his Language base and filthy, his Behaviour rough No. 192. and absurd. Is this Creature to be accounted the Wednes Successor of a Man of Virtue, Wit, and Breeding? At day October the same time that I have this melancholy Prospect at 10, 171L the House where I miss my old Friend, I can go to a Gentleman's not far off it, where he has a Daughter who is the Picture both of his Body and Mind; but both improved with the Beauty and Modesty peculiar to her Sex. It is she who supplies the Loss of her Father to the World: She without his Name or Fortune is a truer Memorial of him, than her Brother who succeeds him in both. Such an Offspring as the eldest Son of my Friend, perpetuates his Father in the same manner as the Appearance of his Ghost would: It is indeed Ruricola, but it is Rurícola grown frightful I know not to what to attribute the brutal Turn which this young Man has taken, except it may be to a certain Severity and Distance which his Father used towards him; and might, perhaps, have occasioned a Dislike to those Modes of Life which were not made amiable to him by Freedom and Affability. We may promise our selves that no such Excrescence will appear in the Family of the Cornelii, where the Father lives with his Sons like their eldest Brother, and the Sons converse with him as if they did it for no other Reason but that he is the wisest Man of their Acquaintance. As the Cornelii are eminent Traders, their good Correspondence with each other is useful to all that know them as well as to themselves: And their Friendship, Good-will, and kind Offices, are dis posed of jointly as well as their Fortune; so that no one ever obliged one of them, who had not the Obliga tion multiplied in Returns from them all. It is the most beautiful Object the Eyes of Man can behold, to see a Man of Worth and his Son live in an entire unreserved Correspondence. The mutual Kindness and Affection between them give an inex pressible Satisfaction to all who know them. It is a sublime Pleasure which encreases by the Participation It is as sacred as Friendship, as pleasurable as Love, and as joyful as Religion. This State of Mind does not II 165 D only day, October 10, 1711. No. 192, only dissipate Sorrow, which would be extream with Wednes out it, but enlarges Pleasures which would otherwise be contemptible. The most indifferent thing has its Force and Beauty when it is spoke by a kind Father, and an insignificant Trifle has its Weight when offered by a dutiful Child. I know not how to express it, but I think I may call it a transplanted Self-love, All the Enjoyments and Sufferings which a Man meets with are regarded only as they concern him in the Relation he has to another. A Man's very Honour receives a new Value to him, when he thinks that when he is in his Grave it will be had in Remembrance that such an Action was done by such a one's Father, Such Considerations sweeten the old Man's Evening, and his Soliloquy delights him when he can say to himself, No Man can tell my Child his Father was either unmerciful or unjust. My Son shall meet many a Man who shall say to him, I was obliged to thy Father, and be my Child a Friend to his Child for ever. It is not in the Power of all Men to leave illustrious Names or great Fortunes to their Posterity, but they can very much conduce to their having Industry, Probity, Valour, and Justice. It is in every Man's Power to leave his Son the Honour of descending from a virtuous Man, and add the Blessings of Heaven to whatever he leaves him. I shall end this Rhapsody with a Letter to an excellent young Man of my Acquaintance who has lately lost a worthy Father, 'Dear Sir, I know no Part of Life more impertinent than the Office of administring Consolation: I will not enter into it, for I cannot but applaud your Grief. The virtuous Principles you had from that excellent Man whom you have lost, have wrought in you as they ought, to make a Youth of Three and Twenty incapable of Comfort upon coming into Possession of a great Fortune. I doubt not but you will honour his Memory by a modest En joyment of his Estate; and scorn to triumph over his Grave by employing in Riot, Excess, and Debauchery what he purchased with so much Industry, Prudence and Fand Wisdom. This is the true Way to shew the Sense No. 192. you have of your Loss, and to take away the Distress Wednesday, of others upon the Occasion. You cannot recall your October Father by your Grief, but you may revive him to his Friends by your Conduct.' 10, 1711 Ingentem foribus domus alta superbís T HEN we look round us, and behold the strange Wariety of Faces and Persons which fill the Streets with Business and Hurry, it is no unpleasant Amuse ment to make Guesses at their different Pursuits, and judge by their Countenances what it is that so anxiously engages their present Attention. Of all this busie Crowd, there are none who would give a Man inclined to such Inquiries better Diversion for his Thoughts, than those whom we call good Courtiers, and such as are assiduous at the Levées of Great Men. These Worthies are got into an Habit of being Servile with an Air, and enjoy a certain Vanity in being known for understanding how the World passes. In the pleasure of this they can rise early, go abroad sleek and well-dressed, with no other Hope or Purpose but to make a Bow to a Man in Court Favour, and be thought, by some insignificant Smile of his, not a little engaged in his Interests and Fortunes, It is wondrous that a Man can get over the Natural Existence and Possession of his own Mind so far, as to take delight either in paying or receiving such cold and repeated Civilities. But what maintains the Humour is, that outward Show is what most Men pursue, rather than real Happiness. Thus both the Idol and Idolater equally impose upon themselves in pleasing their Imaginations this way, But as there are very many of her Majesty's good Subjects who are extremely uneasie at their own Seats in the Country, where all from the Skies to the Center of the Earth is their own, and have a mighty longing to shine in Courts, or be Partners in the Power of the World; I say, for the Benefit of these, and others who No. 193. who hanker after being in the Whisper with great Men, Thursday, and vexing their Neighbours with the Changes they October il, would be capable of making in the Appearance at a Country Sessions, it would not methinks be amiss to give an Account of that Market for Preferment, a great Man's Levée, 1711. For ought I know, this Commerce between the Mighty and their Slaves, very justly represented, might do so much good, as to incline the Great to regard Business rather than Ostentation; and make the Little know the Use of their Time too well, to spend it in vain Appli cations and Addresses. The Famous Doctor in Moorfields, who gained so much Reputation for his Horary Predictions, is said to have had in his Parlour different Ropes to little Bells, which hung in the Room above Stairs, where the Doctor thought fit to be oraculous. If a Girl had been deceived by her Lover, one Bell was pulled; and if a Peasant had lost a Cow, the Servant rung another. This Method was kept in respect: to all other Passions and Concerns, and the skilful Waiter below sifted the Enquirer, and gave the Doctor Notice accordingly, The Levée of a great Man is laid after the same manner, and twenty Whispers, false Alarms, and private Intimations pass backward and forward, from the Porter, the Valet, and the Patron himself, before the gaping Crew who are to pay their Court are gathered together when the Scene is ready, the Doors fly open and discover his Lordship. There are several Ways of making this first Appearance You may be either half dressed, and washing your self, which is, indeed, the most_stately but this way of opening is peculiar to Military Men, in whom there is something graceful in exposing themselves naked; but the Politicians, or Civil Officers, have usually affected to be more reserved, and preserve a certain Chastity of Deportment. Whether it be Hieroglyphical or not, this Difference in the Military and Civil List, I will not say, but have ever understood the Fact to be that the close Minister is buttoned up, and the brave Officer open-breasted on these Occasions. However that is, I humbly conceive the Business of a 1711 Levée is to receive the Acknowledgments of a Multitude, No. 193, that a Man is Wise, Bounteous, Valiant, and Powerful. Thursday, When the first Shot of Eyes are made, it is wonderful to October 11, observe how much Submission the Patron's Modesty can bear, and how much Servitude the Client's Spirit can descend to. In the vast multiplicity of Business, and the Crowd about him, my Lord's Parts are usually so great, that, to the Astonishment of the whole Assembly, he has something to say to every Man there, and that so suitable to his Capacity, as any Man may judge that it is not without Talents that Men can arrive at great Employ ments. I have known a great Man ask a Flag-Officer, which way was the Wind, a Commander of Horse the present Price of Oats, and a Stock-Jobber at what Discount such a Fund was, with as much ease as if he had been bred to each of those several ways of Life. Now this is extremely obliging; for at the same time that the Patron informs himself of Matters, he gives the Person of whom he enquires an Opportunity to exert himself. What adds to the Pomp of those Interviews is, that it is performed with the greatest Silence and Order imaginable. The Patron is usually in the midst of the Room, and some humble Person gives him a Whisper, which his Lordship answers aloud, It is well. Yes, I am of your Opinion. Pray inform your self further, you may be sure of my Part in it. This happy Man is dismissed, and my Lord can turn himself to a Business of a quite different Nature, and off-hand give as good an Answer as any great Man is obliged to. For the chief Point is to keep in Generals, and if there be any thing offered that's Particular, to be in haste, But we are now in the Height of the Affair, and my Lord's Creatures have all had their Whispers round to keep up the Farce of the thing, and the Dumb Show is become more general. He casts his Eye to that Corner, and there to Mr. such a one; to the other, and when did you come to Town? and perhaps just before he nods to another, and enters with him, but, Sir, I am glad to see you, now I think of it. Each of those are happy for the next four and twenty Hours; and those who bow in Ranks undistinguished, and by Dozens at a Time, think they |