Agent, fhould he enjoy a Farthing above his own Pay. Go on, brave Man, immortal Glory is thy Fortune, and immortal Happiness thy Reward.

N° 153.

Saturday, August 25.

T

Habet naturaut aliarum omnium rerum fic vivendi modum ; fenectas autem peractio Ætatis eft tanquam Fabule. Cujus defatigationem fugere debemus, præfertim adjuncta

Satietate.

OF

Tull; De Senec!

Fall the impertinent Wishes which we hear expreffed in Converfation, there is not one more unwor thy a Gentleman or a Man of liberal Education, than that of wifhing one's felf younger. I have obferved this Wifh is ufually made upon Sight of fome Object which gives the Idea of a past Action, that it is no Difhonour to us that we cannot now repeat; or else on what was in it felf fhameful when we performed it. It is a certain Sign of a foolish or a diffolute Mind if we want our Youth again only for the Strength of Bones and Sinews which we once were Mafters of. It is (as my Author has it) as abfurd in an old Man to wifh for the Strength of a Youth, as it would be in a young Man to wish for the Strength of a Bull or a Horse. These Wilhes are both equally out of Nature, which would direct in all things that are not contradictory to Juftice, Law and Reason. But tho' every old Man has been Young, and every young one hopes to be old, there feems to be a moft unnatural Mifunderstanding between thofe two Stages of Life. This unhappy Want of Commerce arifes from the infolent Arrogance or Exultation in Youth, the irratic nal Defpondence or Self-pity in Age. A young Man whofe Paffion and Ambition is to be good and wife, and an old one who has no Inclination to be lewd or debauched, are quite unconcerned in this Speculation; but the Cocking young Fellow who treads upon the Toes of his Elders, and the old Fool who envies the fawcy

Pride

Pride he fees him in, are the Objects of our present Contempt and Derifion. Contempt and Derifion are harfh Words; but in what manner can one give Advice to a Youth in the Purfuit and Poffeffion of fenfual Pleafures, or afford Pity to an old Man in the Impotence and Defire of Enjoying them? When young Men in publick Places betray in their Deportment an abandoned Re, fignation to their Appetites, they give to fober Minds a Profpect of a defpicable Age, which, if not interrupted by Death in the midft of their Follies, muft certainly come. When an old Man bewails the Lofs of fuch Gratifications which are paffed, he discovers a monstrous Inclination to that which it is not in the Courfe of Providence to recall. The State of an old Man, who is diffatisfy'd merely for his being fuch, is the most out of all Meafures of Reafon and good Senfe of any Being we have any Account of from the higheft Angel to the lowest Worm. How miferable is the Confideration to confider a libidinous old Man (while all Created things, befides himself and Devils, are following the Order of Providence) fretting at the Courfe of things, and being almoft the fole Malecontent in the Creation. But let us a little reflect upon what he has loft by the number of Years: The Paffions which he had in Youth are not to be obeyed as they were then, but Reafon is more powerful now without the Disturbance of them. An old Gentleman t'other day in Difcourfe with a Friend of his (reflecting upon fome Adventures they had in Youth together) cry'd out, Oh Jack, thofe were happy Days! That is true, reply'd his Friend, but methinks we go about our bufinefs more quietly than we did then. One would think it fhould be no fmall Satisfaction to have gone fo far in Our Journey that the Heat of the Day is over with us. When Life it felf is a Feaver, as it is in licentious Youth, the Pleasures of it are no other than the Dreams of a Man in that Diftemper, and it is as abfurd to wish the Return of that Seafon of Life, as for a Man in Health to be forry for the Lofs of glided Palaces, fairy Walks, and flowery Paftures, with which he remembers he was entertained in the troubled Slumbers of a Fit of Sickness.

AS

AS to all the rational and worthy Pleasures of our Being, the Confcience of a good Fame, the Contemplation of another Life, the Refpect and Commerce of honest Men, our Capacities for fuch Enjoyments are enlarged by Years. While Health endures, the latter Part of Life, in the Eye of Reason, is certainly the more eligible. The Memory of a well-fpent Youth gives a peaceable, unmixed, and elegant Pleasure to the Mind; and to fuch who are fo unfortunate as not to be able to look back on Youth with Satisfaction, they may give themselves no little Confolation that they are under no Temptation to repeat their Follies, and that they at prefent defpife them. It was prettily faid, He that would be long an old Man, muft begin early to be one: It is too late to refign a thing after a Man is robbed of it; therefore it is neceffary that before the Arrival of Age we bid adieu to the Pui fuits of Youth, otherwife fenfual Habits will live in our Imaginations when our Limbs cannot be fubfervient to them. The poor Fellow who lost his Arm laft Siege, will tell you, he feels the Fingers that are buried in Flanders ake every cold--Morning at Chelsea.

THE fond Humour of appearing in the gay and fafhionable World, and being applauded for trivial Excellencies, is what makes Youth have Age in Cantempt, and makes Age refign with fo ill a Grace the Qualifications of Youth: But this in both Sexes is inverting all things, and turning the natural Courfe of our Minds, which should build their Approbations and Dislikes upon what Nature and Reason dictate, into Chimera and Confufion.

AGE in a virtuous Perfon, of either Sex, carries in it an Authority which makes it preferable to all the Fleafiges of Youth. If to be faluted, attended, and confulted with Deference, are Inftances of Pleasure, they are fuch as never fail a virtuous old Age. In the Enumeration of the Imperfections and Advantages of the younger and later Years of Man, they are fo near in their Condition, that, methinks, it fhould be incredible we fee fo little Commerce of Kindness between them. If we confider Youth and Age with Tully, regarding the Affinity to Death, Youth has many more Chances to be near it than Age; what Youth can fay more than an old Man, He fhall live 'till Night? Youth catches Distempers more eafily, its SickVOL. II.

M

nefs

nefs is more violent, and its Recovery more doubtful. The Youth indeed hopes for many more Days, fo cannot the old Man. The Youth's Hopes are ill grounded; for what is more foolish than to place any Confidence upon an Uncertainty? But the old Man has not Room fo much as for Hope; he is ftill happier than the Youth, he has already enjoyed what the other does but hope for: One wishes to live long, the other has lived long. But alas, is there any thing in human Life, the Duration of which can be called long? There is nothing which muft end to be valued for its Continuance. If Hours, Days, Months, and Years pafs away, it is no Matter, what Hour, what Day, what Month, or what Year we die. The Applaufe of a good Actor is due to him at whatever Scene of the Play he makes his Exit. It is thus in the Life of a Man of Senfe, a fhort Life is fufficient to manifeft himself a Man of Honour and Virtue; when he ceases to be fuch he has lived too long, and while he is fuch, it is of no Confequence to him how long he fhall be fo, provided he is fo to his Life's End.

N° 154.

Monday, Auguft 27.

Nemo repente fuit turpiffimus

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Y

Juv.

T

OU are frequent in the Mention of Matters which concern the feminine World, and take upon you to be very fevere against Men upon all thofe Occafions: But all this while I am afraid you have been very little converfant with Women, or you would know the Generality of them are not fo angry as you imagine at the general Vices among us. I am apt to believe (begging your Pardon) that you are still what I my felf was once, a queer modeft Fellow; and therefore, for your Information, fhall give you a fhort Account of my felf, and the Reasons why I was forced to wench, drink, play, and do every thing which are neceffary to the Character of a Man of Wit and Pleasure, to be well with the Ladies.

• YOU

YOU are to know then that I was bred a Gentleman, ⚫ and had the finishing Part of my Education under a Mar ⚫ of great Probity, Wit, and Learning, in one of our Unis verfities. I will not deny but this made my Behaviour and Mein bear in it a Figure of Thought rather than Action; and a Man of a quite contrary Character, who never thought in his Life, rallied me one Day upon it, and faid, He believ'd I was still a Virgin. There was a young Lady of Virtue prefent, and I was not displeased to favour the Infinuation; But it had a quite contrary Effect from what I expected. I was ever after treated ⚫ with great Coldness both by that Lady and all the reft of my Acquaintance. In a very little Time I never came ⚫ into a Room but I could hear a Whisper, Here comes the • Maid: A Girl of Humour would on fome Occafion fay, • Why how do you know more than any of us? An Ex• preffion of that kind was generally followed by a loud Laugh: In a Word, for no other Fault in the World than that they really thought me as innocent as themfelves, I became of no Confequence among them, and was received always upon the Foot of a Jeft. This made fo ftrong an Impreffion upon me, that I refolved to be as agreeable as the best of the Men who laugh'd at me; but I obferved it was Nonfenfe for me to be impudent at <first among those who knew me : My Character for Modefty was fo notorious where-ever I had hitherto appear. ed, that I refolved to fhew my new Face in new Quar⚫ters of the World. My firft Step I chose with Judgment, for I went to Aftrop; and came down among a < Crowd of Academicks, at one Dafh, the impudenteft Fellow they had ever seen in their Lives. Flushed with this Succefs, I made Love and was happy. Upon this Conqueft I thought it would be unlike a Gentleman to ftay long with my Mistress, and croffed the Country to Bury: I could give you a very good Account of my felf at that Place alfo. At thefe two ended my first Summer of Gallantry. The Winter following, you would wonder at it, but I relapfed into Modefty upon coming a'mong People of Figure in London, yet not fo much but that the Ladies who had formerly laughted at me, faid, Blefs us!-how wonderfully that Gentleman is improved Some Familiarities about the Play-houses towards the

M 2

• End