reflect upon the nonfenfe it makes men talk, the flames which it is faid to kindle, the tranfport it raifes, the dejection it caufes in the braveft men; and if you do believe thofe things are expreffed to an extravagance, yet you will own, that the influence of it is very great which moves men to that extrava gance. Certain it is, that the whole ftrength of the mind is fometimes feated, there; that a kind look imparts all, that a year's difcourfe could give you, in one moment. What matters it what fhe fays to you, fee A S How how the looks, is the language of all who know what love is. When the mind is thus fummed up and expressed in a glance, did you never observe a fudden joy arife in the countenance of a lover? Did you never fee the attendance of years paid, over-paid in an • instant? You a SPECTATOR, and not know that the ⚫ intelligence of affection is carried on by the eye only; that good-breeding has made the tongue falfify the heart, and act a part of continual constraint, while nature has preferved the eyes to herself, that the may not be difguised or misreprefented. The poor bride can give her hand, and fay, I do, with alanguishing air, to the man she is obliged by cruel parents to take for mercenary reafons, but at the fame time fhe cannot look as if the loved; her eye is full of forrow, and reluctance fits in a tear, while the offering of the facrifice is performed in what we call the marriage ceremony. Do you never go to plays? Cannot you diftinguish between the eyes of thofe who go to fee, from thofe who come to be feen? I am a woman turned of thirty, and am on the obfervation a little; therefore if you or your correspon 'dent had confulted me in your difcourfe on the eye, I 'could have told you that the eye of Leonora is flily watch⚫ful while it looks negligent; the looks round her with' out the help of the glaffes you fpeak of, and yet seems to be employed on objects directly before her. This eye is what affects chance-medley, and on a fudden, as "if it attended to another thing, turns all its charms against an ogler. The eye of Lufitania is an inftrument of premeditated murder; but the defign being visible, deftroys the execution of it; and with much more beauty than that of Leonora, it is not half fo mischievous. There is a brave foldier's daughter in town, that by her eye has been the death of more than ever her father made fly before him. A beautiful eye makes filence eloquent, a kind eye makes contradiction an affent, an enraged eye makes beauty deformed. This little 4 member gives life to every other part about us, and I believe the ftory of Argus implies no more than that the eye is in every part, that is to fay, every other part ⚫ would be mutilated, were not its force reprefented more • by by the eye than even by itfelf. But this is heathen Greek to thofe who have not converfed by glances. This Sir, is a language in which there can be no deceit, nor can a skilful obferver be impofed upon by looks even among politicians and courtiers. If you do me the honour to print this among your fpeculations, I shall in my next make you a prefent of fecret hiftory, by tranflating all the looks of the next affembly of Ladies and Gentlemen into words, to adorn fome future paper. I am, SIR, your faithful friend, Dear Mr. SPECTATOR, Mary Heartfree. Have a fot of a husband that lives a very fcandalous life, and wafes away his body and fortune in debau cheries; and is immoveable to all the arguments I can urge to him. I would gladly know whether in fome cafes a cudgel may not be allowed as a good figure of fpeech, and whether it may not be lawfully used by a • female orator. Mr. SPECTATOR, Your humble fervant, Barbara Crabtree. Hough I am a practitioner in the law of fome ftandT ing, and have heard many eminent pleaders in my time, as well as other eloquent fpeakers of both univerfities, yet I agree with you, that women are better qualified to fucceed in oratory than the men, and believe this is to be refolved into natural caufes. You have mentioned only the volubility of their tongue; but what do you think of the filent flattery of their pretty faces, and the perfuafion which even an infipid difcourfe car⚫ries with it when flowing from beautiful lips, to which it would be cruel to deny any thing? It is certain too, that they are poffeffed of fome fprings of rhetorick which men want, fuch as tears, fainting fits, and the like, ' which I have feen employed upon occafion with good fuccefs. You must know I am a plain man and love my money; yet I have a spouse who is fo great an orator in this way, that the draws from me what fums fhe pleases. every room in my houfe is furnished with trophies of her eloquence, rich cabinets, piles of China, Japan fcreens, and coftly jars; and if you were to come into my great parlour, you would fancy yourself in an India warehoufe: Befides this he keeps a fquirrel, and I am doubly taxed to pay for the China he breaks. She is feized with periodical fits about the time of the fubfcriptions to a new opera and is drowned in tears after having feen any woman there in finer cloaths than herself: These are arts of perfuafion purely feminine, and which a tender heart cannot resist. What I would therefore defire of you, is, to prevail with your friend who has promifed to diffect a female tongue, that he would at the fame time give us the anatomy of a female eye, and explain the springs and fluices which fecd it with fuch ready fupplies of moisture; and likewife fhew by what means, if poflible, they may be ftopped at a reasonable expence; Or, indeed, fince there is fomething fo moving in the very image of weeping beauty, it would be worthy his art to provide, that thefe eloquent drops may no more be lavished on trifles, or employed as fervants to their wayward wills; but referved for ferious occafions in life, to adorn generous pity, true penitence, or real forrow. T No 253 I am, &c. Thursday, December 20. Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia craffe I lose my patience, and I own it too, When works are cenfur'd, not as bad, but new. POPE. T HERE is nothing which more denotes a great mind, than the abhorrence of envy and detraction. This paffion reigns more among bad poets, than among any other fet of men. |