fuppreffed it. It may seem very marvellous to a faucy Modern, that Multum fanguinis, multum verecundia, • multum follicitudinis in ore; to have the Face firft full of • Blood, then the Countenance dashed with Modefty, and • then the whole Afpect as of one dying with Fear, • when a Man begins to speak; fhould be efteem'd by Pliny the neceffary Qualifications of a fine Speaker, Shakespear alfo has exprefs'd him felf in the fame favourable Strain of Modefty, when he says,

In the Modefty of fearful Duty I read as much as from the rattling Tongue Of faucy and audacious Eloquence

Now fince these Authors have profess'd themselves •for the modeft Man, even in the utmost Confufions of Speech and Countenance, why should an intrepid Utte• rance and a refolute Vociferation thunder fo fuccessfully in our Courts of Juftice? And why fhould that Confidence of Speech and Behaviour, which feems to acknowledge no Superior, and to defy all Contradiction, prevail over that Deference and Refignation with ⚫ which the modeft Man implores that favourable Opinion which the other feems to command ?

6

As the Cafe at present stands, the best Confolation that I can adminifter to those who cannot get into that • Stroke of Business (as the Phrase is) which they deserve, is to reckon every particular Acquifition of Knowledge in this Study as a real Increase of their Fortune; and fully to believe, that one Day this imaginary Gain ⚫ will certainly be made out by one more fubftantial. I with you would talk to us a little on this Head, you would oblige, Sir, your humble Servant.

THE Author of this Letter is certainly a Man of good Senfe; but I am perhaps particular in my Opinion on this Occafion; for I have obferved, that under the Notion of Modefty, Men have indulged themselves in a fpiritlefs Sheepishness, and been for ever loft to themselves, their Families, their Friends, and their Country. When a Man has taken care to pretend to nothing but what he may justly aim at, and can execute as well as any other, without Injustice to any other; it is ever want of Breeding or Courage

Courage to be brow-beaten or elbow'd out of his honeft Ambition. I have faid often, Modefty must be an Act of the Will, and yet it always implies Self Denial: For if a Man has an ardent Defire to do what is laudable for him to perform, and, from an unmanly Bafhfulness, fhrinks away, and lets his Merit languish in Silence, he ought not to be angry at the World that a more unskilful Actor fucceeds in his Part, because he has not Confidence to come upon the Stage himself. The Generofity my Correfpondent mentions of Pliny, cannot be enough applauded. To cherish the Dawn of Merit, and haften its Maturity, was a Work worthy a noble Roman and a liberal Scholar. That Concern which is defcribed in the Letter, is to all the World the greatest Charm imaginable: but then the modeft Man must proceed, and fhew a latent Refolution in himself; for the Admiration of his Modefty arifes from the Manifeftation of his Merit. I must confefs we live in an Age wherein a few empty Blufterers carry away the Praife of Speaking, while aCrowd of Fellows over-flock'd with Knowledge are run down by them: I fay over-stock'd, because they certainly are fo as to their Service of Mankind, if from their very Store they raife to themselves Ideas of Refpect, and Greatness of the Occafion, and I know not what, to disable themfelves from explaining their Thoughts. I must confefs, when I have feen Charles Frankair rife up with a commanding Mien, and Torrent of handsome Words, talk a Mile off the Purpose, and drive down twenty bafhful Bocbies of ten times his Senfe, who at the fame time were envying his Impudence and defpifing his Understanding, it has been matter of great Mirth to me; but it foon ended in a fecret Lamentation, that the Fountains of every thing praife-worthy in thefe Realms, the Univerfities, fhould be fo muddled with a faife Sense of this Virtue, as to produce Men capable of being fo abufed. I will be bold to fay, that it is a ridiculous Education which does not qualify aMan to make his beft Appearance before the greatest Man and the finest Woman to whom he can addreis himself. Were this judiciously corrected in the Nurferies of Learning, pert Coxcombs would know their Diftance: But we must bear with this falfe Modefty in our young Nobility and Gentry, till they ceafe at Oxford and Cambridge to grow dumb in the Study of Eloquence. T VOL. VII. C

Tuesday,

found dead in the Temple. This was fuch an Event, as would have been conftrued into a Judgment, had it happened to the two Brothers after an Act of Difobedience, and would doubtless have been represented as fuch by any ancient Hiftorian who had given us an Account of it.

No. 484. Monday, September 15.

com

Neque cuiquam tam ftatim clarum ingenium eft, ut poffit emergere; nifi illi materia, occafio, fautor etiam, mendatorque contingat. Plin. Epift.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

OF

F all the young Fellows who are in their Progress thro' any Profeffion, none feem to have fo good a Title to the Protection of the Men of Eminence in it as the modeft Man; not so much because his Mo'defty is a certain Indication of his Merit, as because 'tis a certain Obstacle to the producing of it. Now, as of ⚫ all Profeffions this Virtue is thought to be more particularly unneceffary in that of the Law than in any other, I 'fhall only apply my felf to the Relief of fuch who follow this Profeffion with this Difadvantage. What aggravates the Matter is, that those Persons who, the better to prepare themselves for this Study, have made fome Progrefs in others, have, by addicting themfelves to Letters, encreased their natural Modefty, and confequently heighten'd the Obstruction to this Sort of Preferment; fo that every one of these may emphatically be faid to ❝ be fuch a one as laboureth and taketh pains, and is ftill 6 the more behind. It may be a Matter worth discussing then, Why that which made a Youth foamiable to the Ancients, fhould make him appear fo ridiculous to the Moderns? and, Why in our Days there should be Ne⚫glect, and even Oppreffion of young Beginners, inftead ' of that Protection which was the Pride of theirs? In the Profeffion spoken of, 'tis obvious to every one whofe Attendance is required at Westminster-Hall, with what Difficulty

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Difficulty a Youth of any Modefty has been permitted to make an Obfervation, that could in no wife detract from the Merit of his Elders, and is abfolutely neceffary for ⚫ the advancing his own. I have often feen one of these not only molested in his Utterance of fomething very ❝ pertinent, but even plunder'd of his Question, and by a ftrong Serjeant fhoulder'd out of his Rank, which he has recover'd with much Difficulty and Confufion. Now as great Part of the Business of this Profeffion might be dispatched by one that perhaps

Abeft virtute diferti

Meffala, nec fcit quantum Caufellius Aulus ; Hor. ⚫fo I can't conceive the Injustice done to the Publick; if the Men of Reputation in this Calling would introduce fuch of the young ones into Bufinefs, whofe Application to this Study will let them into the Secrets of it, as much · as their Modesty will hinder them from the Practice : I fay, it would be laying an everlafting Obligation upon a young Man, to be introduc'd at firit only as a Mute, till by this Countenance, and a Refolution to fupport the good Opinion conceiv'd of him in his Betters, his • Complexion fhall be fo well fettled, that the Litigious of this land may be fecure of his obftreperous Aid. If I might be indulged to speak in the Style of a Lawyer, I would fay, that any one about thirty Years of Age, might make a common Motion to the Court with as ⚫ much Elegance and Propriety as the moft aged Advo· cates in the Hall.

6

• I can't advance the Merit of Modefty by any Argu⚫ment of my own fo powerfully, as by an Enquiry into the Sentiments the greatest among the Ancients of ⚫ different Ages entertain'd upon this Virtue. If we go back to the Days of Solomon, we shall find Favour a neceffary Confequence to a fhame-fac'd Man. Pliny, the greatest Lawyer and most elegant Writer of the Age he ⚫ lived in, in feveral of his Epiftles is very folicitous in recommending to the Publick fome young Men of his own • Profeffion, and very often undertakes to become an Advocate, upon condition that fome one of these his Favou⚫rites might be joined with him, in order to produce the • Merit of fuch, whofe Modesty otherwife would have fuppreffed

6

6

fuppreffed it. It may feem very marvellous to a faucy Modern, that Multum fanguinis, multum verecundia, • multum follicitudinis in ore; to have the Face firft full of Blood, then the Countenance dashed with Modefty, and then the whole Afpect as of one dying with Fear, • when a Man begins to speak; fhould be esteem'd by Pliny the neceffary Qualifications of a fine Speaker, Shakespear alfo has exprefs'd himself in the fame favourable Strain of Modefty, when he says,

.

In the Modefty of fearful Duty

I read as much as from the rattling Tongue
Of faucy and audacious Eloquence.

Now fince thefe Authors have profefs'd themselves •for the modest Man, even in the utmoft Confufions of Speech and Countenance, why fhould an intrepid Utterance and a refolute Vociferation thunder fo fuccessfully in our Courts of Juftice? And why should that Con⚫fidence of Speech and Behaviour, which feems to acknowledge no Superior, and to defy all Contradiction, prevail over that Deference and Refignation with which the modeft Man implores that favourable Opi⚫nion which the other feems to command?

As the Cafe at prefent ftands, the best Confolation • that I can administer to those who cannot get into that • Stroke of Bufinefs (as the Phrafe is) which they deserve, is to reckon every particular Acquifition of Knowledge in this Study as a real Increase of their Fortune; and fully to believe, that one Day this imaginary Gain ⚫ will certainly be made out by one more fubftantial. I with you would talk to us a little on this Head, you • would oblige, Sir, your humble Servant.

THE Author of this Letter is certainly a Man of good Senfe; but I am perhaps particular in my Opinion on this Occafion; for I have observed, that under the Notion of Modefty, Men have indulged themselves in a fpiritlefs Sheepishness, and been for ever loft to themselves, their Families, their Friends, and their Country. When a Man has taken care to pretend to nothing but what he may justly aim at, and can execute as well as any other, without Injustice to any other; it is ever want of Breeding or Courage