No, 406, of Ornament and Service to them. But there is another Monday, sort of People who seem designed for Solitude, those I June 16, 1712. mean who have more to hide than to shew: As for my own Part, I am one of those of whom Seneca says, Tam Umbratiles sunt, ut putent in turbido esse quicquid in luce est. Some Men, like Pictures, are fitter for a Corner than a full Light; and I believe such as have a natural Bent to Solitude, are like Waters which may be forced into Fountains, and exalted to a great Height, may make a much nobler Figure, and a much louder Noise, but after all run more smoothly, equally and plentifully, in their own natural Course upon the Ground. The Consideration of this would make me very well contented with the Possession only of that Quiet which Cowley calls the Companion of Obscurity; but who ever has the Muses too for his Companions, can never be idle enough to be uneasie. Thus, Sir, you see I would flatter my self into a good Opinion of my own Way of Living Plutarch just now told me, that 'tis in human Life as in a Game at Tables, one may wish he had the highest Cast, but if his Chance be otherwise, he is even to play it as well as he can, and make the best of it. I am, Sír, Your most obliged and most humble Servant,' 'Mr. SPECTATOR, The Town being so well pleased with the fine Picture of artless Love, which Nature inspired the Laplander to paint in the Ode you lately printed; we were in Hopes that the ingenious Translator would have obliged it with the other also which Scheffer has given us; but since he has not, a much inferior Hand has ventured to send you this. It is a Custom with the Northern Lovers to divert themselves with a Song, whilst they journey through the fenny Moors to pay a Visit to their Mistresses. This is addressed by the Lover to his Rain-Deer, which is the Creature that in that Country supplies the Want of Horses. The Circumstances which successively present themselves 1712, themselves to him in his Way, are, I believe you will No. 406, think, naturally interwoven. The Anxiety of Absence, Monday, the Gloominess of the Roads, and his Resolution of fre June 16, quenting only those, since those only can carry him to the Object of his Desires; the Dissatisfaction he expresses even at the greatest Swiftness with which he is carryed, and his joyful Surprize at an unexpected Sight of his Mistress as she is bathing, seem beautifully described in the Original. If all those pretty Images of Rural Nature are lost in the Imitation, yet possibly you may think fit to let this supply the Place of a long Letter, when want of Leisure or Indisposition for Writing will not permit our being entertained by your own Hand. I propose such a Time, because tho' it is natural to have a Fondness for what one does one's self, yet I assure you I would not have any thing of mine displace a single Line of yours. Haste my Rain-Deer, and let us nimbly go Our am'rous Journey through this dreery Waste: Haste, my Rain-Deer, still still thou art too slow, Impetuous Love demands the Lightning's Haste, IL Around us far the Rushy Moors are spread: III. The wat'ry Length of these unjoyous Moors IV, Each Moment from the Charmer I'm confín'd, No. 406, Monday, June 16, 1712. Our pleasing Toil will then be soon o'erpaid, Her artless Charms, her Bloom, her sprightly Air. VI But lo! with graceful Motion there she swims, The crowding Waves transported clasp her Limbs: VII. In vain, you envious Streams, so fast you flow, No. 407. Tuesday, June 17, -abest facundis gratia dictis.—Ov, T More they OST Foreign Writers who have given any Char acter of the English Nation, whatever Vices ascribe to it, allow in general, that the People are naturally Modest. It proceeds perhaps from this our National Virtue, that our Orators are observed to make use of less Gesture or Action than those of other Countries. Our Preachers stand stock-still in the Pulpit, and will not so much as move a Finger to set off the best Sermons in the World. We meet with the same speaking Statues at our Bars, and in all publick Places of Debate, Our Words flow from us in a smooth continued Stream, without those Strainings of the Voice, Motions of the Body, and Majesty of the Hand which are so much celebrated in the Orators of Greece and Rome. We can talk of Life and Death in cold Blood, and keep our Temper in a Discourse which turns upon every thing that is dear to us. Though our Zeal breaks out out in the finest Tropes and Figures, it is not able to No. 407. stir a Limb about us, I have heard it observed more Tuesday, than once by those who have seen Italy, that June 17, an 1712. untravelled Englishman cannot relish all the Beauties of Italian Pictures, because the Postures which are expressed in them are often such as are peculiar to that Country, One who has not seen an Italian in the Pulpit, will not know what to make of that noble Gesture in Raphael's Picture of St. Paul preaching at Athens, where the Apostle is represented as lifting up both his Arms, and pouring out the Thunder of his Rhetorick amidst an Audience of Pagan Philosophers, It is certain that proper Gestures and vehement Exertions of the Voice cannot be too much studied by a publick Orator. They are a kind of Comment to what he utters, and enforce every thing he says, with weak Hearers, better than the strongest Argument he can make use of. They keep the Audience awake, and fix their Attention to what is delivered to them, at the same time that they shew the Speaker is in earnest, and affected himself with what he so passionately recommends to others, Violent Gesture and Vocifera tion naturally shake the Hearts of the Ignorant, and fill them with a kind of Religious Horror. Nothing is more frequent than to see Women weep and tremble at the Sight of a moving Preacher, though he is placed quite out of their Hearing; as in England we very frequently see People lulled Asleep with solid and elaborate Discourses of Piety, who would be warmed and transported out of themselves by the Bellowings and Distortions of Enthusiasm. If Nonsense, when accompanied with such an Emotion of Voice and Body, has such an Influence on Men's Minds, what might we not expect from many of those admirable Discourses which are printed in our Tongue, were they delivered with a becoming Fervour, and with the most agreeable Graces of Voice and Gesture? We are told, that the great Latín Orator very much impaired his Health by this laterum contentio, this Vehemence of Action, with which he used to deliver himself The Greek Orator was likewise so very Famous 1712. No. 407. Famous for this Particular in Rhetorick, that one of his Tuesday, Antagonists, whom he had banished from Athens, read June 17, ing over the Oration which had procured his Banishment, and seeing his friends admire it, could not forbear asking them, if they were so much affected by the bare reading of it, how much more they would have been alarmed, had they heard him actually throw ing out such a Storm of Eloquence? How cold and dead a Figure, in Comparison of these two Great Men, does an Orator often make at the British Bar, holding up his Head, with the most insipid Serenity, and stroking the sides of a long Wigg that reaches down to his Middle? The Truth of it is, there is often nothing more ridiculous than the Gestures of an English Speaker; you see some of them running their Hands into their Pockets as far as ever they can thrust them, and others looking with great Attention on a piece of Paper that has nothing written in it; you may see many a smart Rhetorician turning his Hat in his Hands, moulding it into several different Cocks, examining sometimes the Lining of it, and sometimes the Button, during the whole course of his Harangue, A deaf Man would think he was Cheapning a Beaver, when perhaps he is talking of the Fate of the British Nation. I remember when I was a young Man, and used to frequent Westminster-Hall, there was a Counsellor who never pleaded without a Piece of Pack-threak in his Hand, which he used to twist about a Thumb or a Finger, all the while he was speaking: The Waggs of those Days used to call it the Thread of his Discourse, for he was not able to utter a Word without it. One of his Clients, who was more merry than wise, stole it from him one Day in the midst of his Pleading, but he had better have let it alone, for he lost his Cause by his Jest. I have all along acknowledged my self to be a dumb Man, and therefore may be thought a very improper Person to give Rules for Oratory; but I believe every one will agree with me in this, that we ought either to lay aside all kinds of Gesture (which seems to be very suitable to the Genius of our Nation) or at least to make use of such only as are graceful and expressive. O Wednesday |