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and Deformities of the corrupted. It is a Degree to wards the Life of Angels, when we enjoy Converfation wherein there is nothing prefented but in its Excellence; and a Degree towards that of Dæmons, wherein nothing is fhewn but in its Degeneracy.

T

NO IOI.

Tuesday, June 26.

Romulus, & Liber pater, & cum Caftore Pollux,
Poft ingentia facta, Deorum in templa recepti;
Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, afpera bella
Componunt, agros affignant, oppida condunt;
Ploravere fuis non refpondere favorem
Speratum meritis:

C

Hor.

ENSURE, faysa late ingenious Author, is the Tax a Man pays to the Publick for being Eminent. It is a Folly for an eminent Man to think of escaping it, and a Weakness to be affected with it. All the illuftrious Perfons of Antiquity, and indeed of every Age in the World, have paffed through this fiery Perfecution. There is no Defence against Reproach but Obfecurity; it is a kind of Concomitant to Greatnefs, as Satyrs and Inveatives were an effential Part of a Roman Triumph.

IF Men of Eminence are expofed to Cenfure on one hand, they are as much liable to Flattery on the other. If they receive Reproaches which are not due to them, they likewife receive Praifes which they do not deferve. In a Word, the Man in a high Poft is never regarded with an indifferent Eye, but always confidered as a Friend or an Enemy. For this Reafon Perfons in great Stations have feldom their true Characters drawn till feveral Years after their Deaths. Their perfonal Friendships and Enmities must cease, and the Parties they were engaged in be at an End, before their Faults or their Virtues can have Juftice done them. When Writers have the leaft Opportunities of knowing the Truth they are in the best Dispofition to tell it.

IT is therefore the Privilege of Pofterity to adjust the Characters of illuftrious Perfons, and to fet Matters right between thofe Antagonists, who, by their Rivalry for Greatnefs divided a whole Age into Factions. We can now allow Cafar, to be a great Man, without derogating from Pompey; and celebrate the Virtues of Cats, without detracting from thofe of Cafar. Every one that has been long dead has a due Proportion of Praise, allotted him, in which whilft he lived his Friends were too profuse and his Enemies too sparing.

ACCORDING to Sir Ifaac Newton's Calculations, the laft Comet that made its Appearance in 1680, imbib'd fo much Heat by its Approaches to the Sun, that it would have been two thousand times hotter than red hot Iron, had it been a Globe of that Metal; and that fuppofing it as big as the Earth, and at the fame Distance from the Sun, it would be fifty thousand Years in cooling, before it recovered its natural Temper. In the like manner, if an English Man confiders the great Ferment into which our Political World is thrown at prefent, and how intenfely it is heated in all its Parts, he cannot fuppofe that it will cool again in lefs than three hundred Years. In fuch a Tract of Time it is poffible that the Heats of the prefent Age may be extinguished, and our feveral Claffes of great Men reprefented under their proper Characters. Some eminent Hiftorian may then probably arife that will not write recentibus odiis (as Tacitus expreffes it) with the Paffions and Prejudices of a contemporary Author, but make an impartial Diftribution of Fame among the Great Men of the present Age,

I cannot forbear entertaining my felt very often with the Idea of fuch an imaginary Hiftorian defcribing the Reign of AN NE the Firft, and introducing it with a Preface to his Reader; that he is now entring upon the moft fhining Part of the English Story. The great Rivals in Fame will be then diftinguished according to their refpective Merits, and fhine in their proper Points of Light. Such an one (fays the Hiftorian) tho' varioufly reprefented by the Writers of his own Age, appears to have been a Man of more than ordinary Abilities, great Application, and uncommon Integrity: Nor was fuch an one (tho' of an oppofite Party and Intereft) inferior

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to

The feveral Antago

to him in any of these Respects. nifts who now endeavour to depreciate one another, and are celebrated or traduced by different Parties, will then have the fame Body of Admirers, and appear Illuftrious in the Opinion of the whole British Nation. The deserving Man, who can now recommend himself to the Efteem of but half his Countrymen, will then receive the Approbations and Applaufes of a whole Age.

AMONG the feveral Perfons that flourish in this glorious Reign, there is no Queftion but fuch a future Hiftorian as the Perfon of whom I am speaking, will make mention of the Men of Genius and Learning, who have now any Figure in the British Nation. For my own Part, Loften flatter my felf with the honourable Mention which will then be made of me; and have drawn up a Paragraph in my own Imagination, that I fancy will not be altogether unlike what will be found in fome Page or other of this imaginary Hiftorian.

IT was under this Reign, fays he, that the SPECTATOR Published thofe little Diurnal Effays which are till extant. We know very little of the Name or Perfon of this Author, except only that he was a Man of a very fhort Face, extreamly addicted to Silence, and fo great a Lover of Knowledge, that he made a Voyage to Grand Cairo for no other Reason, but to take the Measure of a Pyramid. His chief Friend was one Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY, a whimfical Country Knight, and a Templar whofe Name he has not tranfmitted to us. He lived as a Lodger at the Houfe of a Widow-Woman, and was a great Humourift in all Parts of his Life. This is all we can affirm with any Certainty of his Perfon and Character. As for his Speculations, notwithstanding the feveral obfolete Words and obfcure Phrafes of the Age in which he lived, we ftill understand enough of them to fee the Diverfions and Characters of the English Nation in his Time: Not but that we are to make Allowance for the Mirth and Humour of the Author, who has doubtlefs ftrained many Reprefentations of Things beyond the Truth. For if we interpret his Words in their literal Meaning, we muft fuppofe that Women of the firft Quality used to pafs away whole Mornings at a Puppet-Show: That they attested their

Principles by their Patches: That an Audience would fit out an Evening to hear a Dramatical Performance written in a Language which they did not understand :: That Chairs and Flower-Pots were introduced as Actors upon the British Stage: That a promifcuous Affembly of Men and Women were allowed to meet at Midnight in Masques within the Verge of the Court; with many Im probabilities of the like Nature. We must therefore, in thefe and the like Cafes, fuppofe that these remote Hints and Allufions aimed at fome certain Follies which were then in Vogue, and which at prefent we have not any. Notion of. We may guess by feveral Paffages in the Spe culations, that there were Writers who endeavoured to detract from the Works of this Author; but as nothing of this Nature is come down to us, we cannot guefs at any Objections that could be made to his Paper. If we con-fider his Style with that Indulgence which we muft fhew to old English Writers, or if we look into the Variety of his Subjects, with those several Critical Differtations, Mo-ral Reflections,

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THE following Part of the Paragraph is fo much to my Advantage, and beyond any thing I can pretend to, that I hope my Reader will excufe me for not inferting

it.

WOW-ST

N° 102. Wednesday, June 27..

Lufus animo debent aliquando dari,.

Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat fibi.

Phædr

Do not know whether to call the following Letter a

Satyr upon Coquets, or a Reprefentation of their fe veral fantastical Accomplishments, or what other Title to give it; but as it is I fhall communicate it to the Pubick. It will fufficiently explain its own Intentions,, fo

·D. S

that

that I fhall give it my Reader at Length, without either Preface or Poftfcript.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

WOMEN are armed with Fans as Men with

Swords, and fometimes do more Execution with them. To the end therefore that Ladies may be ⚫ entire Miftreffes of the Weapon which they bear, I have • erected an Academy for the training up of young Women in the Exercife of the Fan, according to the most • fashionable Airs and Motions that are now practised at Court. The Ladies who carry Fans under me are drawn up twice a Day in my great Hall, where they are inftructed in the Ufe of their Arms, and exercifed by the ⚫ following Words of Command,

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By the right Obfervation of these few plain Words of Command, a Woman of a tolerable Genius who will apply her felf diligently to her Exercife for the Space of but one half Year, fhall be able to give her Fan all the Graces that can poffibly enter into that little modish • Machine.

BUT to the end that my Readers may form to themfelves a right Notion of this Exercise, I beg Leave to explain it to them in all its Parts. When my Female Regiment is drawn up in Array, with every one her • Weapon in her Hand, upon my giving the Word to handle their Fans, each of them fhakes her Fan at me with a Smile, then gives her Right-hand Woman a Tap upon the Shoulder, then preffes her Lips with the Extremity of her Fan, then lets her Arms fall in an eafy Motion, and stands in a Readiness to receive the next Word of Command. All this is done with a close Fan, and generally learned in the firft Week.

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THE next Motion is that of unfurling the Fan, in which are comprehended several little Flurts and Vibra

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