Mr. SPECTATOR, T HERE are those who take the Advantage of your putting an Half-penny Value upon your felf above the rest of our daily Writers, to defame you in 'publick Converfation, and ftrive to make you unpopular upon the Account of this faid Half-penny. But if I were you, I would infift upon that fmall Acknowledgment for the fuperior Merit of yours, as being a 'Work of Invention. Give me Leave therefore to do you Justice, and say in your Behalf, what you cannot your felf, which is, That your Writings have made Learning a more neceffary Part of Good-breeding than ' it was before you appeared: That Modefty is become 'fashionable, and Impudence ftands in need of fome . Wit; fince you have put them both in their proper Lights. Profaneness, Lewdness, and Debauchery are not now Qualifications, and a Man may be a very fine 'Gentleman, tho' he is neither a Keeper nor an Infidel. your I would have you tell the Town the Story of the Sibyls, if they deny giving you Two-Pence. Let them 'know, that thofe facred Papers were valued at the fame • Rate after two Thirds of them were deftroyed, as when there was the whole Set. There are fo many of us who 'will give you your own Price, that you may acquaint Non-Conformift Readers, that they fhall not have it, except they come in within fuch a Day, under Three-pence. I don't know but you might bring in the • Date Obolum Bellifario with a good Grace. The Witlings come in Clusters to two or three Coffee-houses ⚫ which have left you off, and I hope you will make us, 'who fine to your Wit, merry with their Characters 'who stand out against it. I am your most humble Servant. P. S. I have lately got the ingenious Authors of Blacking for Shoes, Powder for colouring the Hair, Pomatum for the Hands, Cofmetick for the Face, to ⚫ be your conftant Customers; so that your Advertise6 ments will as much adorn the outward Man, as your 6 Paper does the inward. T Wednesday, No. 462. Wednesday, August 20. P Nil ego prætulerim Fucundo fanus amico. Hor. Sat. 5. 1. 1. v. 44. Nothing fo grateful as a Pleasant Friend. EOPLE are not aware of the very great Force which Pleasantry in Company has upon all those with whom a Man of that Talent converfes. His Faults are generally overlooked by all his Acquaintance, and a certain Carelesness that conftantly attends all his Actions, carries him on with greater Succefs, than Diligence and Affiduity does others who have no Share of this Endowment. Ďacinthus breaks his Word upon all Occafions both trivial and important; and when he is fufficiently railed at for that abominable Quality, they who talk of him end with, After all he is a very pleasant Fellow. Dacinthus is an ill-natured Hufband, and yet the very Women end their Freedom of Difcourfe upon this Subject, But after all he is very pleafant Company. Dacinthus is neither in point of Honour, Civility, Goodbreeding, or Good-nature unexceptionable, and yet all is anfwered, For he is a very pleafant Fellow. When this Quality is confpicuous in a Man who has to accompany it, manly and virtuous Sentiments, there cannot certainly be any thing which can give fo pleafing Gratification as the Gaiety of fuch a Perfon; but when it is alone, and ferves only to gild a Crowd of ill Qualities, there is no Man fo much to be avoided as your pleasant Fellow. A very pleafant Fellow fhall turn your good Name to a Jeft, make your Character contemptible, debauch your Wife or Daughter, and yet be received by the reft of the World with Welcome where-ever he appears. It is very ordinary with those of this Character to be attentive only to their own Satisfactions, and have very little Bowels for the Concerns or Sorrows of other Men; nay, they are capable of purchafing their own Pleasures at the Expence of giving Pain to others. But they they who do not confider this Sort of Men thus carefully, are irrefiftibly exposed to their Infinuations. The Author of the following Letter carries the Matter fo high, as to intimate that the Liberties of England have been at the Mercy of a Prince merely as he was of this pleasant Character. Mr. SPECTATOR, T HERE is no one Paffion which all Mankind fo naturally give into as Pride, nor any other Paffion which appears in fuch different Disguises: It is to ⚫ be found in all Habits and Complections. Is it not a Question, whether it does more Harm or Good in the • World? And if there be not fuch a Thing as what we call a virtuous and laudable Pride? may IT is this Paffion alone, when mifapplied, that lays 6 us fo open to Flatterers; and he who can agreeably ⚫condescend to footh our Humour or Temper, finds always an open Avenue to our Soul; especially if the Flatterer happen to be our Superior. ONE might give many Inftances of this in a late English Monarch, under the Title of, The Gaieties of King Charles II. This Prince was by Nature extremely familiar, of very eafy Accefs, and much delighted to fee and be seen; and this happy Temper, which in the highest Degree gratified his Peoples Vanity, did ⚫ him more Service with his loving Subjects than all his • other Virtues, tho' it must be confeffed he had many. • He delighted, tho' a mighty King, to give and take a Jeft, as they fay; and a Prince of this fortunate Difpofition, who were inclined to make an ill Use of his Power, may have any thing of his People, be it never fo much to their Prejudice. But this good King made generally a very innocent Ufe, as to the Publick, of this infnaring Temper; for, 'tis well known, he purfued Pleasure more than Ambition: He feemed to glory • in being the first Man at Cock-matches, Horse-races, Balls, and Plays; he appeared highly delighted on thofe Occafions, and never failed to warm and gladden the Heart of every Spectator. He more than once 'dined with his good Citizens of London on their LordMayor's Day, and did fo the Year that Sir Robert Viner " was ' was Mayor. Sir Robert was a very loyal Man, and, if you will allow the Expreffion, very fond of his Sovereign; but what with the Joy he felt at Heart for the Honour done him by his Prince, and thro' the Warmth ⚫ he was in with continual toafting Healths to the Royal Family, his Lordship grew a little fond of his Majesty, ⚫ and entered into a Familiarity not altogether fo grace⚫ful in fo publick a Place. The King understood very ⚫ well how to extricate himself on all kinds of Difficul• ties, and with an Hint to the Company to avoid Ceremony, ftole off and made towards his Coach, which • flood ready for him in Guild-Hall Yard: But the Mayor liked his Company fo well, and was grown fo intimate, that he pursued him haftily, and catching him faft by the Hand, cry'd out with a vehement Oath and Accent, Sir, you fall flay and take t'other Bottle. The airy Monarch looked kindly at him over his Shoulder, and with a Smile and graceful Air, (for I saw him at the Time and do now) repeated this Line of the old • Song; 6 6 He that's drunk is as great as a King. and immediately turned back and complied with his • Landlord. I give you this Story, Mr. SPECTATOR, because, as I faid, I faw the Paffage; and I affure you it's very true, and yet no common one; and when I tell you the Sequel, you will fay I have yet a better Reason 'for't. This very Mayor afterwards erected a Statue ⚫ of his merry Monarch in Stocks-Market, and did the Crown many and great Services; and it was owing to this Humour of the King, that his Family had fo great a Fortune fhut up in the Exchequer of their pleasant Sovereign. The many good-natured Condefcenfions of this Prince are vulgarly known; and it is excellently 'faid of him by a great Hand which writ his Character, That he was not a King a Quarter of an Hour together in his whole Reign. He would receive Vifits even from Fools and half Mad-men, and at Times I have met ' with People who have Boxed, fought at Back-fword, ' and taken Poifon before King Charles II. In a word, he was so pleasant a Man, that no one could be forrow. 'ful 6 ⚫ful under his Government. This made him capable of baffling, with the greatest Ease imaginable, all Suggeftions of Jealoufy, and the People could not enter'tain Notions of any thing terrible in him, whom they 'faw every way agreeable. This Scrap of the familiar Part of that Prince's History I thought fit to fend you, in compliance to the Requeft you lately made to your Correfpondents. T I am, SIR, Your most humble Servant. No. 463. Thursday, August 21. Omnia quæ fenfu volvuntur vota diurno, In fleep, when Fancy is let loofe to play, I Claud. Was lately entertaining my felf with comparing Homer's Balance, in which Jupiter is represented as weighing the Fates of Hector and Achilles, with a Paffage of Virgil, wherein that Deity is introduced as weighing the Fates of Turnus and Eneas. I then confidered |