Laudibus arguitur Vini vinosus—Hor.translationTemple, Apr. 24.Mr.Spectator,Several of my Friends were this Morning got together over a Dish of Tea in very good Health, though we had celebrated Yesterday with more Glasses than we could have dispensed with, had we not been beholden toBrookeandHillier. In Gratitude therefore to those good Citizens, I am, in the Name of the Company, to accuse you of great Negligence in overlooking their Merit, who have imported true and generous Wine, and taken care that it should not be adulterated by the Retailers before it comes to the Tables of private Families, or the Clubs of honest Fellows. I cannot imagine how aSpectatorcan be supposed to do his Duty, without frequent Resumption of such Subjects as concern our Health, the first thing to be regarded, if we have a mind to relish anything else. It would therefore very well become your Spectatorial Vigilance, to give it in Orders to your Officer for inspecting Signs, that in his March he would look into the Itinerants who deal in Provisions, and enquire where they buy their several Wares.Eversince the Decease ofCully1-Mully-Puff2of agreeable and noisy Memory, I cannot say I have observed any thing sold in Carts, or carried by Horse or Ass, or in fine, in any moving Market, which is not perished or putrified; witness the Wheel-barrows of rotten Raisins, Almonds, Figs, and Currants, which you see vended by a Merchant dressed in a second-hand Suit of a Foot Soldier.Youshould consider that a Child may be poisoned for the Worth of a Farthing; but except his poor Parents send to one certain Doctor in Town3, they can have no advice for him under a Guinea. When Poisons are thus cheap, and Medicines thus dear, how can you be negligent in inspecting what we eat and drink, or take no Notice of such as the above-mentioned Citizens, who have been so serviceable to us of late in that particular? It was a Custom among the old Romans, to do him particular Honours who had saved the Life of a Citizen, how much more does the World owe to those who prevent the Death of Multitudes? As these Men deserve well of your Office, so such as act to the Detriment of our Health, you ought to represent to themselves and their Fellow-Subjects in the Colours which they deserve to wear. I think it would be for the publick Good, that all who vend Wines should be under oaths in that behalf. The Chairman at a Quarter Sessions should inform the Country, that the Vintner who mixes Wine to his Customers, shall (upon proof that the Drinker thereof died within a Year and a Day after taking it) be deemed guilty of Wilful Murder: and the Jury shall be instructed to enquire and present such Delinquents accordingly. It is no Mitigation of the Crime, nor will it be conceived that it can be brought in Chance-Medley or Man-Slaughter, upon Proof that it shall appear Wine joined to Wine, or right Herefordshire poured into Port O Port; but his selling it for one thing, knowing it to be another, must justly bear the foresaid Guilt of wilful Murder: For that he, the said Vintner, did an unlawful Act willingly in the false Mixture; and is therefore with Equity liable to all the Pains to which a Man would be, if it were proved he designed only to run a Man through the Arm, whom he whipped through the Lungs. This is my third Year at the Temple, and this is or should be Law. AnillIntention well proved should meet with no Alleviation, because itout-ran4it self. There cannot be too great Severity used against the Injustice as well as Cruelty of those who play with Mens Lives, by preparing Liquors, whose Nature, for ought they know, may be noxious when mixed, tho innocent when apart:AndBrookeandHillier5, who have ensured our Safety at our Meals, and driven Jealousy from our Cups in Conversation, deserve the Custom and Thanks of the whole Town; and it is your Duty to remind them of the Obligation. I am,Sir,Your Humble Servant,Tom. Pottle.Mr.Spectator,I am a Person who was long immured in a College, read much, saw little; so that I knew no more of the World than what a Lecture or a View of the Map taught me. By this means I improved in my Study, but became unpleasant in Conversation. By conversing generally with the Dead, I grew almost unfit for the Society of the Living; so by a long Confinement I contracted an ungainly Aversion to Conversation, and ever discoursed with Pain to my self, and little Entertainment to others. At last I was in some measure made sensible of my failing, and the Mortification of never being spoke to, or speaking, unless the Discourse ran upon Books, put me upon forcing my self amongst Men. I immediately affected the politest Company, by the frequent use of which I hoped to wear off the Rust I had contracted; but by an uncouth Imitation of Men used to act in publick, I got no further than to discover I had a Mind to appear a finer thing than I really was.Such I was, and such was my Condition, when I became an ardent Lover, and passionate Admirer of the beauteousBelinda: Then it was that I really began to improve. This Passion changed all my Fears and Diffidences in my general Behaviour, to the sole Concern of pleasing her. I had not now to study the Action of a Gentleman, but Love possessing all my Thoughts, made me truly be the thing I had a Mind to appear. My Thoughts grew free and generous, and the Ambition to be agreeable to her I admired, produced in my Carriage a faint Similitude of that disengaged Manner of my Belinda. The way we are in at present is, that she sees my Passion, and sees I at present forbear speaking of it through prudential Regards. This Respect to her she returns with much Civility, and makes my Value for her as little a Misfortune to me, as is consistent with Discretion. She sings very charmingly, and is readier to do so at my Request, because she knows I love her: She will dance with me rather than another, for the same Reason. My Fortune must alter from what it is, before I can speak my Heart to her; and her Circumstances are not considerable enough to make up for the Narrowness of mine. But I write to you now, only to give you the Character ofBelinda, as a Woman that has Address enough to demonstrate a Gratitude to her Lover, without giving him Hopes of Success in his Passion.Belindahas from a great Wit, governed by as great Prudence, and both adorned with Innocence, the Happiness of always being ready to discover her real Thoughts. She has many of us, who now are her Admirers; but her Treatment of us is so just and proportioned to our Merit towards her, and what we are in our selves, that I protest to you I have neither Jealousy nor Hatred toward my Rivals. Such is her Goodness, and the Acknowledgment of every Man who admires her, that he thinks he ought to believe she will take him who best deserves her. I will not say that this Peace among us is not owing to Self-love, which prompts each to think himself the best Deserver: I think there is something uncommon and worthy of Imitation in this Lady's Character. If you will please to Print my Letter, you will oblige the little Fraternity of happy Rivals, and in a more particular Manner,Sir,Your most humble Servant,Will. Cymon.
T.
Footnote 1:
Mully
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
See
No. 251
. He was a little man just able to bear on his head his basket of pastry, and who was named from his cry. There is a half-sheet print of him in the set of London Cries in Granger's
Biographical History of England.
return
Footnote 3:
Who advertised that he attended patients at charges ranging from a shilling to half-a-crown, according to their distance from his house.
return
Footnote 4:
out-run
return
Footnote 5:
Estcourt, it may be remembered, connected the advertisement of his Bumper tavern with the recommendation of himself as one ignorant of the wine trade who relied on Brooke and Hellier, and so ensured his Customers good wine. Among the advertisers in the Spectator Brooke and Hellier often appeared. One of their advertisements is preceded by the following, evidently a contrivance of their own, which shows that the art of puffing was not then in its infancy:
'This is to give Notice, That Brooke and Hellier have not all the New Port Wines this Year, nor above one half, the Vintners having bought 130 Pipes of Mr. Thomas Barlow and others, which are all natural, and shall remain Genuine, on which all Gentlemen and others may depend.Note.—Altho' Brooke and Hellier have asserted in several Papers that they had 140 Pipes of New Oporto Wines coming from Bristol, it now appears, since their landing, that they have only 133 Pipes, I Hhd. of the said Wines, which shews plainly how little what they say is to be credited.'
Then follows their long advertisement, which ends with a note that Their New Ports, just landed, being the only New Ports in Merchants Hands, and above One Half of all that is in London, will begin to be sold at the old prices the I2th inst. (April) at all their Taverns and Cellars.
return
Contents
—Crudelis ubiqueLuctus, ubique pavor, et plurima MortisImago.Virg.translation
Milton
has shewn a wonderful Art in describing that variety of Passions which arise in our first Parents upon the Breach of the Commandment that had been given them. We see them gradually passing from the Triumph of their Guilt thro Remorse, Shame, Despair, Contrition, Prayer, and Hope, to a perfect and compleat Repentance. At the end of the tenth Book they are represented as prostrating themselves upon the Ground, and watering the Earth with their Tears: To which the Poet joins this beautiful Circumstance, that they offerd up their penitential Prayers, on the very Place where their Judge appeared to them when he pronounced their Sentence.
—They forthwith to the placeRepairing where he judg'd them, prostrate fellBefore him Reverent, and both confess'dHumbly their Faults, and Pardon begg'd, with TearsWatering the Ground—
There is a Beauty of the same kind in a Tragedy ofSophocles, whereŒdipus, after having put out his own Eyes, instead of breaking his Neck from the Palace-Battlements (which furnishes so elegant an Entertainment for ourEnglishAudience) desires that he may be conducted to MountCithoeron, in order to end his Life in that very Place where he was exposed in his Infancy, and where he should then have died, had the Will of his Parents been executed.
As the Author never fails to give a poetical Turn to his Sentiments, he describes in the Beginning of this Book the Acceptance which these their Prayers met with, in a short Allegory, formd upon that beautiful Passage in holy Writ: And another Angel came and stood at the Altar, having a golden Censer; and there was given unto him much Incense, that he should offer it with the Prayers of all Saints upon the Golden Altar, which was before the Throne: And the Smoak of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God.
—To Heavn their PrayersFlew up, nor miss'd the Way, by envious WindsBlown vagabond or frustrate: in they pass'dDimensionless through heavnly Doors, then cladWith Incense, where the Golden Altar fumed,By their great Intercessor, came in sightBefore the Father's Throne—
We have the same Thought expressed a second time in the Intercession of the
Messiah
, which is conceived in very Emphatick Sentiments and Expressions.
Among the Poetical Parts of Scripture, which
Milton
has so finely wrought into this Part of his Narration, I must not omit that wherein
Ezekiel
speaking of the Angels who appeared to him in a Vision, adds, that every one had four Faces, and that their whole Bodies, and their Backs, and their Hands, and their Wings, were full of Eyes round about.
—The Cohort brightOf watchful Cherubims, four Faces eachHad like a double Janus, all their ShapeSpangled with Eyes—
The Assembling of all the Angels of Heaven to hear the solemn Decree passed upon Man, is represented in very lively Ideas. The Almighty is here describd as remembring Mercy in the midst of Judgment, and commanding
Michael
to deliver his Message in the mildest Terms, lest the Spirit of Man, which was already broken with the Sense of his Guilt and Misery, should fail before him.
—Yet lest they faintAt the sad Sentence rigorously urg'd,For I behold them softned, and with TearsBewailing their Excess, all Terror hide,
The Conference of
Adam
and
Eve
is full of moving Sentiments. Upon their going abroad after the melancholy Night which they had passed together, they discover the Lion and the Eagle pursuing each of them their Prey towards the Eastern Gates of Paradise. There is a double Beauty in this Incident, not only as it presents great and just Omens, which are always agreeable in Poetry, but as it expresses that Enmity which was now produced in the Animal Creation. The Poet to shew the like Changes in Nature, as well as to grace his Fable with a noble Prodigy, represents the Sun in an Eclipse. This particular Incident has likewise a fine Effect upon the Imagination of the Reader, in regard to what follows; for at the same time that the Sun is under an Eclipse, a bright Cloud descends in the Western Quarter of the Heavens, filled with an Host of Angels, and more luminous than the Sun it self. The whole Theatre of Nature is darkned, that this glorious Machine may appear in all its Lustre and Magnificence.
—Why in the EastDarkness ere Days mid-course, and morning LightMore orient in that Western Cloud that drawsO'er the blue Firmament a radiant White,And slow descends, with something Heavnly fraught?He err'd not, for by this the heavenly BandsDown from a Sky of Jasper lighted nowIn Paradise, and on a Hill made halt;A glorious Apparition—
I need not observe how properly this Author, who always suits his Parts to the Actors whom he introduces, has employed
Michael
in the Expulsion of our first Parents from Paradise. The Archangel on this Occasion neither appears in his proper Shape, nor in that familiar Manner with which
Raphael
the sociable Spirit entertained the Father of Mankind before the Fall. His Person, his Port, and Behaviour, are suitable to a Spirit of the highest Rank, and exquisitely describd in the following Passage.
—Th' Archangel soon drew nigh,Not in his Shape Celestial; but as ManClad to meet Man: over his lucid ArmsA Military Vest of Purple flow'd,Livelier thanMeliboean,or the GrainOfSarra,worn by Kings and Heroes old,In time of Truce:Irishad dipt the Wooff:His starry Helm, unbuckled, shew'd him primeIn Manhood where Youth ended; by his side,As in a glistring Zodiack, hung the Sword,Satan's dire dread, and in his Hand the Spear.Adam bow'd low, he Kingly from his StateInclined not, but his coming thus declared.
Eve's
Complaint upon hearing that she was to be removed from the Garden of Paradise, is wonderfully beautiful: The Sentiments are not only proper to the Subject, but have something in them particularly soft and womanish.
Must I then leave thee, Paradise? Thus leaveThee, native Soil, these happy Walks and Shades,Fit haunt of Gods? Where I had hope to spendQuiet, though sad, the respite of that DayThat must be mortal to us both. O Flowrs,That never will in other Climate grow,My early Visitation, and my lastAt Even, which I bred up with tender HandFrom the first opening Bud, and gave you Names;Who now shall rear you to the Sun, or rankYour Tribes, and water from th' ambrosial Fount?Thee, lastly, nuptial Bower, by me adorn'dWith what to Sight or Smell was sweet; from theeHow shall I part, and whither wander downInto a lower World, to this obscureAnd wild? how shall we breathe in other AirLess pure, accustomd to immortal Fruits?
Adam's
Speech abounds with Thoughts which are equally moving, but of a more masculine and elevated Turn. Nothing can be conceived more Sublime and Poetical than the following Passage in it.
This most afflicts me, that departing henceAs from his Face I shall be hid, deprivedHis blessed Countnance: here I could frequent,With Worship, place by place where he vouchsaf'dPresence Divine; and to my Sons relate,On this Mount he appear'd, under this TreeStood visible, among these Pines his VoiceI heard, here with him at this Fountain talk'd;So many grateful Altars I would rearOf grassy Turf, and pile up every StoneOf lustre from the Brook, in memoryOr monument to Ages, and thereonOffer sweet-smelling Gums and Fruits and Flowers.In yonder nether World—where shall I seekHis bright Appearances, or Footsteps trace?For though I fled him angry, yet recalledTo Life prolonged and promised Race, I nowGladly behold though but his utmost SkirtsOf Glory, and far off his Steps adore.
The Angel afterwards leads
Adam
to the highest Mount of Paradise, and lays before him a whole Hemisphere, as a proper Stage for those Visions which were to be represented on it. I have before observed how the Plan of
Milton's
Poem is in many Particulars greater than that of the
Iliad
or
Æneid
.
Virgil's
Hero, in the last of these Poems, is entertained with a Sight of all those who are to descend from him; but though that Episode is justly admired as one of the noblest Designs in the whole
Æneid
, every one-must allow that this of
Milton
is of a much higher Nature.
Adam's
Vision is not confined to any particular Tribe of Mankind, but extends to the whole Species.
In this great Review which
Adam
takes of all his Sons and Daughters, the first Objects he is presented with exhibit to him the Story of
Cain
and
Abel
, which is drawn together with much Closeness and Propriety of Expression. That Curiosity and natural Horror which arises in
Adam
at the Sight of the first dying Man, is touched with great Beauty.
But have I now seen Death? is this the wayI must return to native Dust? O SightOf Terror foul, and ugly to behold,Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!
The second Vision sets before him the Image of Death in a great Variety of Appearances. The Angel, to give him a general Idea of those Effects which his Guilt had brought upon his Posterity, places before him a large Hospital or Lazar-House, filled with Persons lying under all kinds of mortal Diseases. How finely has the Poet told us that the sick Persons languished under lingering and incurable Distempers, by an apt and judicious use of such Imaginary Beings as those I mentioned in my last Saturday's Paper.
Dire was the tossing, deep the Groans. DespairTended the Sick, busy from Couch to Couch;And over them triumphant Death his DartShook, but delayed to strike, though oft invokedWith Vows, as their chief Good and final Hope.
The Passion which likewise rises in Adam on this Occasion, is very natural.
Sight so deform, what Heart of Rock could longDry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,Tho' not of Woman born; Compassion quell'dHis best of Man, and gave him up to Tears.
The Discourse between the Angel and
Adam
, which follows, abounds with noble Morals.
As there is nothing more delightful in Poetry than a Contrast and Opposition of Incidents, the Author, after this melancholy Prospect of Death and Sickness, raises up a Scene of Mirth, Love, and Jollity. The secret Pleasure that steals into
Adam's
Heart as he is intent upon this Vision, is imagined with great Delicacy. I must not omit the Description of the loose female Troop, who seduced the Sons of God, as they are called in Scripture.
For that fair female Troop thou sawst, that seemedOf Goddesses, so Blithe, so Smooth, so Gay,Yet empty of all Good wherein consistsWoman's domestick Honour and chief Praise;Bred only and compleated to the tasteOf lustful Appetence, to sing, to dance,To dress, and troule the Tongue, and roll the Eye:To these that sober Race of Men, whose LivesReligious titled them the Sons of God,Shall yield up all their Virtue, all their FameIgnobly, to the Trains and to the SmilesOf those fair Atheists—
The next Vision is of a quite contrary Nature, and filled with the Horrors of War.
Adam
at the Sight of it melts into Tears, and breaks out in that passionate Speech,
—O what are these!Death's Ministers, not Men, who thus deal DeathInhumanly to Men, and multiplyTen Thousandfold the Sin of him who slewHis Brother: for of whom such MassacreMake they but of their Brethren, Men of Men?
Milton
, to keep up an agreeable Variety in his Visions, after having raised in the Mind of his Reader the several Ideas of Terror which are conformable to the Description of War, passes on to those softer Images of Triumphs and Festivals, in that Vision of Lewdness and Luxury which ushers in the Flood.
As it is visible that the Poet had his Eye upon
Ovid's
Account of the universal Deluge, the Reader may observe with how much Judgment he has avoided every thing that is redundant or puerile in the
Latin
Poet.
We
do not here see the Wolf swimming among the Sheep, nor any of those wanton Imaginations, which
Seneca
found fault with
1
, as unbecoming
the
2
great Catastrophe of Nature. If our Poet has imitated that Verse in which
Ovid
tells us that there was nothing but Sea, and that this Sea had no Shore to it, he has not set the Thought in such a Light as to incur the Censure which Criticks have passed upon it. The latter part of that Verse in
Ovid
is idle and superfluous, but just and beautiful in
Milton
.
Jamque mare et tellus nullum discrimen habebant,Nil nisi pontus erat, deerant quoque littora ponto.(Ovid)
—Sea cover'd Sea,Sea without Shore—(Milton.)
In
Milton
the former Part of the Description does not forestall the latter. How much more great and solemn on this Occasion is that which follows in our
English
Poet,
—And in their PalacesWhere Luxury late reign'd, Sea-Monsters whelp'dAnd stabled—
than that in
Ovid
, where we are told that the Sea-Calfs lay in those Places where the Goats were used to browze? The Reader may find several other parallel Passages in the
Latin
and
English
Description of the Deluge, wherein our Poet has visibly the Advantage. The Skys being overcharged with Clouds, the descending of the Rains, the rising of the Seas, and the Appearance of the Rainbow, are such Descriptions as every one must take notice of. The Circumstance relating to Paradise is so finely imagined, and suitable to the Opinions of many learned Authors, that I cannot forbear giving it a Place in this Paper.
—Then shall this MountOf Paradise by might of Waves be mov'dOut of his Place, pushed by the horned FloodWith all his Verdure spoil'd, and Trees adriftDown the great River to the opning Gulf,And there take root, an Island salt and bare,The haunt of Seals and Orcs and Sea-Mews clang.
The Transition which the Poet makes from the Vision of the Deluge, to the Concern it occasioned in
Adam
, is exquisitely graceful, and copied after
Virgil
, though the first Thought it introduces is rather in the Spirit of
Ovid
.
How didst thou grieve then,Adam,to beholdThe End of all thy Offspring, End so sad,Depopulation! thee another FloodOf Tears and Sorrow, a Flood thee also drowned,And sunk thee as thy Sons; till gently rear'dBy th' Angel, on thy Feet thou stoodst at last,Tho' comfortless, as when a Father mournsHis Children, all in view destroyed at once.
I have been the more particular in my Quotations out of the eleventh Book of
Paradise Lost,
because it is not generally reckoned among the most shining Books of this Poem; for which Reason the Reader might be apt to overlook those many Passages in it which deserve our Admiration. The eleventh and twelfth are indeed built upon that single Circumstance of the Removal of our first Parents from Paradise; but tho' this is not in itself so great a Subject as that in most of the foregoing Books, it is extended and diversified with so many surprising Incidents and pleasing Episodes, that these two last Books can by no means be looked upon as unequal Parts of this Divine Poem. I must further add, that had not
Milton
represented our first Parents as driven out of Paradise, his Fall of Man would not have been compleat, and consequently his Action would have been imperfect.
L.
Footnote 3:
Nat. Quaest
. Bk. III. §27.
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
this
return
Contents
—Navibus1atqueQuadrigis petimus bene vivere.Hor.translationMr.Spectator2,A Lady of my Acquaintance, for whom I have too much Respect to be easy while she is doing an indiscreet Action, has given occasion to this Trouble: She is a Widow, to whom the Indulgence of a tender Husband has entrusted the Management of a very great Fortune, and a Son about sixteen, both which she is extremely fond of. The Boy has Parts of the middle Size, neither shining nor despicable, and has passed the common Exercises of his Years with tolerable Advantage; but is withal what you would call a forward Youth: By the Help of this last Qualification, which serves as a Varnish to all the rest, he is enabled to make the best Use of his Learning, and display it at full length upon all Occasions. Last Summer he distinguished himself two or three times very remarkably, by puzzling the Vicar before an Assembly of most of the Ladies in the Neighbourhood; and from such weighty Considerations as these, as it too often unfortunately falls out, the Mother is become invincibly persuaded that her Son is a great Scholar; and that to chain him down to the ordinary Methods of Education with others of his Age, would be to cramp his Faculties, and do an irreparable Injury to his wonderful Capacity.I happened to visit at the House last Week, and missing the young Gentleman at the Tea-Table, where he seldom fails to officiate, could not upon so extraordinary a Circumstance avoid inquiring after him. My Lady told me, he was gone out with her Woman, in order to make some Preparations for their Equipage; for that she intended very speedily to carry him to travel. The Oddness of the Expression shock'd me a little; however, I soon recovered my self enough to let her know, that all I was willing to understand by it was, that she designed this Summer to shew her Son his Estate in a distant County, in which he has never yet been: But she soon took care to rob me of that agreeable Mistake, and let me into the whole Affair. She enlarged upon young Master's prodigious Improvements, and his comprehensive Knowledge of all Book-Learning; concluding, that it was now high time he should be made acquainted with Men and Things; that she had resolved he should make the Tour of France and Italy, but could not bear to have him out of her Sight, and therefore intended to go along with him.I was going to rally her for so extravagant a Resolution, but found my self not in fit Humour to meddle with a Subject that demanded the most soft and delicate Touch imaginable. I was afraid of dropping something that might seem to bear hard either upon the Son's Abilities, or the Mother's Discretion; being sensible that in both these Cases, tho' supported with all the Powers of Reason, I should, instead of gaining her Ladyship over to my Opinion, only expose my self to her Disesteem: I therefore immediately determined to refer the whole Matter to theSpectator.When I came to reflect at Night, as my Custom is, upon the Occurrences of the Day, I could not but believe that this Humour of carrying a Boy to travel in his Mother's Lap, and that upon pretence of learning Men and Things, is a Case of an extraordinary Nature, and carries on it a particular Stamp of Folly. I did not remember to have met with its Parallel within the Compass of my Observation, tho' I could call to mind some not extremely unlike it. From hence my Thoughts took Occasion to ramble into the general Notion of Travelling, as it is now made a Part of Education. Nothing is more frequent than to take a Lad from Grammar and Taw, and under the Tuition of some poor Scholar, who is willing to be banished for thirty Pounds a Year, and a little Victuals, send him crying and snivelling into foreign Countries. Thus he spends his time as Children do at Puppet-Shows, and with much the same Advantage, in staring and gaping at an amazing Variety of strange things: strange indeed to one who is not prepared to comprehend the Reasons and Meaning of them; whilst he should be laying the solid Foundations of Knowledge in his Mind, and furnishing it with just Rules to direct his future Progress in Life under some skilful Master of the Art of Instruction.Can there be a more astonishing Thought in Nature, than to consider how Men should fall into so palpable a Mistake? It is a large Field, and may very well exercise a sprightly Genius; but I don't remember you have yet taken a Turn in it. I wish, Sir, you would make People understand, that Travel is really the last Step to be taken in the Institution of Youth; and to set out with it, is to begin where they should end.Certainly the true End of visiting Foreign Parts, is to look into their Customs and Policies, and observe in what Particulars they excel or come short of our own; to unlearn some odd Peculiarities in our Manners, and wear off such awkward Stiffnesses and Affectations in our Behaviour, as may possibly have been contracted from constantly associating with one Nation of Men, by a more free, general, and mixed Conversation. But how can any of these Advantages be attained by one who is a mere Stranger to the Custom sand Policies of his native Country, and has not yet fixed in his Mind the first Principles of Manners and Behaviour? To endeavour it, is to build a gawdy Structure without any Foundation; or, if I may be allow'd the Expression, to work a rich Embroidery upon a Cobweb.Another End of travelling which deserves to be considerd, is the Improving our Taste of the best Authors of Antiquity, by seeing the Places where they lived, and of which they wrote; to compare the natural Face of the Country with the Descriptions they have given us, and observe how well the Picture agrees with the Original. This must certainly be a most charming Exercise to the Mind that is rightly turned for it; besides that it may in a good measure be made subservient to Morality, if the Person is capable of drawing just Conclusions concerning the Uncertainty of human things, from the ruinous Alterations Time and Barbarity have brought upon so many Palaces, Cities and whole Countries, which make the most illustrious Figures in History. And this Hint may be not a little improved by examining every Spot of Ground that we find celebrated as the Scene of some famous Action, or retaining any Footsteps of aCato,CiceroorBrutus, or some such great virtuous Man. A nearer View of any such Particular, tho really little and trifling in it self, may serve the more powerfully to warm a generous Mind to an Emulation of their Virtues, and a greater Ardency of Ambition to imitate their bright Examples, if it comes duly temper'd and prepar'd for the Impression. But this Ibelieveyou'll hardly think those to be, who are so far from ent'ring into the Sense and Spirit of the Ancients, that they don't yet understand their Language with anyExactness3.But I have wander'd from my Purpose, which was only to desire you to save, if possible, a fondEnglishMother, and Mother's own Son, from being shewn a ridiculous Spectacle thro' the most polite Part ofEurope, Pray tell them, that though to be Sea-sick, or jumbled in an outlandish Stage-Coach, may perhaps be healthful for the Constitution of the Body, yet it is apt to cause such a Dizziness in young empty Heads, as too often lasts their Life-time.I am,Sir,Your most Humble Servant,Philip Homebred.Birchan-Lane.Sir,I was marry'd onSundaylast, and went peaceably to bed; but, to my Surprize, was awakend the next Morning by the Thunder of a Set of Drums. These warlike Sounds (methinks) are very improper in a Marriage-Consort, and give great Offence; they seem to insinuate, that the Joys of this State are short, and that Jars and Discord soon ensue. I fear they have been ominous to many Matches, and sometimes proved a Prelude to a Battel in the Honey-Moon. A Nod from you may hush them; therefore pray, Sir, let them be silenced, that for the future none but soft Airs may usher in the Morning of a Bridal Night, which will be a Favour not only to those who come after, but to me, who can still subscribe my self,Your most humbleand most obedient Servant,Robin Bridegroom.Mr.Spectator,I am one of that sort of Women whom the gayer Part of our Sex are apt to call a Prude. But to shew them that I have very little Regard to their Raillery, I shall be glad to see them all atThe Amorous Widow, or the Wanton Wife, which is to be acted, for the Benefit of Mrs. Porter, on Monday the 28th Instant. I assure you I can laugh at an Amorous Widow, or Wanton Wife, with as little Temptation to imitate them, as I could at any other vicious Character. Mrs. Porter obliged me so very much in the exquisite Sense she seemed to have of the honourable Sentiments and noble Passions in the Character of Hermione, that I shall appear in her behalf at a Comedy, tho I have not great Relish for any Entertainments where the Mirth is not seasond with a certain Severity, which ought to recommend it to People who pretend to keep Reason and Authority over all their Actions.I am,Sir,Your frequent Reader,Altamira.