་ has not taken any notice of him thefe three days. If you please to print this he will fee it, and, we hope, taking it for my brother's earneft defire to be restored to his favour, he will again fmile upon him. Your moft obedient fervant, 'T. S.' • Mr. Spectator, You have reprefented several forts of impertinents · fingly, I wish you would now proceed, and defcribe fome of them in fets. It often happens in public affemblies, that a party who came thither together, or whofe impertinencies are of an equal pitch, act in concert, and are fo full of themselves as to give difturbance to all that are about them. Sometimes you have a fet of whisperers who lay their heads together in order to facrifice every body within their obfervation; fometimes a fet of laughers, that keep up an infipid mirth in their own corner, and by their noise and geftures fhew they have no refpect for the rest of the com< pany. You frequently meet with these fets at the opera, the play, the water-works, and other public meetings, where their whole bufinefs is to draw off the attention of the spectators from the entertainment, and to fix it upon themfelves; and it is to be observed that the impertinence is ever loudeft, when the fet happens to be made up of three or four females who have got what you call a woman's man among them. ८ I am at a lofs to know from whom people of fortune fhould learn this behaviour, unlefs it be from the footmen who keep their places at a new play, and are often feen paffing away their time in fets at all-fours in the face of a full houfe, and with a perfect difregard to the people of quality fitting on each fide of them. For preferving therefore the decency of public affemblies, methinks it would be but reafonable that thofe VOL. II. Ff • who who difturb others should pay at least a double price for their places; or rather women of birth and diftinction fhould be informed, that a levity of behaviour in the eyes of people of understanding degrades them below their meanest attendants; and gentlemen fhould know that a fine coat is a livery, when the perfon whe 6 wears it discovers no higher sense than that of a foot 6 6 man. 'I am, Sir, Your most humble fervant.' Bedfordshire, Sep. 1, 1711 • Mr. Spectator, I AM one of those whom every body calls a poacher, and fometimes go out to courfe with a brace of grey hounds, a maftiff, and a spaniel or two; and when I am weary with courfing, and have killed hares enough, go to an alehoufe to refresh myfelf. I beg the favour of you, as you fet up for a reformer, to fend us word how many dogs you will allow us to go with, how many full-pots of ale to drink, and how many hares to kill in a day, and you will do a great piece of fervice to all the sportsmen: be quick then, for the time of ⚫ courfing is come on. T Yours in hafte, ISAAC HEDGEDIICH.' No. CLXIX. No. CLXIX. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. Sic vita erat: facilè omnes perferre ac pati : TER. His manner of life was this: to bear with every body's humours; to comply with the inclinations and purfuits of thofe he converfed with; to contradict nobody; never to affume a fuperiority over others. This is the ready way to gain applaufe, without exciting envy. MAN is fubject to innumerable pains and forrows by the very condition of humanity, and yet, as if nature had not fown evils enough in life, we are continually adding grief to grief, and aggravating the common calamity by our cruel treatment of one another. Every man's natural weight of afflictions is ftill made more heavy by the envy, malice, treachery, or injuftice of his neighbour. At the fame time that the ftorm beats upon the whole fpecies, we are falling foul upon one another. Half the mifery of human life might be extinguished, would men alleviate the general curfe they lie under, by mutual offices of compaffion, benevolence, and humanity. There is nothing therefore which we ought more to encourage in ourselves and others, than that difpofition of mind which in our language goes under the title of good-nature, and which I shall choose for the fubje&t of this day's fpeculation. Good nature is more agreeable in converfation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty. It fhews virtue in the fairest light, takes off in fome measure from the deformity of vice, and makes even folly and impertinence fupportable. There is no fociety or converfation to be kept up in the world without good-nature, or fomething which muft bear its appearance, and supply its place. For this reafon mankind have been forced to invent a kind of arFfa tificial tificial humanity, which is what we exprefs by the word good-breeding. For if we examine thoroughly the idea of what we call fo, we fhall find it to be nothing elfe but an imitation and mimicry of good-nature, or in other terms, affability, compaifance and eafinefs of temper reduced into an art. Thefe exterior fhows and appearances of humanity render a man wonderfully popular and beloved when they are founded upon a real good-nature; but without it are like hypocrify in religion, or a bare form of holiness, which, when it is difcovered, makes a man more deteftable than profeffed impiety. Good nature is generally born with us; health, profperity, and kind treatment from the world are great cherifhers of it where they find it; but nothing is capable of forcing it up, where it does not grow of itself. It is one of the bleffings of a happy conftitution, which education may improve but not produce. Zenophon in the life of his imaginary prince, whom he defcribes as a pattern for real ones, is always celebrating the philanthrophy or good-nature of his hero, which he tells us he brought into the world with him, and gives many remarkable inftances of it in his childhood, as well as in all the feveral parts of his life. Nay, on his death-bed, he defcribes him as being pleased, that while his foul returned to him who had made it, his body fhould incorporate with the great mother of all things, and by that means become beneficial to mankind. For which reafon, he gives his fons a pofitive order not to enfhrine it in gold or filver, but to lay it in the earth as foon as the life was gone out of it. An inftance of fuch an overflowing of humanity, fuch an exuberant love to mankind, could not have entered into the imagination of a writer, who had not a foul filled with great ideas, and a general benevolence to mankind. In that celebrated paffage of Saluft, where Cæfar and Cato are placed in fuch beautiful, but oppofite lights; Cæfar's character is chiefly made up of good-nature, as it fhewed itself in all its forms towards his friends or his enemies, his fervants or dependents, the guilty or the diftreffed. As for Cato's character, it is rather awful than amiable. Juftice feems moft agrecable to the nature of God, and mercy to that of man. A Being who has nothing to pardon in himself, may reward every man according to his works; but he whofe very best actions must be feen with grains of allowance, cannot be too mild, moderate, and forgiving. For this reafon, among all the monftrous characters in human nature, there is none fo odious, nor indeed fo exquifitely ridiculous, as that of a rigid fevere temper in a worthless man. This part of good-nature, however, which confifts in the pardoning and overlooking of faults, is to be exercifed only in doing ourselves justice, and that too in the ordinary commerce and occurrences of life; for in the public administration of justice, mercy to one may be cruelty to others. It is grown almoft into a maxim, that good-natured men are not always men of the moft wit. This obfervation, in my opinion, has no foundation in nature. The greatest wits I have converfed with are men eminent for their humanity. I take therefore this remark to have been occafioned by two reafons. First, becaufe ill-nature among ordinary obfervers paffes for wit. A fpiteful faying gratifies fo many little paffions in those who hear it, that it generally meets with a good reception. The laugh rifes upon it, and the man who utters it is looked upon as a fhrewd fatirift. This may be one reason, why a great many pleafant companions appear fo furprisingly dull, when they have endeavoured to be merry in print, the public being more just than private clubs or affemblies, in distinguishing between what is wit and what is ill-nature. Another reafon why the good-natured man may fometimes bring his wit in queftion, is, perhaps, because he is apt to be moved with compaffion for thofe misfortunes or infirmities, which another would turn into ridicule, and by that means gain the reputation of a wit. The Ff3 |