I

Erranti, passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti.—Virg.

'Mr. SPECTATOR,

AM very sorry to find by your Discourse upon the Eye, that you have not thoroughly studied the Nature and Force of that Part of a beauteous Face, Had you ever been in Love, you would have said ten thousand Things, which it seems did not occur to you: Do but reflect upon the Nonsense it makes Men talk, the Flames which it is said to kindle, the Transport it raises, the Dejection it causes in the bravest Men; and if you do believe those Things are expressed to an Extravagance, yet you will own, that the Influence of it is very great which moves Men to that Extrava gance. Certain it is, that the whole Strength of the Mind is sometimes seated there; that a kind Look imparts all, that a Year's Discourse could give you, in one Moment. What matters it what she says to you, see how she looks is the Language of all who know what Love is. When the Mind is thus summed up and expressed in a Glance, did you never observe a sudden Joy arise in the Countenance of a Lover? Did you never see the Attendance of Years paid, over paid, in an Instant? You a SPECTATOR, and not know that the Intelligence of Affection is carried on by the Eye only; that Good-breeding has made the Tongue falsify the Heart, and act a Part of continual Constraint, while Nature has preserved the Eyes to her self, that

day, Dec. 19,

1711,

No. 252,

Wednes day, Dec. 19,

1711.

The

she may not be disguised or misrepresented.
poor Bride can give her Hand, and say, I do, with a
languishing Air to the Man she is obliged by cruel
Parents to take for mercenary Reasons, but at the same
Time she cannot look as if she loved; her Eye is full
of Sorrow, and Reluctance sits in a Tear, while the
Offering of the Sacrifice is performed in what we call
the Marriage Ceremony, Do you never go to Plays?
Cannot you distinguish between the Eyes of those who
go to see, from those who come to be seen? I am a
Woman turned of Thirty, and am on the Observation
a little; therefore if you or your Correspondent had
consulted me in your Discourse on the Eye, I could
have told you that the Eye of Leonora is slyly watchful
while it looks negligent; she looks round her without
the Help of the Glasses you speak of, and yet seems to
be employed on Objects directly before her. This
Eye is what affects Chance-medley, and on a sudden,
as if it attended to another Thing, turns all its Charms
against an Ogler. The Eye of Lusitania is an In-
strument of premeditated Murder, but the Design being
visible, destroys the Execution of it; and with much
more Beauty than that of Leonora, it is not half so
mischievous, There is a brave Soldier's Daughter in
Town, that by her Eye has been the Death of more
than ever her Father made fly before him. A beautiful
Eye makes Silence eloquent, a kind Eye makes Con-
tradiction an Assent, an enraged Eye makes Beauty
deformed, This little Member gives Life to every
other Part about us, and I believe the Story of Argus
implies no more than that the Eye is in every Part,
that is to say, every other Part would be mutilated,
were not its Force represented more by the Eye than
even by it self, But this is Heathen Greek to those
who have not conversed by Glances. This, Sir, is a
Language in which there can be no Deceit, nor can
a skilful Observer be imposed upon by Looks even
among Politicians and Courtiers. If you do me the
Honour to print this among your Speculations, I shall
in my next, make you a Present of secret History,
by translating all the Looks of the next Assembly of

Ladies and Gentlemen into Words, to adorn some future No. 252.

I have a Sot of a Husband that lives a very scandalous Life, and wastes away his Body and Fortune in Debauches; and is immoveable to all the Arguments I can urge to him. I would gladly know whether in some Cases a Cudgel may not be allowed as a good Figure of Speech, and whether it may not be lawfully used by a female Orator,

'Mr. SPECTATOR,

Your humble Servant,

Barbara Crabtree,'

Though I am a Practitioner in the Law of some standing, and have heard many eminent Pleaders in my Time, as well as other eloquent Speakers of both Universities, yet I agree with you that Women are better qualified to succeed in Oratory than the Men, and believe this is to be resolved into natural Causes. You have mentioned only the Volubility of their Tongue; but what do you think of the silent Flattery of their pretty Faces, and the Perswasion which even an insipid Discourse carries with it when flowing from beautiful Lips, to which it would be cruel to deny any Thing? It is certain too that they are possessed of some Springs of Rhetorick which Men want, such as Tears, fainting Fits, and the like, which I have seen employed upon Occa sion with good Success. You must know I am a plain Man and love my Money; yet I have a Spouse who is so great an Orator in this Way, that she draws from me what Sums she pleases. Every Room in my House is furnished with Trophies of her Eloquence, rich Cabinets, Piles of China, Japan Screens, and costly Jarrs; and if you were to come into my great Parlour, you would fancy your self in an India Warehouse: Besides this,

she

1711.

No. 252. she keeps a Squirrel, and I am doubly taxed to pay for Wednes the China he breaks. She is seized with periodical Fits day, about the Time of the Subscriptions to a new Opera, Dec. 19, and is drowned in Tears after having seen any Woman there in finer Cloaths than her self: These are Arts of Perswasion purely Feminine, and which a tender Heart cannot resist. What I would therefore desire of you, is, to prevail with your Friend who has promised to dissect a Female Tongue, that he would at the same Time give us the Anatomy of a female Eye, and ex plain the Springs and Sluices which feed it with such ready Supplies of Moisture; and likewise shew by what Means, if possible, they may be stopped at a reasonable Expence: Or indeed, since there is something so moving in the very Image of weeping Beauty, it would be worthy his Art to provide, that these eloquent Drops may no more be lavished on Trifles, or employed as Servants to their wayward Wills; but reserved for serious Occasions in Life, to adorn generous Pity, true Penitence, or real Sorrow.

T

No. 253,

I am, &c.'

[ADDISON.]

Thursday, December 20,

Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse

Compositum illepideve putetur, sed quía nuper-Hor,

HERE is nothing which more denotes a great Mind, than the Abhorrence of Envy and Detraction. This Passion reigns more among bad Poets, than among any other Set of Men,

As there are none more ambitious of Fame, than those who are conversant in Poetry, it is very natural for such as have not succeeded in it to depreciate the Works of those who have. For since they cannot raise themselves to the Reputation of their Fellow-Writers, they must endeavour to sink it to their own Pitch, if they would still keep themselves upon a Level with them,

The greatest Wits that ever were produced in one Age, lived together in so good an Understanding, and

celebrated

1711,

celebrated one another with so much Generosity, that No. 253, each of them receives an additional Lustre from his Thursday, Contemporaries, and is more famous for having lived Dec. 20, with Men of so extraordinary a Genius, than if he had himself been the sole Wonder of the Age. I need not tell my Reader, that I here point at the Reign of Augustus, and I believe he will be of my Opinion, that neither Virgil nor Horace would have gained so great a Reputation in the World, had they not been the Friends and Admirers of each other, Indeed all the great Writers of that Age, for whom singly we have so great an Esteem, stand up together as Vouchers for one another's Reputation. But at the same time that Virgil was celebrated by Gallus, Propertius, Horace, Varius, Tucca and Ovid, we know that Bavius and Mævius were his declared Foes and Calumniators,

In our own Country a Man seldom sets up for a Poet, without attacking the Reputation of all his Brothers in the Art. The Ignorance of the Moderns, the Scribblers of the Age, the Decay of Poetry, are the Topicks of Detraction, with which he makes his Entrance into the World: But how much more noble is the Fame that is built on Candour and Ingenuity, according to those beautiful Lines of Sir John Denham, in his Poem on Fletcher's Works!

But whither am I straíd? I need not raise
Trophies to thee from other Men's Dispraise ;
Nor is thy Fame on lesser Ruins built,
Nor needs thy juster Title the foul Guilt

Of Eastern Kings, who to secure their Reign

Must have their Brothers, Sons, and Kindred slain,

I am sorry to find that an Author, who is very justly esteemed among the best Judges, has admitted some Stroaks of this Nature into a very fine Poem, I mean The Art of Criticism, which was published some Months since, and is a Master-piece in its Kind. The Observations follow one another like those in Horace's Art of Poetry, without that methodical Regularity which would have been requisite in a Prose Author. They are some of them uncommon, but such as the Reader must assent to, when he sees them explained with

that