Michel Dorigny, painter and engraver, native of St. Quentin, pupil and son-in-law of Simon Vouet, whose style he adopted, was Professor in the Paris Academy of Painting, and died at the age of 48, in 1665. His son and Vouet's grandson, Nicolo Dorigny, in aid of whose undertaking Steele wrote this paper in the Spectator, had been invited from Rome by several of the nobility, to produce, with licence from the Queen, engravings from Raphael's Cartoons, at Hampton Court. He offered eight plates 19 inches high, and from 25 to 30 inches long, for four guineas subscription, although, he said in his Prospectus, the five prints of Alexander's Battles after Lebrun were often sold for twenty guineas.

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ContentsContents, p.2

AdvertisementThere is arrived fromItalya Painterwho acknowledges himself the greatest Person of the Age in that Art,and is willing to be as renowned in this Islandas he declares he is in Foreign Parts.The Doctor paints the Poor for nothing.

Greek: 'Ô moi egô tí páthô; ti ho dússuos; ouch hypakoúeis; Tàn Baítan apodùs eis kúmata tàena aleumai Hômer tôs thúnnôs skopiázetai Olpis ho gripéus. Káeka màe pothánô, tó ge màn teòn hadù tétuktai.' Theoc.

In my last

Thursday's

Paper I made mention of a Place called

The Lover's Leap

, which I find has raised a great Curiosity among several of my Correspondents. I there told them that this Leap was used to be taken from a Promontory of

Leucas

This

Leucas

was formerly a Part of

Acarnania

, being

joined to

it by a narrow Neck of Land, which the Sea has by length of Time overflowed and washed away; so that at present

Leucas

is divided from the Continent, and is a little Island in the

Ionian

Sea. The Promontory of this Island, from whence the Lover took his Leap, was formerly called

Leucate

. If the Reader has a mind to know both the Island and the Promontory by their modern Titles, he will find in his Map the ancient Island of

Leucas

under the Name of St.

Mauro

, and the ancient Promontory of

Leucate

under the Name of

The Cape of St.

Mauro.

Since I am engaged thus far in Antiquity, I must observe that

Theocritus

in the Motto prefixed to my Paper, describes one of his despairing Shepherds addressing himself to his Mistress after the following manner,

Alas! What will become of me! Wretch that I am! Will you not hear me? I'll throw off my Cloaths, and take a Leap into that Part of the Sea which is so much frequented byOlphisthe Fisherman. And tho' I should escape with my Life, I know you will be pleased with it.

I shall leave it with the Criticks to determine whether the Place, which this Shepherd so particularly points out, was not the above-mentioned

Leucate

, or at least some other Lover's Leap, which was supposed to have had the same Effect. I

cannot

believe, as all the Interpreters do, that the Shepherd means nothing farther here than that he would drown himself, since he represents the Issue of his Leap as doubtful, by adding, That if he should escape with

Life

, he knows his Mistress would be pleased with it; which is, according to our Interpretation, that she would rejoice any way to get rid of a Lover who was so troublesome to her.

After this short Preface, I shall present my Reader with some Letters which I have received upon this Subject. The first is sent me by a Physician.

Mr.Spectator,'The Lover's Leap, which you mention in your223d Paper, was generally, I believe, a very effectual Cure for Love, and not only for Love, but for all other Evils. In short, Sir, I am afraid it was such a Leap as that whichHerotook to get rid of her Passion forLeander. A Man is in no Danger of breaking his Heart, who breaks his Neck to prevent it. I know very well the Wonders which ancient Authors relate concerning this Leap; and in particular, that very many Persons who tried it, escaped not only with their Lives but their Limbs. If by this Means they got rid of their Love, tho' it may in part be ascribed to the Reasons you give for it; why may not we suppose that the cold Bath into which they plunged themselves, had also some Share in their Cure? A Leap into the Sea or into any Creek of Salt Waters, very often gives a new Motion to the Spirits, and a new Turn to the Blood; for which Reason we prescribe it in Distempers which no other Medicine will reach. I could produce a Quotation out of a very venerable Author, in which the Frenzy produced by Love, is compared to that which is produced by the Biting of a mad Dog. But as this Comparison is a little too coarse for your Paper, and might look as if it were cited to ridicule the Author who has made use of it; I shall only hint at it, and desire you to consider whether, if the Frenzy produced by these two different Causes be of the same Nature, it may not very properly be cured by the same Means.I am,Sir,Your most humble Servant, and Well-wisher,Esculapius.'Mr.Spectator,'I am a young Woman crossed in Love. My Story is very long and melancholy. To give you the heads of it: A young Gentleman, after having made his Applications to me for three Years together, and filled my Head with a thousand Dreams of Happiness, some few Days since married another. Pray tell me in what Part of the World your Promontory lies, which you callThe Lover's Leap, and whether one may go to it by Land? But, alas, I am afraid it has lost its Virtue, and that a Woman of our Times would find no more Relief in taking such a Leap, than in singing an Hymn toVenus. So that I must cry out withDidoinDryden's Virgil,Ah! cruel Heaven, that made no Cure for Love!Your disconsolate Servant,Athenais.'Mister Spictatur,' My Heart is so full of Lofes and Passions for Mrs.Gwinifrid, and she is so pettish and overrun with Cholers against me, that if I had the good Happiness to have my Dwelling (which is placed by my Creat-Cranfather upon the Pottom of an Hill) no farther Distance but twenty Mile from the Lofer's Leap, I would indeed indeafour to preak my Neck upon it on Purpose. Now, good MisterSpictaturofCrete Prittain, you must know it there is inCaernaruanshirea fery pig Mountain, the Glory of allWales, which is namedPenmainmaure, and you must also know, it iss no great Journey on Foot from me; but the Road is stony and bad for Shooes. Now, there is upon the Forehead of this Mountain a very high Rock, (like a Parish Steeple) that cometh a huge deal over the Sea; so when I am in my Melancholies, and I do throw myself from it, I do desire my fery good Friend to tell me in hisSpictatur, if I shall be cure of my grefous Lofes; for there is the Sea clear as Glass, and as creen as the Leek: Then likewise if I be drown, and preak my Neck, if Mrs.Gwinifridwill not lose me afterwards. Pray be speedy in your Answers, for I am in crete Haste, and it is my Tesires to do my Pusiness without Loss of Time. I remain with cordial Affections, your ever lofing Friend,Davyth ap Shenkyn.'P. S.'My Law-suits have brought me toLondon, but I have lost my Causes; and so have made my Resolutions to go down and leap before the Frosts begin; for I am apt to take Colds.'

Ah! cruel Heaven, that made no Cure for Love!

Ridicule, perhaps, is a better Expedient against Love than sober Advice, and I am of Opinion, that

Hudibras

and

Don Quixote

may be as effectual to cure the Extravagancies of this Passion, as any of the old Philosophers. I shall therefore publish, very speedily, the Translation of a little

Greek

Manuscript, which is sent me by a learned Friend. It appears to have been a Piece of those Records which were kept in the little Temple of

Apollo

, that stood upon the Promontory of

Leucate

. The Reader will find it to be a Summary Account of several Persons who tried the Lover's Leap, and of the Success they found in it. As there seem to be in it some Anachronisms and Deviations from the ancient Orthography, I am not wholly satisfied myself that it is authentick, and not rather the Production of one of those

Grecian

Sophisters, who have imposed upon the World several spurious Works of this Nature. I

speak

this by way of Precaution, because I know there are several Writers, of uncommon Erudition, who would not fail to expose my Ignorance, if they caught me tripping in a Matter of so great Moment

Footnote 1:

divided from

return to footnote mark

Footnote 2:

his Life.

return

Footnote 3:

The following Advertisement appeared in Nos.

227

234

237

247

and

248

, with the word

certainly

before

be ready

after the first insertion:

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ContentsContents, p.2

Percunctatorem fugito, nam Garrulus idem est.Hor.

There is a Creature who has all the Organs of Speech, a tolerable good Capacity for conceiving what is said to it, together with a pretty proper Behaviour in all the Occurrences of common Life; but naturally very vacant of Thought in it self, and therefore forced to apply it self to foreign Assistances. Of this Make is that Man who is very inquisitive. You may often observe, that tho' he speaks as good Sense as any Man upon any thing with which he is well acquainted, he cannot trust to the Range of his own Fancy to entertain himself upon that Foundation, but goes on to still new Enquiries. Thus, tho' you know he is fit for the most polite Conversation, you shall see him very well contented to sit by a Jockey, giving an Account of the many Revolutions in his Horse's Health, what Potion he made him take, how that agreed with him, how afterwards he came to his Stomach and his Exercise, or any the like Impertinence; and be as well pleased as if you talked to him on the most important Truths. This Humour is far from making a Man unhappy, tho' it may subject him to Raillery; for he generally falls in with a Person who seems to be born for him, which is your talkative Fellow. It is so ordered, that there is a secret Bent, as natural as the Meeting of different Sexes, in these two Characters, to supply each other's Wants. I had the Honour the other Day to sit in a publick Room, and saw an inquisitive Man look with an Air of Satisfaction upon the Approach of one of these Talkers.

The Man of ready Utterance sat down by him, and rubbing his Head, leaning on his Arm, and making an uneasy Countenance, he began; 'There is no manner of News To-day. I cannot tell what is the Matter with me, but I slept very ill last Night; whether I caught Cold or no, I know not, but I fancy I do not wear Shoes thick enough for the Weather, and I have coughed all this Week: It must be so, for the Custom of washing my Head Winter and Summer with cold Water, prevents any Injury from the Season entering that Way; so it must come in at my Feet; But I take no notice of it: as it comes so it goes. Most of our Evils proceed from too much Tenderness; and our Faces are naturally as little able to resist the Cold as other Parts. The

Indian

answered very well to an

European

, who asked him how he could go naked; I am all Face.'

I observed this Discourse was as welcome to my general Enquirer as any other of more Consequence could have been; but some Body calling our Talker to another Part of the Room, the Enquirer told the next Man who sat by him, that Mr. such a one, who was just gone from him, used to wash his Head in cold Water every Morning; and so repeated almost

verbatim

all that had been said to him. The Truth is, the Inquisitive are the Funnels of Conversation; they do not take in any thing for their own Use, but merely to pass it to another: They are the Channels through which all the Good and Evil that is spoken in Town are conveyed. Such as are offended at them, or think they suffer by their Behaviour, may themselves mend that Inconvenience; for they are not a malicious People, and if you will supply them, you may contradict any thing they have said before by their own Mouths. A farther Account of a thing is one of the gratefullest Goods that can arrive to them; and it is seldom that they are more particular than to say, The Town will have it, or I have it from a good Hand: So that there is room for the Town to know the Matter more particularly, and for a better Hand to contradict what was said by a good one.

I have not known this Humour more ridiculous than in a Father, who has been earnestly solicitous to have an Account how his Son has passed his leisure Hours; if it be in a Way thoroughly insignificant, there cannot be a greater Joy than an Enquirer discovers in seeing him follow so hopefully his own Steps: But this Humour among Men is most pleasant when they are saying something which is not wholly proper for a third Person to hear, and yet is in itself indifferent. The other Day there came in a well-dressed young Fellow, and two Gentlemen of this Species immediately fell a whispering his Pedigree. I could overhear, by Breaks, She was his Aunt; then an Answer, Ay, she was of the Mother's Side: Then again in a little lower Voice, His Father wore generally a darker Wig; Answer, Not much. But this Gentleman wears higher Heels to his Shoes.

As the Inquisitive, in my Opinion, are such merely from a Vacancy in their own Imaginations, there is nothing, methinks, so dangerous as to communicate Secrets to them; for the same Temper of Enquiry makes them as impertinently communicative: But no Man, though he converses with them, need put himself in their Power, for they will be contented with Matters of less Moment as well. When there is Fuel enough, no matter what it is—Thus the Ends of Sentences in the News Papers, as,

This wants Confirmation, This occasions many Speculations

, and

Time will discover the Event

, are read by them, and considered not as mere Expletives.

One may see now and then this Humour accompanied with an insatiable Desire of knowing what passes, without turning it to any Use in the world but merely their own Entertainment. A Mind which is gratified this Way is adapted to Humour and Pleasantry, and formed for an unconcerned Character in the World; and, like my self, to be a mere Spectator. This Curiosity, without Malice or Self-interest, lays up in the Imagination a Magazine of Circumstances which cannot but entertain when they are produced in Conversation. If one were to know, from the Man of the first Quality to the meanest Servant, the different Intrigues, Sentiments, Pleasures, and Interests of Mankind, would it not be the most pleasing Entertainment imaginable to enjoy so constant a Farce, as the observing Mankind much more different from themselves in their secret Thoughts and publick Actions, than in their Night-caps and long Periwigs?

Mr.Spectator,'Plutarchtells us, thatCaius Gracchus, theRoman, was frequently hurried by his Passion into so loud and tumultuous a way of Speaking, and so strained his Voice as not to be able to proceed. To remedy this Excess, he had an ingenious Servant, by NameLicinius, always attended him with a Pitch-pipe, or Instrument to regulate the Voice; who, whenever he heard his Master begin to be high, immediately touched a soft Note; at which,'tis said,Caiuswould presently abate and grow calm.'Upon recollecting this Story, I have frequently wondered that this useful Instrument should have been so long discontinued; especially since we find that this good Office ofLiciniushas preserved his Memory for many hundred Years, which, methinks, should have encouraged some one to have revived it, if not for the publick Good, yet for his own Credit. It may be objected, that our loud Talkers are so fond of their own Noise, that they would not take it well to be check'd by their Servants: But granting this to be true, surely any of their Hearers have a very good Title to play a soft Note in their own Defence. To be short, noLiciniusappearing and the Noise increasing, I was resolved to give this late long Vacation to the Good of my Country; and I have at length, by the Assistance of an ingenious Artist, (who works to the Royal Society) almost compleated my Design, and shall be ready in a short Time to furnish the Publick with what Number of these Instruments they please, either to lodge at Coffee-houses, or carry for their own private Use. In the mean time I shall pay that Respect to several Gentlemen, who I know will be in Danger of offending against this Instrument, to give them notice of it by private Letters, in which I shall only write,Get aLicinius.'I should now trouble you no longer, but that I must not conclude without desiring you to accept one of these Pipes, which shall be left for you withBuckley; and which I hope will be serviceable to you, since as you are silent yourself you are most open to the Insults of the Noisy.I am,Sir, &c.W. B.'I had almost forgot to inform you, that as an Improvement in this Instrument, there will be a particular Note, which I call a Hush-Note; and this is to be made use of against a long Story, Swearing, Obsceneness, and the like.

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—Spirat adhuc amor,Vivuntque commissi caloresÆoliæ fidibus puellæ.Hor.

Among

the many famous Pieces of Antiquity which are still to be seen at

Rome

, there is the Trunk of a Statue

which has lost the Arms, Legs, and Head; but discovers such an exquisite Workmanship in what remains of it, that

Michael Angelo

declared he had learned his whole Art from it. Indeed he studied it so attentively, that he made most of his Statues, and even his Pictures in that

Gusto

, to make use of the

Italian

Phrase; for which Reason this maimed Statue is still called

Michael Angelo's

School.

Fragment

Sappho

, which I design for the Subject of this Paper

, is in as great Reputation among the Poets and Criticks, as the mutilated Figure above-mentioned is among the Statuaries and Painters. Several of our Countrymen, and Mr.

Dryden

in particular, seem very often to have copied after it in their Dramatick Writings; and in their Poems upon Love.

Whatever might have been the Occasion of this Ode, the English Reader will enter into the Beauties of it, if he supposes it to have been written in the Person of a Lover sitting by his Mistress. I shall set to View three different Copies of this beautiful Original: The first is a Translation by

Catullus

, the second by Monsieur

Boileau

, and the last by a Gentleman whose Translation of the

Hymn to Venus

has been so deservedly admired.

Ad Lesbiam

Ille mî par esse deo videtur,Ille, si fas est, superare divos,Qui sedens adversus identidem te,Spectat, et audit.Dulce ridentem, misero quod omnisEripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,Lesbia, adspexi, nihil est super mîQuod loquar amens.Lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artusFlamnia dimanat, sonitu suopteTinniunt aures, gemina tegunturLumina nocte.

learned Reader will know very well the Reason why one of these Verses is printed in

Roman

Letter

; and if he compares this Translation with the Original, will find that the three first Stanzas are rendred almost Word for Word, and not only with the same Elegance, but with the same short Turn of Expression which is so remarkable in the

Greek

, and so peculiar to the

Sapphick

Ode. I cannot imagine for what Reason Madam

Dacier

has told us, that this Ode of

Sappho

is preserved entire in

Longinus

, since it is manifest to any one who looks into that Author's Quotation of it, that there must at least have been another Stanza, which is not transmitted to us.

The second Translation of this Fragment which I shall here cite, is that of Monsieur

Boileau

Heureux! qui prés de toi, pour toi seule soûpire:Qui jouït du plaisir de t'entendre parler:Qui te voit quelquefois doucement lui soûrire.Les Dieux, dans son bonheur, peuvent-ils l'égaler?Je sens de veine en veine une subtile flammeCourir par tout mon corps, si-tost que je te vois:Et dans les doux transports, où s'egare mon ame,Je ne sçaurois trouver de langue, ni de voix.Un nuage confus se répand sùr ma vuë,Je n'entens plus, je tombe en de douces langueurs;Et pâle, sans haleine, interdite, esperduë,Un frisson me saisit, je tremble, je me meurs.

The Reader will see that this is rather an Imitation than a Translation. The Circumstances do not lie so thick together, and follow one another with that Vehemence and Emotion as in the Original. In short, Monsieur

Boileau

has given us all the Poetry, but not all the Passion of this famous Fragment. I shall, in the last Place, present my Reader with the

English

Translation.

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