網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版
[ocr errors]

66

"difcovered to want it; and then all his pains "and labour to feem to have it, is lost."

In another part of the fame difcourfe he goes on to fhew, that all artifice muft naturally tend. to the disappointment of him who practifes it. "Whatsoever convenience may be thought to "be in falfhood and diffimulation, it is foon "over; but the inconvenience of is perpetual, "because it brings a man under an everlasting

deavour to transform us into foreign manners and fashions, and to bring us to a fervile imitation of none of the best of our neighbours "in feme of the worst of their qualities. The "dialect of converfation is now-a, days fo fwell"ed with variety and compliment, and fo furfeited, as I may fay, of expreffions of kind"nefs and refpect, that if a man that lived an age or two ago fhould return again into the "world again, he would really want a dictio66 nary to help him to, understand his own lan"" guage, and to know the true intrinfic value "of the phrase in fashion, and would hardly at "firft believe at what a low rate the higheft "ftrains and expreffions of kindness imaginable" "do commonly pafs in current payment; and "when he fhould come to understand it, it "would be a great while before he could bring "himself with a good countenance and a good "confcience to converfe with men upon equal "terms, and in their own way.

jealoufy and fufpicion, fo that he is not be"lieved when he fpeaks truth, nor trufted when "perhaps he means honeftly. When a man "hath once forfeited the reputation of his in"tegrity, he is fet faft, and nothing will then ferve his turn,' neither truth nor falfhood."

No 104. FRIDAY, JUNE 29.

-Qualis equos Threiffa fatigat

Harpalyce

R

VIRG. n. I. v. 320.

With fuch array Harpalyce bestrode
Her Thracian courfer.

"And in truth it is hard to fay, whether it "fhould more provoke our contempt or our "pity, to hear what folemn expreffions of re"fpect and kindness will pafs between men, "almost upon no occafion; how great honour "and efteem they will declare for one whom "perhaps they never faw before, and how en"tirely they are all on the fudden devoted to "his fervice and intereft, for no reafon; how "infinitely and eternally obliged to him, for no "benefit; and how extremely they will be con"cerned for him; yea and afflicted too, for no "caufe. I know it is faid, in juftification of "this hollow kind of converfation, that there is "no harm, nor real deceit in compliment, but "the matter is well enough, fo long as we un"derstand one another; et verba valent ut num"mi, "words are like money:" and when the "current value of them is generally understood, "no man is cheated by them. This is fome"thing if such words were any thing; but be❝ing brought into the account, they are mere "cyphers. However, it is still a matter of just "complaint, that fincerity and plainness are out "of fashion, and that our language is running "into a lie; and that men have almost quite "perverted the use of speech, and made words "to fignify nothing; that the greatest part of "the conversation of mankind is little elfe but "driving a trade of diffimulation; infomuch "that it would make a man heartily fick and "weary of the world, to fee the little fincerity "that is in ufe and practice among men."

DRYDEN.

́T would be a nobler improvement, or rather

a recovery of what we call good-breeding, if nothing were to pafs amongst us for agreeable which was the leaft tranfgreffion against that rule of life called decorum, or a regard to decency. This would command the respect of mankind, because it carries in it a deference to their good opinion, as humility lodged in a worthy mind is always attended with a certain homage, which no haughty foul, with all the arts imaginable, will ever be able to purchase. Tully fays, Virtue and decency are fo nearly related, that it is difficult to feparate them from each other but in our imagination. As the beauty of the body always accompanies the health of it, so certainly is decency concomitant to virtue: as the beauty of the body, with an agreeable carriage, pleafes the eye, and that pleasure confifts in that we obferve all the parts with a certain elegance are proportioned to each other; fo does decency of behaviour which appears in our lives obtain the approbation of all with whom we converfe, from the order, confiftency, and moderation of our words and actions. This flows from the reverence we bear towards every good man, and to the world in general; for to be negligent of what any one thinks of you, does not only fhew you arrogant but abandoned. In all these confiderations we are to diftinguish how one virtue differs from another; as it is the part of justice never to do violence, it is of modefty never to commit offence. In this laft particular lies the whole force of what is called decency: to this purpose that excellent moralift abovementioned talks of decency; but this quality is more eafily comprehended by an ordinary capacity, than expreffed with all his eloquence. This decency of behaviour is generally tranfgreffed among all orders of men: nay, the very women, though themfelves created it as it were for ornament, are often very much miftaken in this ornamental part of life. would methinks be a fhort rule for behaviour, if every young lady in her drefs, words and actions were only to recommend herself as a fifter, daughter, or wife, and make herself the more esteemed in one of those characters. The care of themfelves, with regard to the families in

When the vice is placed in this contemptible light, he argues unanswerably against it, in words and thoughts fo natural, that any man who reads them would imagine he himself could have been the author of them.

If the fhow of any thing be good for any "thing, I am fure fincerity is better; for why "does any man diffemble, or feem to be that "which he is not, but because he thinks it "good to have fuch a quality as he pretends "to? For to counterfeit and diffemble, is to "put on the appearance of fome real excel"lency. Now the best way in the world to "feem to be any thing, is really to be what he "would seem to be. Befides, that it is many "times as troublesome to make good the pre"tence of a good quality, as to have it; and if "a man have it not, it is ten to one but he is

S 2

[ocr errors]

which

which women are born, is the best motive for their being courted to come into the alliance of other houses. Nothing can promote this end more than a strict prefervation of decency. Ifhould be glad if a certain equeftrian order of ladies, fome of whom one meets in an evening at every out1t of the town, would take this fubject into their terious confideration; in order thereunto the following letter may not be wholly unworthy their perufal.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

• Mr. Spectator,

G

OING lately to take the air in one of the most beautiful evenings this feafon has produced as I was admiring the ferenity of the fky; the lively colours of the fields, and the variety of the landscape every way around me, my eyeswere fuddenly called off from thefe inanimate objects by a little party of horsemen. I faw paf< fing the road. The greater part of them efcaped my particular obfervation, by reason that my whole attention was fixed on a very fair youth who rode in the midst of them, and feemed to have been dressed by fome description in a romance. His features, complexion, and habit had a remarkable effeminacy, and a certain languishing vanity appeared in his air; his hair, 'well curled and powdered, hung to a confiderable length on his shoulders, and was wantonly ty'd, as if by the hands of his mistress, in a fcarlet ribbon, which played like a ftreamer behind him; he had a coat and waistcoat of blue cam'blet trimmed and embroidered with filver; a cravat of the fineft lace; and wore, in a smart cock, a little beaver hat edged with filver, and made more fprightly by a feather. His horfe too, which was a pacer, was adorned after the 'fame airy manner, and feemed to fhare in the vanity of the rider. As I was pitying the luxury of this young perfon, who appeared to me to have been educated only as an object of fight, I perceived on my nearer approach, and as I turned my eyes downward, a part of the equipage I had not obferved before, which was a petticoat of the fame with the coat and waistcoat. After this discovery, I looked again on the face of the fair Amazon who had thus deceived me, and thought thofe features which had before offended me by their foftnefs, were now ftrengthened into as improper a boldness; and though her eyes, nofe, and mouth feemed to be formed with perfect fymmetry, I am not certain whether the, who in appearance was a handfome youth, may not be in reality a

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

very

very indifferent woman.

There is an objection which naturally prefents itfelf against thefe occafional perplexities ✦ and mixtures of drefs, which is, that they feem to break in upon that propriety and diftinction of appearance in which the beauty of different characters is preferved; and if they fhould be more frequent than they are at prefent, would lcok like turning our public affemblies into a general mafquerade. The model of this Amazonian hunting-habit for ladies, was, as I take it, first imported from France, and well enough exproffes the gaiety of a people who are taught o do any thing fo it be with an affurance; but I cannot help thinking it fits aukwardly yet on our English medefty. The petticoat is a kind of incu abrance upon it, and if the Amazon fhould think fit to go on in this plunder of cur fox's ornaments, they ought to add to their

'fpoils, and complete their triumph over us, by wearing their breeches.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

If it be natural to contract infenfibly the manners of those we imitate, the ladies who are pleased with affuming our dreffes will do us more honour than we deferve, but they will do it at their own expence. Why fhould the lovely 'Camilla deceive us in more fhapes than her own, and affect to be represented in her picture. 'with a gun and a spaniel; while her elder bro

ther, the heir of a worthy family, is drawn in 'filks like his fifter? The drefs and air of a man are not well to be divided: and thofe who would not be content with the latter, ought never to 'think of affuming the former. There is fo large a portion of natural agreeablenefs among the fair fex of our island, that they feem betrayed into these romantic habits without having the 'fame occafion for them with their inventors: 'all that needs to be defired of them is, that they 'would be themfelves, that is, what nature defigned them; and to fee their mistake when they depart from this, let them look upon a man 'who affects the foftnefs and effeminacy of a woto learn how their fex must appear to us, when approaching to the resemblance of a

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

<

man,

man.

'I am, Sir,

Your most humble fervant,'

N° 105. SATURDAY, JUNE 30.

-Id arbitror

Adprimè in vita effe utile, ne quid nimis.

TER. Andr. Act. 1. Sc. I. I take it to be a principal rule of life, not to be too much addicted to any one thing.

MY

Y friend Will. Honeycomb values himself very much upon what he calls the knowledge of mankind, which has coft him many difafters in his youth; for Will reckons every misfortune that he has met with among the women, and every rencounter among the men, as parts of his education, and fancies he fhould never have been the man he is, had not he broke windows, knocked down conftables, difturbed honeft people with his midnight ferenades, and beat up a lewd woman's quarters, when he was a young fellow. The engaging in adventures of this nature Will calls the ftudying of mankind; and terms this knowledge of the town, the knowledge of the world. Will ingenioufly confeffes, that for half his life his head ached every morning with reading of men over night; and at prefent comforts himself under certain pains which he endures from time to time that without them he could not have been acquainted with the gallantries of the age. This Will looks upon as the learning of a gentleman, and regards all other kinds of fcience as the accomplishments of one whom he calls a fcholar, a bookish man, or a philofopher.

For thefe reafons Will thines in mixed company, where he has the difcretion not to go out of his depth, and has often a certain way of making his real ignorance appear a feeming one. Our club however has frequently caught him tripping, at which times they never fpare him. For as Will often infults us with the knowledge of the town, we fometimes take our revenge upon him by our knowledge of books,

He

[ocr errors]

He was last week producing two or three letters: which he writ in his youth to a coquette lady. The raillery of them was natural, and well enough for a mere man of the town; but very unluckily, feveral of the words were wrong fpelt. Will laughed this off at first as well as he could; but finding himself pushed on all fides, and especially by the Templar, he told us with a little paffion, that he never liked pedantry in spelling, and that he spelt like a gentleman, and not like a fcholar; upon this Will had recourfe to his old topic of fhewing the narrow-fpiritedness, the pride, and ignorance of pedants; which he carried fo far, that upon my retiring to my lodgings, I could not forbear throwing together fuch reflections as occurred to me upon that fubject.

A man who has been brought up among books, and is able to talk of nothing elfe, is a very indifferent companion, and what we call a pedant. But, methinks, we fhould enlarge the title, and give it every one that does not know how to think out of his profeffion and particular way of life.

What is a greater pedant than a mere man of the town? Bar him the play-houses, a catalogue of the reigning beauties, and an account of a few fafhionable diftempers that have befallen him, and you ftrike him dumb. How many a pretty gentleman's knowledge lies all within the verge of the court? He will tell you the names of the principal favourites, repeat the fhrewd fayings of a man of quality, whifper an intrigue that is not yet blown upon by common fame; or, if the sphere of his obfervations is a little larger than ordinary, will perhaps enter into all the incidents, turns, and revolutions in a game of ombre. When he has gone thus far he has fhewn you the whole circle of his accomplishments, his parts are drained, and he is difabled from any farther converfation. What are thefe but rank pedants? and yet these are the men who value themfelyes moft on their exemption from the pedantry of colleges.

I might here mention the military pedant who always talks in a camp, and is ftorming towns, making lodgments, and fighting battles from one end of the year to the other. Every thing he fpeaks fmells of gunpowder; if you take away his artillery from him, he has not a word to fay for himself. I might likewife mention the law-pedant, that is perpetually putting cafes, repeating the tranfactions of Westminster-Hall, wrangling with you upon the most indifferent circumftances of life, and not to be convinced of the distance of a place, or of the most trivial point in converfation, but by dint of argument. The ftate pedant is wrapt up in news, and loft in politics. If you mention either of the Kings of Spain or Poland, he talks very notably; but if you go out of the Gazette, you drop him. In fhort, a mere courtier, a mere foldier, a mere fcholar, a mere any thing, is an infipid pedantic character, and equally

ridiculous.

Of all the fpecies of pedants, which I have mentioned, the book-pedant is much the most supportable; he has at leaft an exercifed understanding, and a head which is full though confused, so that a man who converfes with him may often receive from him hints of things that are worth knowing, and what he may poffibly turn to his own advantage, though they are of little ufe to the owner. The worst kind of pedants among learned men, are fuch as are naturally endued with a very small share of common fenfe, and have read a great number of books without taste or distinction,

The truth of it is, learning, like travelling, and all other methods of improvement, as it finishes good fenfe, fo it makes a filly man ten thousand times more infufferable, by fupplying variety of matter to his impertinence, and giving him an opportunity of abounding in abfurdities.

Shallow pedants cry up one another much more than men of folid and ufeful learning. To read the titles that are given an editor, or a collator of a manufcript, you would take him for the glory of the commonwealth of letters, and the wonder of his age, when perhaps upon examination you find that he has only rectified a Greek particle, or laid out a whole fentence in proper commas.

They are obliged indeed to be thus lavish of their praifes, that they may keep one another in countenance; and it is no wonder if a great deal of knowledge, which is not capable of making a man wife, has a natural tendency to make him vain and arrogant.

N° 106.

MONDAY, JULY 2.

Hinc tibi copia
Manabit ad plenum, benigno
Ruris bonorum opulenta cornu.

L

HOR. Od. 17. l. 1. v. 14.

-Here to thee fhall plenty flow,
And all her riches show,

To raife the honour of the quiet plain.

H

CREECH.

AVING often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger de Coverley to pafs away a month with him in the country, I laft week accompanied him thither, and am fettled with him for fome time at his country-house, where I intend to form feveral of my enfuing fpeculations. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted with my humour, lets me rife and go to bed when I pleafe, dine at his own table or in my chamber as I think fit, fit ftill and fay nothing without bidding me be merry. When the gentlemen of the country come to fee him, he only thews me at a distance. As I have been walking in his fields I have obferved them stealing a fight of me over an hedge, and have heard the knight defiring them not to let me fee' them, for that I hated to be ftared at.

I am the more at ease in Sir Roger's family, becaufe it confifts of fober and flayed perfons; for as the knight is the best mafter in the world, he feldom changes his fervants; and as he is beloved by all about him, his fervants never care for leaving him; by this means his domeftics are all in years, and grown old with their master. You would take his valet de chambre for his brother, his butler is grey-headed, his groom is one of the gravest men that I have ever feen, and his coachman has the looks of a privy-counfellor. You fee the goodness of the mafter even in the old houfe-dog, and in a grey pad that is kept in the ftable with great care and tenderness out of regard to his past fervices, though he has been ufeleis for feveral years.

I could not but obferve with a great deal of pleafure the joy that appeared in the countenance of these ancient domeftics upon my friend's arrival at his country-feat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at the fight of their old mafter; every one of them preffed forward to do fomething for him, and feemed difcouraged if they were not employed. At the fame time the good old knight,

with a mixture of the father and the mafter of the family, tempered the enquiries after his own affairs, with feveral kind of questions relating to themfelves. This humanity and good-nature engages every body to him, so that when he is pleafant upon any of them, all his family are in good humour, and none fo much as the perfon whom he diverts himself with, on the contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any infirmity of old age, it is eafy for a ftander-by to obferve a fecret concern in the looks of all his fervants

My worthy friend has put me under the particular care of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as well as the reft of his fellow-fervants, wonderfully defirous of pleafing me, because they have often heard their master talk of me as of his parti

cular friend.

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man who is ever with. Sir Roger, and has lived at his houfe in the nature of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentleman is a perfon of good fenfe and fome learning, of a very regular life and obliging converfation: he heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very much in the old knight's efteem, fo that he lives in the family rather as a relation than a dependant.

par

I have obferved in feveral of my papers, that my friend Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is fomething of an humourift; and that his virtues as well as his imperfections, are as it were tinged by a certain extravagance, which makes them ticularly his, and diftinguishes them from thofe of other men. This caft of mind, as it is generally very innocent in itself, fo it renders his converfation highly agreeable, and more delightful than the fame degree of fenfe and virtue would appear in their common and ordinary colours. As I was walking with him last night, he asked me how I liked the good man whom I have just now mentioned? and without ftaying for my anfwer told me, that he was afraid of being infulted with Latin and Greek at his own table; for which reason he defired a particular friend of his at the university to find him out a clergyman rather of plain fenfe than much learning, of a good aspect, a clear voice, a fociable temper, and, if poffible, a man that understood a little of backgammon. My friend, fays Sir Roger, found me out this gentleman who, be fides the endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a good scholar, though he does not fhew it: I have given him the parfonage of the parish; and because I know his value, have fettled upon him a good annuity for life. If he outlives me, he fhall find that he was higher in my efteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me thirty years; and though he does not know I have taken notice of it, has never in all that time afked any thing of me for himself, though he is every day foliciting me for fomething in behalf of one or other of my tenants his parishioners. There has not been a law-fuit in the parish fince he has lived among them; if any dispute arifes, they apply themselves to him for the decifion; if they do not acquiefce in his judgment, which I think never happened above once or twice at most, they appeal to me. At his first fettling with me, I made him a prefent of all the good fermons which have been printed in English, and only begged of him that every Sunday he would pronounce one of them in the pulpit. Accordingly, he has digefted them into fuch a feries, that they follow one another naturally, and make a continued fyftem of practial divinity,

As Sir Roger was going on in his story, the gentleman we were talking of came up to us; and upon the knight's asking him who preached tomorrow, for it was Saturday night, told us, the Bishop of St. Asaph in the morning, and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then fhewed us his hit of preachers for the whole year, where I saw with a great deal of pleasure Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop Saunderfon, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with feveral living authors who have published difcourfes of practical divinity. I no fooner faw this venerable man in the pulpit, but I very much approved of my friend's infifting upon the qualifications of a good afpect and a clear voice; for I was fo charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and delivery, as well as with the difcourfes he pronounced, that I think I never paled any time more to my fatisfaction. A fermon repeated after this manner, is like the compofition of a poet in the mouth of a graceful actor.

I could heartily with that more of our country clergy would follow this example; and instead of wafting their fpirits in laborious compofitions of their own, would endeavour after a handsome elocution, and all thofe other talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater masters. This would not only be more eafy to themfelves, but more edifying to the people.

No 107. TUESDAY, JULY 3. #fopo ingentem ftatuam pofuere Attici, Servumque collocârunt æterna in bafi, Patere honoris fcirent ut cunctis viam.

L

PHEDR. Epilog. 1. 2.

The Athenians erected a large statue to Æfop, and placed him, though a slave, on a lasting pedestal; to fhew, that the way to honour lies open indifferently to all.

HE reception, manner of attendance, undi

and quiet meet

here in the country, has confirmed me in the opinion I always had, that the general corruption of manners in fervants is owing to the conduct of mafters. The afpect of every one in the family carries fo much fatisfaction, that it appears he knows the happy lot which has befallen him in being a member of it. There is one particular which I have feldom feen but at Sir Roger's; it is ufual in all other places, that fervants fly from the parts of the houfe through which their mafter is paffing; on the contrary, here they induftriously place themfelves in his way; and it is on both fides, as it were, understood as a vifit, when the fervants appear without calling. This proceeds from the humane and equal temper of the man of the houfe, who a'fo perfectly well knows how to enjoy a great eftate, with fuch economy as ever to be much beforehand. This makes his own mind untroubled, and confequently unapt to vent peevish expreflions, or give pailionate or inconfiftent orders to thofe about him. Thus refpect and love go together; and a certain chearfulness in performance of their duty is the particular diftinction of the lower part of this family. When a fervant is called before his mafter, he does not come with an expectation to hear himself rated for fome trivial fault, threatened to be stripped or ufed with any other unbecoming language, which mean masters often give to worthy fervants; but it is often to know, what road he took that he came fo readily

back

back according to order; whether he paffed by fuch a ground, if the old man who rents it is in good health; or whether he gave Sir Roger's love to him, or the like.

A man who preferves a respect, founded on his benevolence to his dependents, lives rather like a prince than a master in his family; his orders are received as favours, rather than duties; and the diftinction of approaching him is part of the reward for executing what is commanded by him.

There is another circumftance in which my friend excels in his management, which is the manner of rewarding his fervants: he has ever been of opinion, that giving his caft clothes to be worn by valets has a very ill effect upon little minds, and creates a filly fenfe of equality between the parties, in perfons affected only with outward things. I have heard him often pleafant on this occafion, and describe a young gentleman abufing his man in that coat, which a month or two before was the most pleafing diftinction he was confcious of in himself. He would turn his difcourfe ftill more pleafantly upon the ladies bounties of this kind; and I have heard him fay he knew a fine woman, who diftributed rewards and punishments in giving becoming or unbecoming dreffes to her maids.

But my good friend is above thefe little inftances of good-will, in bestowing only trifies on his fervants; a good fervant to him is fure of having it in his choice very foon of being no fervant at all. As I before obferved, he is fo goed an huf. band, and knows fo thoroughly that the fkill of the purfe is the cardinal virtue of this life; I fay, he knows fo well that frugality is the fupport of generofity, that he can often fpare a large fine when a tenement falls, and give that fettlement to a good servant who has a mind to go into the

world, or make a stranger pay the fine to that fervant, for his more comfortable maintenance, if he stays in his service.

A man of honour and generofity confiders it would be miferable to himfelf to have no will but that of another, though it were of the best person breathing, and for that reason goes on as faft as he

1

I fhall not go out of the occurrences of common life, but affert it as a general obfervation, that I never faw but in Sir Roger's family, and one or two more, good fervants treated as they ought to be. Sir Roger's kindness extends to their children's children, and this very morning he fent his coachman's grandfon to prentice. I fhall conclude this paper with an account of a picture in his gallery, where there are many which will deserve my future obfervation.

At the very upper end of this handsome structure I faw the portraiture of two young men standing in a river, the one naked, the other in a livery. The perfon fupported feemed half dead, but ftill fo much alive as to fhew in his face exquifite joy and love towards the other. I thought the fainting figure resembled my friend Sir Roger; and looking at the butler, who stood by me for an account of it, he informed me that the perfon in the livery was a fervant of Sir Roger's, who stood on the shore while his master was swimming, and obferving him taken with fome fudden illness, and fink under water, jumped in and faved him. He told me Sir Roger took off the dress he was in as foon as he came home, and by a great bounty at that time, followed by his favour ever fince, had made him mafter of that pretty feat which we

faw at a distance as we came to this house. I remembered indeed Sir Roger faid there lived a very worthy gentleman, to whom he was highly obliged, without mentioning any thing further. Upon my looking a little diffatisfied at fome part of the picture, my attendant informed me that it was againft Sir Roger's will, and at the earnest request of the gentleman himfelf, that he was drawn in the habit in which he had faved his master.

No 108. WEDNESDAY, JULY 4. Gratis anhelans, multa agendo nihil agens.

R

2.

PHEDR. Fab. 5. 1. Out of breath to no purpose, and very busy about nothing.

S I was yesterday morning walking with Sir

is able to put his fervants into independent liveli- A Roger before his houfe, a country-fellow

hood. The greatest part of Sir Roger's eftate is tenanted by perfons who have ferved himself or his ancestors. It was to me extremely pleasant to observe the vifitants from several parts to welcome his arrival into the country; and all the difference that I could take notice of between the late fervants who came to see him, and those who ftaid in the family, was that thefe latter were looked upon as finer gentlemen and better courtiers.

This manumiffion and placing them in a way of livelihood, I look upon as only what is due to a good fervant, which encouragement will make his fucceffor be as diligent, as humble, and as ready as he was. There is fomething wonderful in the narrownefs of those minds, which can be pleased, and be barren of bounty to thofe who please them,

At

brought him a huge fish, which, he told him, Mr. William Wimble had caught that very morning; and that he prefented it, with his fervice to him, and intended to come and dine with him. the fame time he delivered a letter which my friend read to me as foon as the meffenger left him.

[ocr errors]

"Sir Roger,

I

Defire you to accept of a jack, which is the beft I have caught this feafon. I intend to "C come and stay with you a week, and see how the "perch bite in the Black River. I obferved with "fome concern, the last time I faw you upon the "bowling-green, that your whip wanted a lash to "it; I will bring half a dozen with me that I "twifted laft week, which I hope will ferve you "all the time you are in the country. I have not "been out of the faddle for fix days laft paft, hav"ing been at Eton with Sir John's eldeft fon. He takes to his learning hugely. I am,

One might, on this occafion, recount the fenfe that great perfons in all ages have had of the merit of their dependents, and the heroic fervices" which men have done their mafters in the ext.emity of their fortunes; and fhewn to their undone patrons, that fortune was all the difference between them; but as I defign this my fpeculation only as a gentle admonition to thankiefs masters,

"Sir, your humble fervant, "Will Wimble,"

This extraordinary letter, and meffage that ac companied it, made me very curious to know the character

[ocr errors]
« 上一頁繼續 »