fancy in this particular, a superior brute looks with a kind of pride on one of an inferior species. If they could reflect, we might imagine, from the gestures of some of them, that they think themselves the sovereigns of the world, and that all things were made for them. Such à thought would not be more absurd in brute creatures than one which men are apt to entertain, namely, that all the stars in the firmament were created only to please their eyes and amuse their imaginations. Mr. Dryden, in his fable of the Cock and the Fox, makes a speech for his hero, the cock, which is a pretty instance for this purpose. Then turning, said to Partlet, See, my dear, "What I would observe from the whole is this, that we ought to value ourselves upon those things only which superior beings think valuable, since that is the only way for us not to sink in own esteem hereafter." N° 622. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1714. Fallentis semita vitæ.-IOR. 1 Ep. xviii. 103. A safe private quiet, which betrays Itself to ease, and cheats away the days.-POOLEY. "MR. SPECTATOR, "IN Na former speculation you have observed, that true greatness doth not consist in that pomp and noise wherein the generality of mankind are apt to place it. You have there taken notice that virtue in obscurity often appears more illustrious in the eye of superior beings, than all that passes for grandeur and magnificence among men. "When we look back upon the history of those who have borne the part of kings, statesmen, or commanders, they appear to us stripped of those outside ornaments that dazzle their contemporaries; and we regard their persons as great or little in proportion to the eminence of their virtues or vices. The wise sayings, generous sentiments, or disinterested' conduct of a philosopher under mean circumstances of life, set him higher in our esteem than the mighty potentates of the earth, when we view them both through the long prospect of many ages. Were the memoirs of an obscure man, who lived up to the dignity of his nature, and according to the rules of virtue, to be laid before us, we should find nothing in such a character which might not set him on a level with men of the highest stations. The following extract out of the private papers of an honest country gentleman will set this matter in a clear light. Your reader will, perhaps conceive a greater idea of him from these actions done in secret, and without a witness, than of those which have drawn upon them the admiration of multitudes. MEMOIRS. "In my twenty-second year I found a violent affection for my cousin Charles's wife growing upon me, wherein I was in danger of succeeding, if I had not upon that account begun my travels into foreign countries. "A little after my return into England, at a private meeting with my uncle Francis, I refused the offer of his estate, and prevailed upon him not to disinherit his son Ned. "Mem. Never to tell this to Ned, lest he should think hardly of his deceased father: though he continues to speak ill of me for that very reason. "Prevented a scandalous lawsuit betwixt my nephew Harry and his mother, by allowing her underhand, out of my own pocket, so much money yearly as the dispute was about. "Procured a benefice for a young divine, who is sister's son to the good man who was my tutor, and hath been dead twenty years. H "Gave ten pounds to poor Mrs. 's widow. -, my friend "Mem. To retrench one dish at my table, until I have fetched it up again. "Mem. To repair my house and finish my gardens, in order to employ poor people after harvest-time. "Ordered John to let out goodman D -'s sheep that were pounded, by night; but not to let his fellowservants know it. Prevailed upon M. T. Esq. not to take the law of the farmer's son for shooting a partridge, and to give him his gun again. "Paid the apothecary for curing an old woman that confessed herself a witch. "Gave away my favourite dog, for biting a beggar. "Made the minister of the parish and a whig justice of one mind, by putting them upon explaining their notions to one another. "Mem. To turn off Peter for shooting a doe while she was eating acorns out of his hand. "When my neighbour John, who hath often injured me, comes to make his request to-morrow; "Mem. I have forgiven him. "Laid up my chariot, and sold my horses to relieve the poor in a scarcity of corn. 66 In the same year remitted to my tenants a fifth part of their rents. "As I was airing to-day I fell into a thought that warmed my heart, and shall, I hope, be the better for it as long as I live. "Mem. To charge my son in private to erect no monument for me; but not to put this in my last will." N° 623. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1714. Sed mihi vel tellus optem priùs ima dehiscat ;! $ VIRG. Æn. iv. 24. But first let yawning earth a passage rend, No: he who had my vows shall ever have; For whom I lov'd on earth, I worship in the grave.-DRYDEN. I towing curious piece of antiquity, which I shall commu AM obliged to my friend the love-casuist for the fol nicate to the public in his own words: "MR. SPECTATOR, "You may remember that I lately transmitted to you an account of an ancient custom in the manors of East and West Enborne, in the county of Berks, and elsewhere. If a customary tenant die, the widow shall have what the law calls her free bench, in all his copyhold lands dum sola et casta fuerit; that is, while she lives single and chaste; but if she commit incontinency, she forfeits her estate; yet if she will come into the court riding backward upon a black ram, with his tail in her hand, and say the words following, the steward is bound by the custom to re-admit her to her free bench : Here I am, Riding upon a black ram, Have lost my bincum bancum; And for my tail's game Have done this worldly shame; Therefore, I pray, you Mr. Steward, let me have "After having informed you that my Lord Coke observes, that this is the most frail and slippery tenure of any in England, I shall tell you, since the writing that letter, I have, according to my promise, been of great pains in searching out the records of the black ram; and have at last met with the proceedings of the court-baron, held in that behalf, for the space of a whole day. The record saith, that a strict inquisition having been made into the right of the tenants to their several estates, by a crafty old steward, he found that many of the lands of the manor were, by default of the several widows, forfeited to the lord, and accordingly would have entered on the premises; which the good women demanded the benefit of upon the ram.' The steward, after having perused their several pleas, adjourned the court to Barnaby-bright, that they might have day enough before them. "The court being set, and filled with a great concourse of people, who came from all parts to see the solemnity: the first who entered was the widow Frontly, who had made her appearance in the last year's cavalcade. The * Then the eleventh, now the twenty-second of June, being one of the longest days in the year. register observes that finding it an easy pad-ram, and foreseeing she might have farther occasion for it, she purchased it of the steward. "Mrs. Sarah Dainty, relict of Mr. John Dainty, who was the greatest prude of the parish, came next in the procession. She at first made some difficulty of taking the tail in her hand; and was observed, in pronouncing the form of penance, to soften the two most emphatical words into clincum clancum ; but the steward took care to make her speak plain English before he would let have her land again. "The third widow that was brought to this worldly shame, being mounted upon a vicious ram, had the misfortune to be thrown by him : upon which she hoped to be excused from going through the rest of the ceremony; but the steward being well versed in the law, observed very wisely upon this occasion, that the breaking of the rope does not hinder the execution of the criminal. fellows "The fourth lady upon record was the widow Ogle, a famous coquette, who had kept half a score young off and on for the space of two years: but having been more kind to her carter John, she was introduced with the huzzas of all her lovers about her. "Mrs. Sable appearing in her weeds, which were very new and fresh, and of the same colour with her whimsical palfrey, made a very decent figure in the solemnity. "Another, who had been summoned to make her appearance, was excused by the steward, as well knowing in his heart, that the good 'squire himself had qualified her for the ram. "Mrs. Quick, having nothing to object against the indictment, pleaded her belly. But it was remembered that she made the same excuse the year before. Upon which the steward observed, that she might so contrive it, as never to do the service of the manor. "The widow Fidget being cited into court, insisted that she had done no more since the death of her husband than what she used to do in his lifetime; and withal desired Mr. Steward to consider his own wife's case if he should chance to die before her. "The next in order was a dowager of a very corpulent make, who would have been excused as not finding any ram that was able to carry her; upon which the steward |