ing, fhe began with a theatrical air and tone of voice to read, by way of triumph over me, fome of his fpeeches. It is fhe, that lovely air, that easy shape, thofe wanton eyes, and all thofe melting charms about her mouth, which Medley fpoke of; I will follow the lottery, and put in for a prize with mỹ friend Bellair.' In love the victors from the vanquish'd fly; They fly that wound, and they pursue that die." Then turning over the leaves, fhe reads alternately, and fpeaks, And you and Loveit to her cost shall find Oh the fine gentleman! But here, continues fhe, is the paffage I admire moft, where he begins to teize Loveit, and mimick Sir Fopling; Oh: the pretty fatire, in his refolving to be a coxcomb to pleafe, fince noise and nonfenfe have fuch powerful charms. I that I may fuccessful prove, Transform myfelf to what you love." Then how like a man of the town, fo wild and gay ia that The wife will find a diff'rence in our fate, You wed a woman, I a good estate.' It would have been a very wild endeavour for a man of my temper to offer any oppofition to fo nimble a fpeaker as my fair enemy is; but her difcourfe gave me very many reflections, when I had left her company. Among others, I could not but confider, with fome attention, the falfe impreffions the generality, the fair fex more efpecially, have of what thould be intended, when they fay a Fine Gentleman; and could not help revolving that fubject in my thoughts, and fettling, as it were, an idea of that character in my own imagination. No No man ought to have the efteem of the rest of the world, for any actions which are difagreeable to these maxims which prevail, as the standards of behaviour, in the country wherein he lives. What is oppofite to the eternal rules of reafon and good fenfe, must be excluded from any place in the carriage of a well-bred man. I did not, I confefs, explain myfelf enough on this fubject, when I called Dorimant a clown, and made it an inftance of it, that he called the Orange Wench, Double Tripe: I fhould have fhewed, that humanity obliges a gentleman to give no part of humankind reproach, for what they, whom they reproach, may poffibly have in common with the most virtuous and worthy among us. When a gentleman fpeaks coarfly, he has dreffed himself clean to no purpose: the clothing of our minds certainly ought to be regarded before that of our bodies. To betray in a man's talk a corrupted imagination, is a much greater offence against the converfation of a gentleman, than any negligence of drefs imaginable. But this fenfe of the matter is fo far from being received among people even of condition, that Vocifer paffes for a fine gentleman. He is loud, haughty, gentle, foft, lewd, and obfequious by turns, juft as a little understanding and great impudence prompt him at the prefent moment. He paffes among the filly part of our women for a man of wit, because he is generally in doubt. He contradicts with a shrug, and confutes with a certain fufficiency, in profeffing fuch and fuch a thing is above his capacity. What makes his character the pleasanter, that he is a profeffed deluder of women; and because the empty coxcomb has no regard to any thing that is of itself facred and inviolable, I have heard an unmarried lady of fortune fay, it is pity fo fine a gentleman as Vocifer is fo great an atheift. The crowds of fuch inconfiderable creatures, that infeft all places of affembling, every reader will have in his eye from his own obfervation; but would it not be worth confidering what fort of figure a man who formed himself upon thofe principles among s, which are agreeable to the dictates of honour and religion, religion, would make in the familiar and ordinary occurrences of life? I hardly have obferved any one fill his feveral duties of life better than Ignotus. All the under parts of his behaviour, and fuch as are expofed to common obfervation, have their rife in him from great and noble motives. A firm and unfhaken expectation of another life, makes him become this. Humanity and good-nature, fortified by the sense of virtue, has the fame effect upon him, as the neglect of all goodness has upon many others. Being firmly established in all matters of importance, that certain inattention which makes men's actions, look cafy appears in him with greater beauty: by a thorough contempt of little excellences, he is perfectly mafter of them. This temper of mind leaves him under no neceffity of studying his air, and he has this peculiar diftinction, that his negligence is unaffected. He that can work himself into a pleasure in confidering this being as an uncertain one, and think to reap an advantage by its difcontinuance, is in a fair way of doing all things with a graceful unconcern, and gentleman-like ease. Such a one does not behold his life as a fhort, tranfient, perplexing ftate, made up of trifling pleasures, and great anxieties; but fees it in quite another light; his griefs are momentary, and his joys immortal. Reflexion upon death is not a gloomy and fad thought of refigning every thing that he delights in, but it is a fhort night followed by an endless day. What I would here contend for is, that the more virtuous the man is, the nearer he will naturally be to the character of genteel and agreeable. A man whose fortune is plentiful, fhews. an eafe in his countenance, and confidence in his behaviour, which he that is under wants and difficulties cannot affume. It is thus with the state of the mind; he that governs his thoughts with the everlasting rules of reafon and fenfe, must have fomething fo inexpreflibly graceful in his words and actions, that every circumitance muft become him. The change of perfons or things around him do not at all alter his fituation, but he looks difinterested in the occurrences with which others are diftracted, because the greatest purpose of his life is to maintain an indifference both to it and all its enjoyments. In a word, to be a fine gentleman is to be a generous and a brave man. What can make a man fo much in conftant good-humour, and shine, as we call it, than to be supported by what can never fail him, and to believe that whatever happens to him was the best thing that could poffibly befal him, or elfe he on whom it depends would not have permitted it to have befallen him at all? No. LXXVI. MONDAY, MAY 28. Ut tu fortunam, fic nos te, Celfe, feremus. As you your fortune bear, we will bear you. R. HOR. CREECH. THERE is nothing fo common, as to find a man whom in the general obfervation of his carriage you take to be of an uniform temper, fubject to fuch unaccountable ftarts of humour and paffion, that he is as much unlike himself, and differs as much from the man you at first thought him, as any two distinct pcrfons can differ from cach other. This proceeds from the want of forming fome law of life to ourselves, or fixing fome notion of things in general, which may affect us in fuch manner as to create proper habits both in our minds and bodies. The negligence of this leaves us expofed not only to an uncommon levity in our usual converfation, but alfo to the fame inftability in our friendships, interefts, and alliances. A man who is but a mere fpectator of what paifes around him, and not engaged in commerces of any confideration, is but an ill judge of the fecret motion of the heart of man, and by what degrees it is actuated to make fuch visible alterations in the fame perfon: but at the fame time, when a man is no way concerned in the effect of fuch inconfiftencies in the behaviour of men of the world, the fpeculation fpeculation must be in the utmost degree both diverting and instructive; yet to enjoy fuch obfervations in the highest relish, he ought to be placed in a poft of direction, and have the dealing of their fortunes to them. I have therefore been wonderfully diverted with fome pieces of fecret hiftory, which an antiquary, my very good friend, lent me as a curiofity. They are memoirs of the private life of Pharamond of France. Pharamond,' fays my author, was a prince of infinite humanity and generofity, and at the fame time the most pleafant and facetious companion of his time. He had a peculiar tafte in him, which would have been unlucky in any prince but himself; he thought there could be no exquifite pleasure in converfation but among equals; and would pleasantly bewail himself that he always lived in a crowd, but was the only man in France that never could get into company. This turn of mind made him delight in midnight rambles, attended only with one perfon, of his bedchamber: he would in these excurfions get acquainted with men, whofe temper he had a mind to try, and recommend them privately to the particular obfervation of his first minifter. He generally found himfelf neglected by his new acquaintaince as foon as they had hopes of growing great: and used on such occafions to remark, that it was a great injuftice to tax princes of forgetting themselves in their high fortunes, when there were fo few that could with conftancy bear the favour of their very creatures.' My author in thefe loose hints has one paffage that gives us a very lively idea of the uncommon genius of Pharamond. He met with one man whom he had put to all the ufual proofs he made of thofe he had a mind to know thoroughly, and found him for his purpose: in difcourfe with him one day, he gave him opportunity of faying how much would fatisfy all his withes. The prince immediately revealed himself, doubled the fum, and spoke to him in this manner. "Sir, You "have twice what you defired, by the favour of Pharamond; but look to it, that you are fatisfied with ❝ it, 3 66 |