certainly be adverted to; nor do I see any one performer (Garrick only excepted) among us, that is not in this particular apt to offend. By this fimple beginning the gives herself a power of rifing in the paffion of the fcene. As the proceeds, every gefture, every look acquires new violence, till at last transported, the fills the whole vehemence of the part, and all the idea of the poet.

Her hands are not alternately ftretched out, and then drawn in again, as with the finging women at Sadler's Wells; they are employed with graceful variety, and every moment please with new and unexpected eloquence. Add to this, that their motion is generally from the fhoulder; fhe never flourishes her hands while the upper part of her arm is motionlefs, nor has she the ridiculous appearance, as if her elbows were pinned to her hips.

But of all the cautions to be given to our rifing actreffes, I would particularly recommend it to them never to take notice of the audience, upon any occafion whatsoever; let the spectators applaud never fo loudly, their praifes fhould pafs, except at the end of the epilogue, with feeming inattention. I can never pardon a lady on the ftage who, when she draws the admiration of the whole audience, turns about to make them a low courtfey for their applaufe. Such a figure no longer continues Belvidera, but at once drops into Mrs. Cibber. Suppofe a fober tradefman, who once a year takes his fhilling's worth at Drury-lane, in order to be delighted with the figure of a queen, the queen of Sheba for inftance, or any other queen: this honeft man has no other idea of the great but from their fuperior pride and impertinence: fuppofe fuch a man placed among the fpectators, the firft figure that appears on the ftage is the queen herfelf, courtefying and cringing to all the company; how can he fancy her

the

the haughty favourite of king Solomon the wife, who appears actually more fubmiffive than the wife of his bofom. We are all tradesmen of a nicer relish in this refpcct, and fuch conduct muft difguft every fpectator who loves to have the illufion of Nature ftrong upon him.

Yet, while I recommend to our actresses a skilful attention to gefture, I would not have them study it in the looking-glafs. This, without fome precaution, will render their action formal; by too great an intimacy with this they become ftiff and affected. People feldom improve, when they have no other model but themfelves to copy after. I remember to have known a notable performer of the other fex, who made great ufe of this flattering monitor, and yet was one of the ftiffeft figures I ever faw. İ am told his appartment was hung round with lookingglafs, that he might fee his perfon twenty times reflected upon entering the room; and I will make bold to fay, he faw twenty very ugly fellows whenever he did fo.

VOL. IV.

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THE

THE BE E, No III.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1759.

ON' THE USE OF LANGUAGE.

THE manner in which moft writers begin their treatises on the Ufe of Language is generally thus : "Language has been granted to man, in order to "difcover his wants and neceffities, fo as to have "them relieved by fociety. Whatever we defire, "whatever we with, it is but to cloath thofe de"fires or wishes in words, in order to fruition; "the principal use of language, therefore, fay they, "is to exprefs our wants, fo as to receive a speedy "redrefs."

Such an account as this may ferve to fatisfy grammarians and rhetoricians well enough, but men who know the world maintain very contrary maxims ; they hold, and I think with fome fhew of reafon, that he who beft knows how to conceal his neceffity and defires, is the moft likely perfon to find redress and that the true ufe of fpeech is not fo much to express our wants as to conceal them.

When we reflect on the manner in which mankind generally confer their favours, we shall find that they who seem to want them leaft, are the very perfons who moft liberally fhare them. There is fomething fo attractive in riches, that the large heap generally collects from the fmaller; and the poor find as much pleafure in increafing the enormous mafs, as the mifer, who owns it, fees happi

nefs in its increase repugnant to the laws of true morality. Seneca himself allows, that in conferring benefits, the prefent fhould always be fuited to the dignity of the receiver. Thus the rich receive large prefents, and are thanked for accepting them. Men of middling ftations are obliged to be content with presents fomething lefs; while the beggar, who may be truly said to want indeed, is well paid if a farthing rewards his warmest folicitations.

Nor is there in this any thing

Every man who has feen the world, and has had his ups and downs in life, as the expreffion is, must have frequently experienced the truth of this doctrine, and must know that to have much, or to seem to have it, is the only way to have more. Ovid finely compares a man of broken fortune to a falling column; the lower it finks, the greater weight it is obliged to fuftain. Thus, when a man has no occafion to borrow, he finds numbers willing to lend him. Should he afk his friend to lend him an hundred pounds, it is poffible from the largeness of his demand, he may find credit for twenty; but should he humbly only fue for a trifle, it is two to one whether he might be trufted for two pence. A certain young fellow at George's, whenever he had occafion to ask his friend for a guinea, ufed to prelude his requeft as if he wanted two hundred, and talked fo familiarly of large fums, that none could ever think he wanted a fmall one. The fame gentleman, whenever he wanted credit for a new fuit from his taylor, always made a propofal in laced cloaths; for he found by experience, that if he appeared fhabby on thefe occafions, Mr. Lynch had taken an oath against trusting; or what was every bit as bad, his foreman was out of the way, and would not be at home these two days.

There can be no inducement to reveal our wants, except to find pity, and by this means relief; but

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before

before a poor man opens his mind in fuch circumftances, he should firft confider whether he is contented to lose the efteem of the perfon he folicits, and whether he is willing to give up friendship only to excite compaffion. Pity and friendship are paffions incompatible with each other, and it is impoffible that both can refide in any breaft for the smallest space, without impairing each other. Friendship is made up of esteem and pleasure; pity is compofed of forrow and contempt; the mind may for fome time fluctuate between them, but it never can entertain both together.

Yet let it not be thought that I would exclude pity from the human mind. There is fcarcely any who are not in fome degree poffeffed of this pleafing foftnefs; but it is at beft but a fhort-lived paffion, and feldom affords diftrefs more than tranfitory affiftance with fome it fcarcely lafts from the firft impulfe till the hand can be put into the pocket; with others it may continue for twice that space, and on fome extraordinary fenfibility I have feen it operate for half an hour. But, however, laft as it will, it generally produces but beggarly effects; and where from this motive we give an halfpenny, from others we give always pounds. In great diftrefs we fometimes, it is true, feel the influence of tenderness ftrongly; when the fame diftrefs folicits a fecond time, we then feel with diminished fenfibility, but like the repetition of an echo, every new impulse becomes weaker, till at laft our fenfations lofe every mixture of forrow, and degenerate into downright contempt.

Jack Spindle and I were old acquaintance; but he's gone. gone. Jack was bred in a compting-house, and his father dying juft as he was out of his time, left him an handfome fortune, and many friends to advise with. The restraint in which he had been

brought