Fellow, who has put his Enemy to Flight in the Field, ⚫ has been in the utmost Disorder upon making a Speech • before a Body of his Friends at home: One would think there was fome kind of Fascination in the Eyes of a • large Circle of People, when darting altogether upon one Perfon. I have feen a new Actor in a Tragedy fo ⚫ bound up by it as to be scarce able to speak or move, and have expected he would have died above three A&ts ⚫ before the Dagger or Cup of Poison were brought in. It would not be amifs, if fuch an one were at first introduced as a Ghost, or a Statue, till he recovered his Spirits, and grew fit for fome living Part.

AS this fudden Desertion of one's felf fhews a Diffi ⚫dence, which is not difpleafing, it implies at the fame ⚫ time the greatest Respect to an Audience that can be: It is a fort of mute Eloquence, which pleads for their ⚫ Favour much better than Words could do; and we find ⚫ their Generofity naturally moved to fupport those who ⚫ are in fo much Perplexity to entertain them. I was extremely pleased with a late Inftance of this Kind at the Opera of Almahide, in the Encouragement given to a young Singer, whose more than ordinary Concern on her firft Appearance, recommended her no less than her agreeable Voice, and just Performance. Meer Bash⚫fulness without Merit is aukward; and Merit without Modefty, infolent. But modest Merit has a double Claim to Acceptance, and generally meets with as many Patrons as Beholders..

I am, &c..

IT is impoffible that a Person should exert himself to Advantage in an Affembly, whether it be his Part either to fing or fpeak, who lies under too great Oppreffions of Modefty. I remember, upon talking with a Friend. of mine concerning the Force of Pronunciation, our Discourfe led us into the Enumeration of the feveral Organs of Speech which an Orator ought to have in Perfection, as the Tongue, the Teeth, the Lips, the Nofe, the Palate, and the Wind-pipe. Upon which, fays my Friend, you Have omitted the most material Organ of them all, and that is the Forehead..

BUT

BUT notwithstanding an Excefs of Modesty obftructs the Tongue, and renders it unfit for its Offices, a due Proportion of it is thought fo requifite to an Orator, that Rhetoricians have recommended it to their Difciples as a Particular in their Art. Cicero tells us that he never liked an Orator, who did not appear in fome little confufion at the Beginning of his Speech, and confeffes that he himself never entered upon an Oration without Trembling and. Concern. It is indeed a kind of Deference which is due to a great Affembly, and feldom fails to raise a Benevolence in the Audience towards the Perfon who speaks. My Correfpondent has taken notice that the braveft Men often appear timorous on these Occaffons, as indeed we may obferve, that there is generally no Creature more impudent than a Coward..

Lingua melior, fed frigida bello

Dextra

Virg. Æn. 11. v. 338.. Bold at the the Coucil-board;

But cautious in the Field he fhunn'd the Sword.

DRYDEN.

A bold Tongue and a feeble Arm are the Qualifications of Drances in Virgil; as Homer, to exprefs a Man both timorous and faucy, makes ufe of a kind of Point, which is very rarely to be met with in his Writings; namely, that he had the Eyes of a Dog, but the Heart of a Deer.

A juft and reasonable Modesty does not only recommend Eloquence, but fets off every great Talent which a Man can be poffeffed of. It heightens all the Virtues which it accompanies; like the Shades in Paintings, it raifes and, rounds every Figure, and makes the Colours more beautiful, though not fo glaring as they would be without it.

MODESTY is not only an Ornament, but also a Guard to Virtue. It is a kind of quick and delicate Feeling in the Soul, which makes her thrink and withdraw her felf from every thing that has Danger in it. It is fuch an exquifite Senfibility, as warns her to fhun the firft Appearance of every thing which is hurtful.

I cannot at prefent recollect either the Place or Time of what I am going to mention; but I have read fomewhere in the Hiftory of Ancient Greece, that the Women of the Country were seized with an unaccountable Me

lancholy,

lancholy, which difpofed feveral of them to make away with themselves. The Senate, after having tried many Expedients to prevent this Self-Murder, which was fo frequent among them, published an Edict, That if any Woman whatever fhould lay violent Hands upon herself, her Corps fhould be expofed naked in the Street, and dragged about the City in the moft publick Manner. This Edict immediately put a Stop to the Practice which was before fo common. We may fee in this Inftance the Strength of Female Modefty, which was able to overcome the Violence even of Madness and Despair. The Fear of Shame in the Fair Sex, was in those Days more prevalent than that of Death.

IF Modefty has fo great an Influence over our Actions, and is in many Cafes fo impregnable a Fence to Virtue; what can more undermine Morality than that Politeness which reigns among the unthinking Part of Mankind, and treats as unfashionable the most ingenuous Part of our Behaviour; which recommends Impudence as Goodbreeding, and keeps a Man always in Countenance, not because he is Innocent, but because he is Shameless ?

SENECA thought Modefty fo great a Check to Vice, that he prefcribes to us the practice of it in Secret, and advises us to raise it in ourselves upon imaginary Occafions, when fuch as are real do not offer themselves; for this is the Meaning of his Precept, that when we are by our felves, and in our greatest Solitudes, we fhould fancy that Cato ftands before us, and fees every thing we do. In short, if you banish Modesty out of the World, she carries away with her half the Virtue that is in it.

AFTER thefe Reflections on Modefty, as it is a Virtue; I must obferve, that there is a vicious Modefty, which justly deferves to be ridiculed, and which those Persons very often difcover, who value themfelves most upon a well-bred Confidence. This happens when a Man is afhamed to act up to his Reason, and would not upon any Confideration be surprised in the Practice of those Duties, for the Performance of which he was fent into. the World. Many an impudent Libertine would blush to be caught in a ferious Difcourfe, and would fcarce be able to fhew his Head, after having difclofed a religious Thought. Decency of Behaviour, all outward Show of

Virtue, and Abhorrence of Vice, are carefully avoided by this Set of Shame-faced People, as what would difparage their Gaiety of Temper, and infallibly bring them to Dif honour. This is fuch a Poornefs of Spirit, fuch a defpicable Cowardise, such a degenerate abject State of Mind,as one would think human Nature incapable of, did we not meet with frequent Inftances of it in ordinary Converfation.

THERE is another Kind of vicious Modesty which makes a Man ashamed of his Person, his Birth, his Profeffion, his Poverty, or the like Misfortunes, which it was not in his Choice to prevent, and is not in his Power to rectify. If a Man appears ridiculous by any of the aforementioned Circumftances, he becomes much more.fo by being out of Countenance for them. They fhould rather give him Occafion to exert a noble Spirit, and to palliate those Imperfections which are not in his Power, by those Perfections which are; or to use a very witty Allusion of an eminent Author, he should imitate Cæfar, who, because his Head was bald, cover'd that Defect with Laurels. C

No. 232. Monday, November 26.

Nihil largiundo gloriam adeptus eft.

By beftowing nothing he acquired Glory.

M

Salluft.

Y wife and good Friend, Sir Andrew Freeport, divides himself almoft equally between the Town and the Country: His Time in Town is given up to the Publick, and the Management of his private Fortune; and after every three or four Days spent in this manner, he retires for as many to his Seat within a few Miles of the Town, to the Enjoyment of himself, his Family, and his Friend. Thus Bufinefs and Pleasure, or rather, in Sir Andrew, Labour and Reft, recommend each other: They take their Turns with fo quick a Viciffitude, that neither becomes a Habit, or takes poffeffion of the whole Man; nor is it poffible he hould be furfeited with either. I often fee him at

our

our Club in good Humour, and yet fometimes too with an Air of Care in his Looks: But in his Country Retreat he is always unbent, and fuch a Companion as I could defire; and therefore I feldom fail to make one with him when he is pleased to invite me.

THE other Day, as foon as we were got into his Chariot, two or three Beggars on each Side hung upon the Doors,and folicited our Charity with the ufual Rhetorick of a fick Wife or Husband at home, three or four helpless little Children all ftarving with Cold and Hunger. We were forced to part with fome Money to get rid of their Importunity; and then we proceeded on our Journey with the Bleffings and Acclamations of thefe People.

66

"WELL then, fays Sir Andrew, we go off with the Prayers and good Wishes of the Beggars, and perhaps "too our Healths will be drunk at the next Ale-house: "So all we shall be able to value our felves upon,is,that "we have promoted the Trade of the Victualler and the "Excifes of the Government. But how few Ounces of "Wooll do we fee upon the Backs of those Crea❝tures? And when they fhall next fall in our Way, they "will hardly be better drefs'd; they must always live in

poor

Rags to look like Objects of Compaffion. If their Fa "milies too are fuch as they are reprefented, 'tis certain "they cannot be better clothed, and must be a great "deal worfe fed: One would think Potatoes should be "all their Bread, and their Drink the pure Element; and "then what goodly Cuftomers are the Farmers like to "have for their Wooll, Corn and Cattle? Such Cufto66. mers, and fuch a Confumption, cannot choose but ad"vance the landed Intereft, and hold up the Rents of

"the Gentlemen.

"BUT of all Men living, we Merchants, who live by Buying and Selling, ought never to encourage Beggars.. "The Goods which we export are indeed the Product, "of the Lands, but much the greatest Part of their «Value is the Labour of the People: but how much of "these Peoples Labour fhall we export whilst we hire. "them to fit ftill? The very Alms, they receive from

us, are the Wages of Idleness. I have often thought. "that no Man fhould be permitted to take Relief from "the Parish, or to ask it in the Street, till he has first pur

"chafed.