Aits Readers in S the profest Design of this Work is to Entertain its Readers in general, without giving Offence to any particular Person, it would be difficult to find out so proper a Patron for it as Your self, there being none whose Merit is more universally acknowledged by all Parties, and who has made himself more Friends, and fewer Enemies. Your great Abilities, and unquestioned Integrity, in those High Employments which You have passed through, would not have been able to have raised You this general Approbation, had they not been accompanied with that Moderation in an high Fortune, and that Affability of Manners, which are so conspicu ous through all parts of Your Life. Your Aversion to any Ostentatious Arts of Setting to show those Great Services which You have done the Publick, has not likewise a little contributed to that Universal Acknowledgment which is paid You by Your Country, The Consideration of this Part of Your Character is that which hinders me from enlarging on those Extraordinary Talents, which have given You so great a Figure in the British Senate, as well as on that Elegance and Politeness, which appear in your more retired Conversation. I should be unpardonable, if, after what I have said, I should longer detain You with an Address of this Nature; I cannot, however, conclude it without owning those great Obligations which You have laid upon, SIR Your most Obedient, Humble Servant, III. THE SPECTATOR THE SPECTATOR. No. 170. UPON VOL. IIL Friday, September 14, 1711. No. 170. In amore haec omnia insunt vitia: injuriae, Bellum, pax rursum.— --Ter. Eun. Jealousie is that Pain which a Man feels from the Apprehension that he is not equally beloved by the Person whom he entirely loves. Now, because our inward Passions and Inclinations can never make themselves visible, it is impossible for a jealous Man to be throughly cured of his Suspicions. His Thoughts hang at best in a State of Doubtfulness and Uncertainty; and are never capable of receiving anv Satisfaction on the advantageous Side; so that his Enquiries are most successful when they discover nothing: His Pleasure arises from his Disappointments, and his Life is spent in Pursuit of a Secret that destroys his Happiness if he chance to find it. An ardent Love is always a strong Ingredient in this Passion; for the same Affection which stirs up the 3 jealous Friday, Sept. 14, 1711. No. 170, jealous Man's Desires, and gives the Party beloved so beautiful a Figure in his Imagination, makes him believe she kindles the same Passion in others, and appears as amiable to all Beholders. And as Jealousie thus arises from an extraordinary Love, it is of so delicate a Nature that it scorns to take up with any thing less than an equal Return of Love. Not the warmest Expressions of Affection, the softest and most tender Hypocrisie, are able to give any Satisfaction, where we are not per swaded that the Affection is real and the Satisfaction mutual. For the jealous Man wishes himself a kind of Deity to the Person he loves: He would be the only Pleasure of her Senses, the Employment of her Thoughts; and is angry at every thing she admires, or takes Delight in, besides himself. Phaedria's Request to his Mistress, upon his leaving her for three Days, is inimitably beautiful and natural. . Cum milite isto præsens, absens ut sies: Meus fac sis postremo anímus, quando ego sum tuus, -Ter, Eun. The jealous Man's Disease is of so malignant a nature, that it converts all he takes into its own Nourishment, A cool Behaviour sets him on the Rack, and is interpreted as an Instance of Aversion or Indifference; a fond one raises his Suspicions, and looks too much like Dissimulation and Artifice. If the Person he loves be cheerful, her Thoughts must be employed on another; and if sad, she is certainly thinking on himself. In short, there is no Word or Gesture so insignificant but it gives him new Hints, feeds his Suspicions, and fur nishes him with fresh Matters of Discovery So that if we consider the Effects of this Passion, one would rather think it proceeded from an inveterate Hatred than an excessive Love; for certainly none can meet with more Disquietude and Uneasiness than a suspected Wife, if we except the jealous Husband, But the great Unhappiness of this Passion is, that it naturally tends to alienate the Affection which it is so sollicitous sollicitous to engross; and that for these two Reasons, No. 170. because it lays too great a Constraint on the Words and Friday, Actions of the suspected Person, and at the same time Sept. 14, shews you have no honourable Opinion of her; both of which are strong Motives to Aversion. Nor is this the worst Effect of Jealousie; for it often draws after it a more fatal Train of Consequences, and makes the Person you suspect guilty of the very Crimes you are so much afraid of. It is very natural for such who are treated ill and upbraided falsely, to find out an intimate Friend that will hear their Complaints, condole their Sufferings, and endeavour to sooth and asswage their secret Resentments. Besides, Jealousie puts a Woman often in Mind of an ill thing that she would not otherwise perhaps have thought of, and fills her Imagination with such an unlucky Idea, as in Time grows familiar, excites Desire, and loses all the Shame and Horrour which might at first attend it. Nor is it a Wonder, if she who suffers wrongfully in a Man's Opinion of her, and has therefore nothing to forfeit in his Esteem, resolves to give him Reason for his Suspicions, and to enjoy the Pleasure of the Crime since she must undergo the Ignominy. Such probably were the Considerations that directed the wise Man in his Advice to Husbands; Be not jealous over the Wife of thy Bosom, and teach her not an evil Lesson against thyself. Ecclus. And here, among the other Torments which this Passion produces, we may usually observe that none are greater Mourners than jealous Men, when the Person who provoked their Jealousie is taken from them. Then it is that their Love breaks out furiously, and throws off all the Mixtures of Suspicion which choaked and smothered it before. The beautiful Parts of the Character rise uppermost in the jealous Husband's Memory, and upbraid him with the ill Usage of so divine a Creature as was once in his Possession; whilst all the little Imperfections that were before so uneasie to him wear off from his Remembrance, and shew them selves no more. We may see, by what has been said, that Jealousie takes the deepest Root in Men of amorous Dispositions; and 1711, |