N° 386. Friday, May 23.

Cum Triftibus feverè, cum Remiffis jucundè, cum Senibus graviter, cum Juventute comiter vivere. Tull.

TH

"HE Piece of Latin on the Head of this Paper is part of a Character extremely vicious, but I have fet down no more than may fall in with the Rules of Juftice and Honour. Cicero fpoke it of Catiline, who, he faid, lived with the Sad feverely, with the Chearful agreeably, with the Old gravely, with the Young pleasantly; he added, with the Wicked boldly, with the Wanton lafciviously. The two laft Inftances of his Complaifance I forbear to confider, having it in my Thoughts at present only to fpeak of obfequious Behaviour as it fits upon a Companion in Pleafure, not a Man of Defign and Intrigue. To vary with every Humour in this manner, cannot be agreeable, except it comes from a Man's own Temper and natural Complexion; to do it out of an Ambition to excel that way, is the most fruitless and unbecoming Proftitution imaginable. To put on an artful Part to obtain no other End but an unjust Praise from the Undifcerning, is of all Endeavours the most defpicable. A Man must be fincerely pleased to become Pleafure, or not to interrupt that of others: For this reafon it is a moft calamitous Circumftance, that many People who want to be alone or fhould be fo, will come into Converfation. It is certain, that all Men who are the least given to Reflexion, are feized with an Inclination that way; when, perhaps, they had rather be inclined to Company: but indeed they had better go home, and be tired with themselves, than force themselves upon others to recover their Good-Hu mour. In all this the Cafes of communicating to a Friend a fad Thought or Difficulty, in order to relieve a heavy Heart, ftands excepted; but what is here meant, is that a Man fhould always go with Inclination to the Turn of the Company he is going into, or not pretend to be of the

Party.

Party. It is certainly a very happy Temper to be able to live with all kinds of Difpofitions, because it argues a Mind that lies open to receive what is pleafing to others, and not obitinately bent on any Particularity of its own.

THIS is it which makes me pleased with the Character of my good Acquaintance Acafo. You meet him at the Tables and Converfations of the Wife, the Impertinent, the Grave, the Frolick, and the Witty; and yet his own Character has nothing in it that can make him particularly agreeable to any one Sect of Men; but Acafto has natural good Senfe, Good-nature and Difcretion, fo that every Man enjoys himfelf in his company; and tho' Acafto contributes nothing to the Entertainment, he never was at a Place where he was not welcome a fecond time. Without thefe fubordinate good Qualities of Acafto, a Man of Wit and Learning would be painful to the Generality of Mankind, instead of being pleafing. Witty Men are apt to imagine they are agreeable as fuch, and by that means grow the worft Companions imaginable; they deride the Abfent or rally the Prefent in a wrong manner, not knowing that if you pinch or tickle a Man till he is uneasy in his Seat, or ungracefully diftinguished from the rest of the Company, you equally hurt him.

I was going to fay, the true Art of being agreeable in Company, (but there can be no fuch thing as Art in it) is to appear well pleased with those you are engaged with, and rather to feem well entertained, than to bring Entertainment to others. A Man thus difpofed is not indeed what we ordinarily call a good Companion, but effentially is fuch, and in all the Parts of his Conversation has fomething friendly in his Behaviour, which conciliates Mens Minds more than the highest Sallies of Wit or Starts of Humour can poffibly do. The Feebleneís of Age in a Man of this Turn, has fomething which should be treated with respect even in a Man no otherwise venerable. The Forwardness of Youth, when it proceeds from Alacrity and not Infolence, has alfo its Allowances. The Companion who is formed for fuch by Nature, gives to every Character of Life its due Regards, and is ready to account for their Imperfections, and receive their Accomplishments as if they were his own. It must appear that you receive Law from, and not give it to your Company, to make you agreeable.

I remember Tully, fpeaking, I think, of Anthony, fays, That in eo facetia erant, que nulla arte tradi poffunt: He had a witty Mirth, which could be acquired by no Art. This Quality must be of the Kind of which I am now fpeaking; for all forts of Behaviour which depend upon Obfervation and Knowledge of Life, is to be acquired; but that which no one can defcribe, and is apparently the Act of Nature, must be every where prevalent, because every thing it meets is a fit Occafion to exert it; for he who follows Nature, can never be improper or unfeasonable.

HOW unaccountable then must their Behaviour be, who, without any manner of Confideration of what the Company they have juft now entered are upon, give themselves the Air of a Messenger, and make as diftinct Relations of the Occurrences they laft met with, as if they had been dispatched from thofe they talk to, to be punctually exact in a Report of thofe Circumftances: It is unpardonable to thofe who are met to enjoy one another, that a fresh Man fhall pop in, and give us only the laft part of his own Life, and put a ftop to ours during the History. If fuch a Man comes from Change, whether you will or not, you must hear how the Stocks go; and tho' you are ever fo intently employed on a graver Subject, a young Fellow of the other end of the Town will take his place, and tell you, Mrs. Such-a-one is charmingly handfom, because he juft now faw her. But I think I need not dwell on this Subject, fince I have acknowledged there can be no Rules made for excelling this way; and Precepts of this kind fare like Rules for writing Poetry, which, 'tis said, may have prevented ill Poets, but never made good ones.

T

Saturday,

N® 387. Saturday, May 24.

I

Quid purè tranquillet

Hor.

N my laft Saturday's Paper I fpoke of Chearfulness as it is a Moral Habit of the Mind, and accordingly mentioned fuch moral Motives as are apt to cherish and keep alive this happy Temper in the Soul of Man : I fhall now confider Chearfulness in its natural State, and reflect on those Motives to it, which are indifferent either as to Virtue or Vice.

CHEARFULNESS is, in the first place, the best Promoter of Health. Repinings and fecret Murmurs of Heart, give imperceptible Strokes to thofe delicate Fibres of which the vital Parts are compofed, and wear out the Machine infenfibly; not to mention thofe violent Ferments which they ftir up in the Blood, and thofe irregular difturbed Motions, which they raife in the animal Spirits. I fcarce remember, in my own Obfervation, to have met with many old Men, or with fuch, who (to use our English Phrafe) wear well, that had not at least a certain Indolence in their Humour, if not a more than ordinary Gaiety and Chearfulness of Heart. The Truth of it is, Health and Chearfulness mutually beget each other; with this Difference, that we feldom meet with a great Degree of Health which is not attended with a certain Chearfulnefs, but very often see Chearfulness where there is no great Degree of Health.

CHEARFULNESS bears the fame friendly regard to the Mind as to the Body: It banishes all anxious Care and Difcontent, fooths and compofes the Paffions, and keeps the Soul in a perpetual Calm. But having already touched on this laft Confideration, I fhall here take notice, that the World, in which we are placed, is filled with innumerable Objects that are proper to raife and keep alive this happy Temper of Mind.

IF we confider the World in its Subferviency to Man, one would think it was made for our Ufe; but if we con

fider it in its natural Beauty and Harmony, one would be apt to conclude it was made for our Pleasure. The Sun, which is as the great Soul of the Universe, and produces all the Neceffaries of Life, has a particular Influence in chearing the Mind of Man, and making the Heart glad.

THOSE feveral living Creatures which are made for our Service or Suftenance, at the fame time either fill the Woods with their Mufick, furnish us, with Game, or raise pleafing Ideas in us by the Delightfulness of their Appearance. Fountains, Lakes, and Rivers, are as refreshing to the Imagination, as to the Soil through which they pafs.

THERE are Writers of great Diftinction, who have made it an Argument for Providence, that the whole Earth is covered with Green, rather than with any other Colour, as being fuch a right Mixture of Light and Shade, that it comforts and ftrengthens the Eye instead of weakning or grieving it. For this reafon feveral Painters have a green Cloth hanging near them, to ease the Eye upon, after too great an Application to their Colouring. A famous modern Philofopher accounts for it in the following manner: All Colours that are more luminous, overpower and diffipate the animal Spirits which are employ'd in fight: on the contrary, thofe that are more obfcure do not give the animal Spirits a fufficient Exercife; whereas the Rays that produce in us the Idea of Green, fall upon the Eye in fuch a due Proportion, that they give the animal Spirits their proper Play, and by keeping up the ftruggle in a juft Balance, excite a very pleafing and agreeable Senfation. Let the Cause be what it will, the Effect is certain, for which reafon the Poets afcribe to this particular Colour the Epithet of Chearful.

TO confider further this double End in the Works of Nature, and how they are at the fame time both ufeful and entertaining, we find that the most important Parts in the vegetable World are thofe which are the moft beautiful. These are the Seeds by which the feveral Races of Plants are propagated and continued, and which are always lodged in Flowers or Bloffoms. Nature feems to hide her principal Defign, and to be induftrious in making the Earth gay and delightful, while fhe is carrying on her great Work, and intent upon her own Prefervation. The

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