ON SOPHOCLES, BY SIMONIDES. This epigram I have opened more than any one of the former: the thought towards the latter end seemed closer couched, so as to require an explication. I fancied the poet aimed at the picture which is generally made of Apollo and the Muses; he sitting with his harp in the middle, and they around him. This looked beautiful to my thought, and because the image arose before me out of the words of the original as I was reading it, I ventured to explain them so. ON MENANDER; THE AUTHOR UNNAMED. 'This epigram has a respect to the character of its subject; for Menander writ remarkably with a justness and purity of language. It has also told the country he was born in, without either a set or a hidden manner, while it twists together the glory of the poet and his nation, so as to make the nation depend upon his for an increase of its own. I will offer no more instances at present, to show that they who deserve praise have it returned them from different ages: let these which have been laid down show men that envy will not always prevail. And to the end that writers may more successfully enliven the endeavours of one another, let them consider, in some such manner as I have attempted, what may be the justest spirit and art of praise. It is indeed very hard to come up to it. Our praise is trifling when it depends upon fable; it is false when it depends upon wrong qualifications; it means nothing when it is general; it is extremely difficult to hit when we propose to raise characters high, while we keep to them justly. I shall end this with transcribing that excellent epitaph of Mr. Cowley, wherein, with a kind of grave and philosophic humour, he very beatifully speaks of himself (withdrawn from the world, and dead to all the interests of it) as of a man really deceased. At the same time it is an instruction how to leave the public with a good grace. EPITAPHIUM VIVI AUCTORIS. Terra sit illa levis, precare. Valis adhuc cinerem calentem." THE LIVING AUTHOR'S EPITAPH. "From life's superfluous cares enlarg'd, His debt of human toil discharg'd, Here Cowley lies, beneath this shed, A spot of earth is now his all! Bring flow'rs, the short liv'd roses bring, And sweets around the poets strow, Whilst yet with life his ashes glow." Τις ποθ ̓ ὅτον Τροίης πολεμον, &c. "Who first transcrib'd the famous Trojan war, If you think it worthy of a place in your speculations, for anght I know (by that means) it may in time be printed as often in English as it has already been in Greek. I am (like the rest of the world), '4th Dec. 'SIR, The reader may observe that the beauty of this epigram is different from that of any in the foregoing. An irony is looked upon as the finest palliative of praise; and very often conveys the noblest panegyric under the appearance of satire. Homer is here seemingly accused and treated as a plagiary; but what is drawn up in the form of an accusation is certainly, as my correspondent observes, the greatest compliment that could have been paid to that divine poet. DEAR MR. SPECTATOR, 'I AM a gentleman of a pretty good fortune, and of a temper impatient of any thing which I think an injury; however, I always quarrelled according to law, and, instead of attacking my adversary by the dangerous method of sword and pistol, I made my assaults by that more secure one of writ or warrant. I cannot help telling you, that either by the justice of my causes or the superiority of my counsel, I have been generally successful; and to my great satisfaction I can say it, that by three actions of slander, and half a dozen trespasses, I have for several years enjoyed a perfect tranquillity in my reputation and estate: by these means also I have been made known to the judges; the serjeants of our circuit are my intimate friends, and the ornamental counsel pay a very profound respect to one who has made so great a figure in the law. Affairs of consequence having brought The translation of Cowley's epitaph, and all that follows, except the concluding letter signed Philonicus, was first printed in the 8vo edition of 1712. 66 66 up by the fairest hands; and there examined by the beauteous eyes of the buyers, the most delicate cambrics, muslins, and linens. I could not bar cogratulate my friend on the humble, but I hoped beneficial, use he had made of his talents, alt wished I could be a patron to his trade, as he had been pleased to make me of his poetry. The bo nest man has, I know, that modest desire of gain which is peculiar to those who understand beer things than riches: and I dare say he would be contented with much less than what is called wean. at that quarter of the town which be inhabits, and will oblige all his customers with demands agm able to the moderation of his desires. me to town, I had the curiosity the other day to visit Westminster-hall; and, having placed myself in one of the courts, expected to be most agreeably entertained. After the court and counsel were with due ceremony seated, up stands a learned gentleman, and began, When this matter was last "stirred" before your lordships; the next humbly moved to "quash" an indictment; another complained that his adversary had "snapped" a judgment; the next informed the court that his client was stripped" of his possession; another begged leave to acquaint his lordship they had been saddled" with costs. At last up got a grave ser jeant, and told us his client had been "hung up" a whole term by a writ of error. At this I could Among other omissions of which I have been bear it no longer, but came hither, and resolved also guilty, with relation to men of industry of a to apply myself to your honour to interpose with superior order, I must acknowledge my silence to these gentlemen, that they would leave off such wards a proposal frequently inclosed to me by Mr. low and unnatural expressions: for surely though Renatus Harris, organ-builder*. The ambition of the lawyers subscribe to hideous French and false this artificer is to erect an organ in St. Paul's c Latin, yet they should let their clients have a little thedral, over the west door, at the entrance ma decent and proper English for their money. What the body of the church, which in art and mager man that has a value for a good name would like ficence shall transcend any work of that kind ever to have it said in a public court, that Mr. Such-a- before invented. The proposal in perspicuon one was stripped, saddled, or hung up? This be-language sets forth the honour and advantage na ing what has escaped your spectatorial observation, be pleased to correct such an illiberal cant among professed speakers, and you will infinitely oblige 'Joe's Coffee-house, Nov. 28. Your humble servant, 'PHILONICUS.' a performance would be to the British name, as well as that it would apply the power of sounds in a manner more amazingly forcible than perhaps has yet been known, and I am sure to an end me a more worthy. Had the vast sums which have bees laid out upon operas without skill or conduct, and to no other purpose but to suspend or vitiate out understandings, been disposed this way, we should now perhaps have an engine so formed as to strike the minds of half the people at once in a place of worship with a forgetfulness of present care and No 552. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1712. calamity, and a hope of endless rapture, joy, and [Author uncertain.] hallelujah hereafter. When I am doing this justice, I am not to for get the best mechanic of my acquaintance, that useful servant to science and knowledge Mr. Joz Rowley; but I think I lay a great obligation es the public, by acquainting them with his proposals for a pair of new globes. After his preamble, be promises in the said proposals that, IN THE CELESTIAL GLOBE, Care should be taken that the fixed stars be tude, from the many and correct observations of Hevelius, Cassini, Mr. Flamstead, reg, astronom; Dr. Halley, Savilian professor of geometry Oxon! and from whatever else can be procured to render the globe more exact, instructive, and useful. As I was tumbling about the town the other day in a hackney-coach, and delighting myself with busy scenes in the shops of each side of me, it came into my head, with no small remorse, that I had not been frequent enough in the mention and re-placed according to their true longitude and let commendation of the industrious part of mankind. It very naturally upon this occasion touched my conscience in particular, that I had not acquitted myself to my friend Mr. Peter Motteux *. That industrious man of trade, and formerly brother of the quill, has dedicated to me a poem upon tea. It would injure him, as a man of business, if I did That all the constellations be drawn in a cannot let the world know that the author of so good ous, new, and particular manner; each star in se verses writ them before he was concerned in traffic. just, distinct, and conspicuous a proportion, that In order to expiate my negligence towards him, I its magnitude may be readily known by bare aimmediately resolved to make him a visit. I found spection, according to the different light and sizm his spacious warehouses filled and adorned with of the stars. That the track or way of such ceara tea, China and India ware, I could observe a as have been well observed, but not hitherto exbeautiful ordonnance of the whole; and such dif-pressed in any globe, be carefully delineated ferent and considerable branches of trade carried this.' on in the same house I exulted in seeing disposed by a poetical head. In one place were exposed to view silks of various shades and colours, rich brocades, and the wealthiest products of foreign looms. Here you might see the finest laces held IN THE TERRESTRIAL GLOBE, 6 That by reason of the descriptions ferment♥ made, both in the English and Dutch great case, are erroneous, Asia, Africa, and America, be tran in a manner wholly new; by which means i, a ta * See an account of him in the Biographia Dramatica, vol. i.be noted that the undertakers will be oisid sə He was found dead on his birth-day, Feb. 19, 1717-18, in a house of ill-fame in Star-court, Butcher-row, Temple-bar; and several circumstances tended to confirm a suspicion that he was murdered, * See Hawkins's History of Music, vol. iv. p. Ka + Master of Mechanics to King George L. alter the latitude of some places in ten degrees, the longitude of others in twenty degrees; besides which great and necessary alterations, there be many remarkable countries, cities, towns, rivers, and lakes, omitted in other globes, inserted here according to the best discoveries made by our late navigators. Lastly, That the course of the tradewinds, the monsoons, and other winds periodically shifting between the tropics, be visibly expressed. 'Now, in regard that this undertaking is of so universal use, as the advancement of the most necessary parts of the mathematics, as well as tending to the honour of the British nation, and that the charge of carrying it on is very expensive, it is desired that all gentlemen who are willing to promote so great a work will be pleased to subscribe on the following conditions. galleries on every side, and the letting of them out upon that occasion. I have a letter also from a bookseller, petitioning me in a very humble manner that he may have the printing of the speech which I shall make to the assembly upon the first opening of my mouth. I am informed from all parts that there are great canvassings in the several clubs about town, upon the choosing of a proper person to sit with me on those arduous affairs to which I have summoned them. Three clubs have already proceeded to election, whereof one has made a double return. If I find that my ene mies shall take advantage of my silence to begin hostilities upon me, or if any other exigency of affairs may so require, since I see elections in so great a forwardness, we may possibly meet before the day appointed; or if matters go on to my satisfaction, I may perhaps put off the meeting to a further day; but of this public notice shall be given. 1. The undertakers engage to furnish each subscriber with a celestial and terrestrial globe, each of thirty inches diameter, in all respects curiously adorned, the stars gilded, the capital cities plainly distinguished, the frames, meridians, horizons, hourcircles, and indexes, so exactly finished up, and accurately divided, that a pair of these globes will really appear, in the judgment of any disinterested and intelligent person, worth fifteen pounds more than will be demanded for them by the under-casion, having received letters to expostulate with takers. 2. Whosoever will be pleased to subscribe, and pay twenty-five pounds in the manner following for a pair of these globes, either for their own use, or to present them to any college in the universities, or any public library or schools, shall have his coat of arms, name, title, seat, or place of residence, &c. inserted in some convenient place of the globe. '3. That every subscriber do at first pay down the sum of ten pounds, and fifteen pounds more upon the delivery of each pair of globes perfectly fitted up. And that the said globes be delivered within twelve months after the number of thirty subscribers be completed; and that the subscribers be served with globes in the order in which they subscribed. 4. That a pair of these globes shall not hereafter be sold to any person but the subscribers under thirty pounds. 5. That, if there be not thirty subscribers within four months after the first of December 1712, the money paid shall be returned on demand by Mr. John Warner, goldsmith, near Temple-bar, who shall receive and pay the same according to the above-mentioned articles.' In the mean time, I must confess that I am not a little gratified and obliged by that concern which appears in this great city upon my present design of laying down this paper. It is likewise with much satisfaction that I find some of the most outlying parts of the kingdom alarmed upon this oc me about it from several of my readers of the remotest boroughs of Great Britain. Among these I am very well pleased with a letter dated from Berwick upon Tweed, wherein my correspondent compares the office, which I have for some time executed in these realms, to the weeding of a great garden; which,' says he, it is not sufficient to weed once for all, and afterwards to give over, but that the work must be continued daily, or the same spots of ground which are cleared for a while will in a little time be overrun as much as ever.' Another gentle. man lays before me several enormities that are already sprouting, and which he believes will discover themselves in their growth immediately after my disappearance. There is no doubt,' says he, but the ladies' heads will shoot up as soon as they know they are no longer under the Spectator's eye; and I have already seen such monstrous broad-brimmed hats under the arms of foreigners, that I question not but they will overshadow the island within a month or two after the dropping of your paper.' But, among all the letters which are come to my hands, there is none so handsomely written as the following one, which I am the more pleased with as it is sent me from gentlemen who belong to a body which I shall always honour, and where (I cannot speak it without a secret pride) my speculations have met with a very kind reception. It is usual for poets, upon the publishing of their works, to print before them such copies of verses as have been made in their praise. Not that you must imagine they are pleased with their own commendation, but because the elegant compositions of their friends should not be lost. I must make the same apology for the publication of the ensuing letter, in which I have suppressed no part of those praises that are given my speculations with too lavish and good-natured a hand; though my correspondents can witness for me, that at other times I have generally blotted out those parts in the letters which I have received from them. companion in the world: that kind of conversation tion among its members, who shall show the m which you hold with the town has the good fortune of profound respect for your paper; not but we ham being always pleasing to the men of taste and lei- a very great value for your person: and I dar sure, and never offensive to those of hurry and say you can no where find four more sincere a business. You are never heard but at what Ho-mirers, and humble servants, than race calls dextro tempore, and have the happiness to observe the politic rule, which the same discerning author gave his friend when he enjoined him to deliver his book to Augustus ; "Si validus, si lætus erit, si denique poscct." You never begin to talk but when people are desirous to hear you; and I defy any one to be out of humour till you leave off. But I am led unawares into reflections foreign to the original design of this epistle; which was to let you know, that some unfeigned admirers of your inimitable papers, who could, without any flattery, greet you with the salutation used to the eastern monarchs, viz. "O Spec, live for ever," have lately been under the same apprehensions with Mr. Philo-Spec; that the haste you have made to dispatch your best friends portends no long duration to your own short visage. We could not, indeed, find any just grounds for complaint in the method you took to dissolve that venerable body; no, the world was not worthy of your Divine. Will Honeycomb could not, with any reputation, live single any longer. It was high time for the Templar to turn himself to Coke; and Sir Roger's dying was the wisest thing he ever did in his life. It was, however, matter of great grief to us, to think that we were in danger of losing so elegant and valuable an entertainment. And we could not, without sorrow, reflect that we were likely to have nothing to interrupt our sips in a morning, and to suspend our coffee in mid-air, between our lips and right ear, but the ordinary trash of newspapers. We resolved, therefore, not to part with you so. But since, to make use of your own allusion, the cherries began now to crowd the market, and their season was almost over, we consulted our future enjoyments, and endeavoured to make the exquisite pleasure that delicious fruit gave our taste as lasting as we could, and by drying them protract their stay beyond its natural date. We own that thus they have not a flavour equal to that of their juicy bloom; but yet, under this disadvantage, they pique the palate, and become a salver better than any other fruit at its first appearance. To speak plain, there are a number of us who have begun your works afresh, and meet two nights in the week in order to give you a rehearing. We never come together without drinking your health, and as seldom part without general expressions of thanks to you for our night's improvement. This we conceive to be a more useful institution than any other club whatever, not excepting even that of Ugly Faces. We have one manifest advantage over that renowned society, with respect to Mr. Spectator's company. For though they may brag that you sometimes make your personal appearance amongst them, it is impossible they should ever get a word from you, whereas you are with us the reverse of what Phædria would have his mistress be in his rival's company, "present in your absence." We make you talk as much and as long as we please; and, let me tell you, you seldom hold your tongue for the whole evening. I promise myself you will look with an eye of favour upon a meeting which owes its original to a mutual emula 'T. F. G. S. J. T. LT.' N° 554. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1712. Tentanda via est, qua me quoque possim New ways I must attempt, my groveling name I AM obliged for the following essay, as well a 'IT is a remark, made as I remember by a te lebrated French author, that no man ever pushed his capacity as far as it was able to extead. I shall not inquire whether this assertion be strictly true. It may suffice to say, that men of the great est application and acquirements can look back upon many vacant spaces, and neglected parts time, which have slipped away from them menployed; and there is hardly any one consider t person in the world but is apt to fancy with himse at some time or other, that if his life were to beg again he could fill it up better. The mind is most provoked to cast on itself thi ingenuous reproach, when the examples of such men are presented to it as have far outshot the gene rality of their species in learning, arts, or any va luable improvements. 'One of the most extensive and improved ge uses we have had any instance of in our own natios, or in any other, was that of Sir Francis Bacar, Lord Verulam. This great man, by an extraordi nary force of nature, compass of thought, and isdefatigable study, had amassed to himself such stores of knowledge as we cannot look upon with out amazement. His capacity seemed to have grasped all that was revealed in books before his time; and, not satisfied with that, he began to strike out new tracks of science, too many to be travelled over by any one man in the compass of the longest life. These therefore he could only mark down like imperfect coastings in maps, er supposed points of land, to be further discovered and ascertained by the industry of after-ages, who should proceed upon his notices or conjectures. "The excellent Mr. Boyle was the person whe seems to have been designed by nature to succeed to the labours and inquiries of that extraordinary genius I have just mentioned. By innumerate experiments, he in a great measure filled up those plans and outlines of science, which his predeces sor has sketched out. His life was spent in the pursuit of nature through a great variety of forms and changes, and in the most rational as well as devout adoration of its divine Author. 'It would be impossible to name many persons who have extended their capacities as far as the two, in the studies they pursued; but my learned readers on this occasion will naturally turn the thoughts to a third †, who is yet living, and a like vise the glory of our own nation. The improveents which others had made in natural and mahematical knowledge have so vastly increased in is hands, as to afford at once a wonderful instance ow great the capacity is of a human soul, and ow inexhaustible the subject of its inquiries; so ue is that remark in holy writ, that "though a rise man seek to find out the works of God from he beginning to the end, yet shall he not be able › do it." 'I cannot help mentioning here one character ore of a different kind indeed from these, yet ich an one as may serve to show the wonderful orce of nature and of application, and is the most ngular instance of an universal genius I have ver met with. The person I mean is Leonardo da 'inci, an Italian painter, descended from a noble amily in Tuscany, about the beginning of the ixteenth century *. In his profession of historyainting he was so great a master, that some have firmed he excelled all who went before him. It certain that he raised the envy of Michael Anelo, who was his contemporary, and that from he study of his works Raphael himself learned his est manner of designing. He was a master too in culpture and architecture, and skilful in anatomy, pathematics, and mechanics. The aqueduct from he river Adda to Milan is mentioned as a work of is contrivance. He had learned several languages, and was acquainted with the studies of history, hilosophy, poetry, and music. Though it is not ecessary to my present purpose, I cannot but ake notice, that all who have writ of him menioned likewise his perfection of body. The intances of his strength are almost incredible. He s described to have been of a well-formed person, and a master of all genteel exercises. And lastly, we are told that his moral qualities were agreeable o his natural and intellectual endowments, and hat he was of an honest and generous nind, dorned with great sweetness of manners. 1 night break of the account of him here, but I magine it will be an entertainment to the curiosity of my readers, to find so remarkable a character listinguished by as remarkable a circumstance at is death. The fame of his works having gained im an universal esteem, he was invited to the Court of France, where, after some time, he fell ick; and Francis the first coming to see him, he aised himself in his bed to acknowledge the hoour which was done him by that visit. The king mbraced him, and Leonardo, fainting at the same nstant, expired in the arms of that great mo Darch. It is impossible to attend to such instances as hese, without being raised into a contemplation on he wonderfl nature of an human mind, which is apable of such progressions in knowledge, and can contain such a variety of ideas without perplexity or confusion. How reasonable is it from ence to infer its divine original? And whilst we ind unthinking matter endued with a natural power to last for ever, unless annihilated by Omipotence, how absurd would it be to imagine that A Being so much superior to it should not have the ame privilege? At the same time it is very surprising, when we remove our thoughts from such instances as I have mentioned, to consider those we so frequently meet with in the accounts of barbarous nations Among the Indians; where we find numbers of people who scarce show the first glimmerings of rea He was born in 1445, and died in 1520, in the arms of Francis 1. King of France son, and seem to have few ideas above those of sense and appetite. These, methinks, appear like large wilds, or vast uncultivated tracts of human nature; and, when we compare them with men of the most exalted characters in arts and learning, we find it difficult to believe that they are creatures of the same species. 'Some are of opinion, that the souls of men are all naturally equal, and that the great disparity we so often observe arises from the different organization or structure of the bodies to which they are united. But, whatever constitutes this first disparity, the next great difference which we find between men in their several acquirements is owing to accidental differences in their education, fortunes, or course of life. The soul is a kind of rough diamond, which requires art, labour, and time, to polish it. For want of which many a good natural genius is lost, or lies unfashioned, like a jewel in the mine. One of the strongest incitements to excel in such arts and accomplishments as are in the highest esteem among men, is the natural passion which the mind of man has for glory; which, though it may be faulty in the excess of it, ought by no means to be discouraged. Perhaps some moralists are too se vere in beating down this principle, which seems to be a spring implanted by nature to give motion to all the latent powers of the soul, and is always observed to exert itself with the greatest force in the most generous dispositions. The men whose characters have shone the brightest among the ancient Romans, appear to have been strongly animated by this passion. Cicero, whose learning and services to his country are so well known, was inflamed by it to an extravagant degree, and warmly presses Lucceius, who was composing a history of those times, to be very particular and zealous in relating the story of his consulship; and to execute it speedily, that he might have the pleasure of enjoying in his life-time some part of the honour which he foresaw would be paid to his memory. This was the ambition of a great mind; but he is faulty in the degree of it, and canão' refrain from soliciting the historian upon this occasion to neglect the strict laws of history, and, in praising him, even to exceed the bounds of truth. The younger Pliny appears to have had the same passion for fame, but accompanied with greater chasteness and modesty. His ingenuous manner of owning it to a friend, who had prompted him to undertake some great work is exquisitely beautiful, and raises him to a certain grandeur above the imputation of vanity. "I must confess," says he, that nothing employs my thoughts more than the desire I have of perpetuating my name; which in my opinion is a design worthy of a man, at least of such an one, who, being conscious of no guilt, is not afraid to be remembered by posterity." 'I think I ought not to conclude without interesting all my readers in the subject of this discourse: I shall therefore lay it down as a maxim, that though all are not capable of shining in learning or the politer arts, yet every one is capable of excelling in something. The soul has in this respect a certain vegetative power which cannot lie wholly idle. If it is not laid out and cultivated into a regular and beautiful garden, it will of itself shoot up in weeds or flowers of a wilder growth.' HUGHES, |