those airy Criticks, that the Appellation of a Sober Man No. 525, should signifie a Spiritless Fellow. And I am apt to Saturday Nov. 1, think it was about the same time, that Good-nature, a 1712. Word so peculiarly elegant in our Language, that some have affirmed it cannot well be expressed in any other, came first to be rendered Suspicious, and in danger of being transferred from its original Sense, to so distant an Idea as that of Folly, I must confess it has been my Ambition, in the Course of my Writings, to restore, as well as I was able, the proper Ideas of Things. And as I have attempted this already on the Subject of Marriage, in several Papers, I shall here add some further Observations which occur to me on the same Head, Nothing seems to be thought, by our fine Gentlemen, so indispensable an Ornament in fashionable Life, as Love, A Knight Errant, says Don Quixot, without a Mistress, is like a Tree without Leaves; and a Man of Mode among Us, who has not some Fair One to sigh for, might as well pretend to appear dressed, without his Periwig. We have Lovers in Prose innumerable, All our Pretenders to Rhime are profess'd Inamoratos; and there is scarce a Poet, good or bad, to be heard of, who has not some real or supposed Sacharissa to improve his Vein, If Love be any Refinement, Conjugal Love must be cer tainly so in a much higher Degree. There is no Com parison between the frivolous Affectation of attracting the Eyes of Women with whom you are only captivated by Way of Amusement, and of whom perhaps you know nothing more than their Features, and a regular and uniform Endeavour to make your self valuable, both as a Friend and Lover, to one whom you have chosen to be the Companion of your Life. The first is the Spring of a thousand Fopperies, silly Artifices, Falshoods, and perhaps Barbarities; or at best arises no higher than to a kind of Dancing School Breeding, to give the Person a more sparkling Air, The latter is the Parent of substantial Virtues and agreeable Qualities, and cultivates the Mind while it improves the Behaviour. The Passion of Love to a Mistress, even where it is most sincere, resembles too No. 525. too much the Flame of a Feaver; that to a Wife is like the Saturday, Vital Heat, Nov. 1, 1712. I have often thought, if the Letters written by Men of Good-nature to their Wives, were to be compared with those written by Men of Gallantry to their Mistresses, the former, notwithstanding any Inequality of Stile, would appear to have the Advantage. Friendship, Tenderness, and Constancy, drest in a Simplicity of Expression, recommend themselves by a more native Elegance, than passionate Raptures, extravagant Encomiums, and slavish Adoration, If we were admitted to search the Cabinet of the beautiful Narcissa, among Heaps of Epistles from several Admirers, which are there preserved with equal Care, how few should we find but would make any one sick in the reading, except her who is flattered by them? But in how different a Stile must the wise Benevolus, who converses with that good Sense and good Humour among all his Friends, write to a Wife who is the worthy Object of his utmost Affection! Benevolus, both in Publick and Private, on all Occasions of Life, appears to have every Good Quality and desirable Ornament. Abroad he is reverenced and esteemed; at Home beloved and happy, The Satisfaction he enjoys there settles in to an habitual Complacency, which shines in his Countenance, enlivens his Wit, and seasons his Conversation. Even those of his Acquaintance, who have never seen him in his Retire ment, are Sharers in the Happiness of it; and it is very much owing to his being the best and best beloved of Husbands, that he is the most stedfast of Friends, and the most agreeable of Companions. There is a sensible Pleasure in contemplating such beautiful Instances of Domestick Life. The Happiness of the Conjugal State appears heightened to the highest Degree it is capable of, when we see two Persons of ac complished Minds, not only united in the same Interests and Affections, but in their Taste of the same Improve ments, Pleasures and Diversions. Pliny, one of the finest Gentlemen, and politest Writers of the Age in which he lived, has left us, in his Letter to Hispulla, his Wife's Aunt, one of the most agreeable Family-Pieces of this kind I ever met with, I shall end this Discourse with a Translation Translation of it; and I believe the Reader will be of my No. 525. Opinion, that Conjugal Love is drawn in it with a Delicacy Saturday, Nov. 1, which makes it appear to be, as I have represented it, an 1712. Ornament as well as a Virtue, 'PLINY to HISPULLA As I remember that great Affection which was between you and your excellent Brother, and know you love his Daughter as your own, so as not only to express the Tenderness of the best of Aunts, but even to supply that of the best of Fathers, I am sure it will be a Pleasure to you to hear that she proves worthy of her Father, worthy of You, and of your and her Ancestors. Her Ingenuity is admirable; her Frugality extraordinary, She loves me, the surest Pledge of her Virtue; and adds to this a wonderful Disposition to Learning, which she has acquired from her Affection to She reads my Writings, studies them, and even gets them by Heart. You'd smile to see the Concern she is in when I have a Cause to plead, and the Joy she shews when it is over. She finds Means to have the first News brought her of the Success I meet with in Court, how I am heard, and what Decree is made. If I recite any thing in Publick, she cannot refrain from placing her self privately in some Corner to hear, where with the utmost delight she feasts on my Applauses. Sometimes she sings my Verses and accompanies them with the Lute, without any Master, except Love the best of Instructors, From these Instances I take the most certain Omens of our perpetual and encreasing Happiness; since her Affection is not founded on my Youth and Person, which must gradually decay, but she is in Love with the immortal Part of me, my Glory and Reputation. Nor indeed could less be ex pected from one who had the Happiness to receive her Education from you, who in your House was accustomed to every thing that was virtuous and decent, and even began to love me by your Recommendation. For, as you had always the greatest Respect for my Mother, you were pleased from my Infancy to form me, to commend me, and kindly to presage I should be one Day what my Wife fancies I am. Accept therefore our united Thanks; IV. N mine No. 525. mine, that you have bestowed her on me, and hers, that No. 526, Monday, November 3. I very -Fortius utere loris.-Ovid. AM loth to come to Extremities with the young Gentlemen mentioned in the following Letter, and do not care to chastise them with my own Hand, till I am forced by Provocations too great to be suffered without the absolute Destruction of my Spectatorial Dignity. The Crimes of these Offenders are placed under the Observa tion of one of my chief Officers, who is posted just at the Entrance of the Pass between London and Westminster. As I have great Confidence in the Capacity, Resolution, and Integrity of the Person deputed by me to give an Account of Enormities, I doubt not but I shall soon have before me all proper Notices which are requisite for the Amendment of Manners in Publick, and the Instruction of each Individual of the human Species in what is due from him, in respect to the whole Body of Mankind. The present Paper shall consist only of the above mentioned Letter, and the Copy of a Deputation which I have given to my trusty Friend Mr. John Sly; wherein he is charged to notifie to me all that is necessary for my Animadversion upon the Delinquents mentioned by my Correspondent, as well as all others described in the said Deputation. To the SPECTATOR-GENERAL of Great Britain, I grant it does look a little familiar, but I must call you Dear Dumb, Being got again to the farther End of the Widow's Coffee house, I shall from hence give you some Account of the Behaviour of our Hackney-Coachmen since my last, These indefatigable Gentlemen, without the least Design, I dare say, of Self-Interest or Advantage to them selves, do still ply as Volunteers Day and Night for the Good 1712. Good of their Country. I will not trouble you with No. 526. enumerating many Particulars, but I must by no Means Monday, omit to inform you of an Infant about six Foot high, and Nov. 3, between twenty and thirty Years of age, who was seen in the Arms of an Hackney-Coachman driving by Will's Coffee-house in Covent Garden, between the Hours of four and five in the Afternoon of that very Day wherein you published a Memorial against them. This impudent young Cur, tho' he could not sit in a Coach-Box without holding, yet would he venture his Neck to bid Defiance to your Spectatorial Authority, or to any thing that you countenanced, Who he was I know not, but I heard this Relation this Morning from a Gentleman who was an Eye Witness of this his Impudence; and I was willing to take the first Opportunity to inform you of him, as holding it extreamly requisite that you should nip him in the Bud. But I am my self most concerned for my Fellow-Templers, Fellow-Students, and Fellow Labourers in the Law, I mean such of them as are dignified and distinguished under the Denomination of Hackney, Coachmen. Such aspiring Minds have these ambitious young Men, that they cannot enjoy themselves out of a Coach-Box. It is however an unspeakable Comfort to me, that I can now tell you, that some of them are grown so bashful as to study only in the Night-time, or in the Country. The other Night I spied one of our young Gentlemen very diligent at his Lucubrations in Fleetstreet; and, by the Way, I should be under some Concern, lest this hard Student should one time or other crack his Brain with studying, but that I am in Hopes Nature has taken Care to fortifie him in Proportion to the great Undertakings he was designed for. Another of my Fellow Templers, on Thursday last, was getting up into his Study at the Bottom of Grays-Inn-Lane, in order, I suppose, to contemplate in the fresh Air. Now, Sir, my Request is, that the great_Modesty of these two Gentlemen may be recorded as a Pattern to the rest; and if you would but give them two or three Touches with your own Pen, tho' you might not perhaps prevail with them to desist entirely from their Meditations, yet I doubt not but you would at least preserve them from being publick Spectacles |
