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N° CCXXII. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14.

CUR ALTER FRATRUM CESSARE, ET LUDERE, ET UNGI,
PREFERAT HERODIS PALMETIS PINGUIBUS

HOR. EP. II. LIB. 2. VER. 183..

WHY, OF TWO BROTHERS, ONE HIS PLEASURE LOVES,
PREFERS HIS SPORTS TO HEROD'S FRAGRANT GROVES.

MR. SPECTATOR,

Toned for in your papers, and HERE is one thing I have often Have as often wondered to find myfelf difappointed; the rather, becaufe I think it a fubject every way agrecable to your defign, and by being left unattempted by others, feems referved as a proper employment for you: I mean a difquifition, from whence it proceeds, that men of the brighteft parts, and most comprehenfive genius, completely furnished with talents for any province in human affairs; fuch as by their wife leffons of economy to others have made it evident, that they have the jufteft notions of life, and of true fenfe in the conduct of it from what unhappy contradictious caufe it proceeds, that perfons thus finished by nature and by art, fhould fo often fail in the management of that which they fo well understand, and want the address to make a right application of their own rules. This is certainly a prodigious inconsistency in behaviour, and makes much fuch a

figure in morals as a monstrous birth in naturals, with this difference only, which greatly aggravates the wonder, that it happens much more frequently; and what a blemish does it caft upon wit and learning in the general account of the world? and in how difadvantageous a Fight does it expofe them to the bufy clafs of mankind, that there fhould be o many instances of perfons who have fo conducted their lives in fpite of thefe tranfcendent advantages, as neither to be happy in themfelves, nor ufeful to their friends; when every body fees it was intirely in their own power to be eminent in both thefe characters? For any part, I think there is no reflection more aftonishing than to confider one of thele gentlemen spending a fair fortune, running in every body's debt without the leat apprehenfion of a future reck

CREECH.

oning, and at laft leaving not only his own children, but poffibly thofe of other people, by his means, in ftarving circumftances; while a fellow, whom one would fcarce fufpect to have a human foul, thall perhaps raife a valt eftate out of nothing, and be the founder of a family capable of being very confiderable in their country, and doing many

illuftrious fervices to it. That this obfervation is jutt, experience has put beyond all difpute. But though the fact be fo evident and glaring, yet the eaufes of it are ftill in the dark; which makes me perfuade myself, that it would be no unacceptable piece of entertainment to the town, to inquire into the hidden fources of fo unaccountable an

evil. I am, Sir,

Your most humble fervant.

What this correfpondent wonders at, has been matter of admiration ever fince there was any fuch thing as human life. Horace reflects upon this inconfiftency very agreeably in the character of Tigellius, whom he makes a mighty pretender to economy, and tells you, you might one day hear him fpeak the moft philofophic things imaginable concerning being contented with a little, and his contempt of every thing but mere neceffaries, and in half a week after spend a thoufand pound. When he fays this of him with relation to expence, he defcribes him as unequal to himself in every other circumitance of life. And indeed, if we confider lavish men carefully, we fhall find it always proceeds from a certain incapacity of poffeffing themfelves, and finding enjoyment in their own minds. Mr. Dryden has exprefied this very excellently in the character of Zimri.

A man fo various, that he feem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
Stifi in opinion, always in the wrong,
Was every thing by tarts, and nothing long;

But

But in the course of one revolving moon, Was chymift, fidler, ftatefman, and buffoon. Then all for women, painting, rhiming, drinking,

Befides ten thousand freaks that died in

thinking.

Bleft madman, who could every hour employ
In fomething new to wish or to enjoy!
In fquand'ring wealth was his peculiar art,
Nothing went unrewarded but defert.

This loose ftate of the foul hurries the extravagant from one purfuit to another; and the reafon that his expences are greater than another's, is, that his wants are alfo more numerous. But what makes fo many go on in this way to their lives end, is, that they certainly do not know how contemptible they are in the eyes of the rest of mankind, or rather, that indeed they are not fo contemptible as they deferve. Tully fays, it is the greatest of wickedness to leffen your paternal eftate. And if a man would thoroughly confider how much worfe than banishment it must be to his child, to ride by the eftate which fhould have been his, had it not been for his father's injuftice to him, he would be fmitten with the reflection more deeply than can be understood by any but one who is a father. Sure there can be nothing more afflicting, than to

think it had been happier for his fon to have been born of any other man living than himself.

It is not perhaps much thought of, but it is certainly a very important leffon, to learn how to enjoy ordinary life, and to be able to relish your being without the transport of fome paffion, or gratification of fome appetite. For want of this capacity, the world is filled with whetters, tipplers, cutters, fippers, and all the numerous train of those who, for want of thinking, are forced to be ever exercifing their feeling or tafting. It would be hard on this occafion to mention the harmlefs fmoakers of tobacco and takers of fnuff.

The flower part of mankind, whom my correfpondent wonders should get eftates, are the more immediately formed for that purfuit: they can expect distant things without impatience, because they are not carried out of their way either by violent paffion or keen appetite to any thing. To men addicted to delights, business is an interruption; to fuch as are cold to delights business is an entertainment. For which reafon it was faid to one who commended a dull man for his application No thanks to him; if he had no bufinefs, he would have nothing to do.'

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N° CCXXIII. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15.

O SUAVIS ANIMA! QUALEM TE DICAM BONAM,
ANTERAC FUISSE, TALES CUM

SWEET SOUL! HOW GOOD MUST YOU HAVE

SINT RELIQUE!

T

PHEDR. FAB. I. LIB. 3. VER. 5. BEEN HERETOFORE, WHEN YOUR

REMAINS ARE SO DELICIOUS!

Write of the multitudes of an

HEN I reflect upon the various

cient writers who flourished in Greece and Italy, I confider time as an immenfe ocean in which many noble authors are intirely fwallowed up, many very much fhattered and damaged, fome quite difjointed and broken into pieces, while fome have wholly efcaped the common wreck, but the number of the laft is very finall.

Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vafto.

VIRG. N. 1. VER. II2. One here and there floats on the vast abyss.

Among the mutilated poets of antiquity, there is none whofe fragments are fo beautiful as thofe of Sappho.

writing, which is perfectly conformable

They give us a tafte of her way of

with that extraordinary character we find of her, in the remarks of those great critics who were converfant with her works when they were intire. One may fee by what is left of them, that the followed nature in all her thoughts, without defcending to thofe little points, conceits, and turns of wit, with which many of our modern lyrics are fo miferably infected. Her foul feems to have been made up of love and poetry: fhe felt the paffion in all it's warmth, and defcribed it in all it's fymptoms. She is called by ancient authors the tenth mufe; and by Plutarch is compared to Cacus the fon of Vulcan, who breathed

out

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But nothing but flame. I do not know by the character that is given of her works, whether it is not for the benefit of mankind that they are lott. They were filled with fuch bewitching tenderness and rapture, that it might have been dangerous to have given them a reading.

An inconftant lover, called Phaon, occafioned great calamities to this poetical lady. She fell desperately in love with him, and took a voyage into Sicily, in purfuit of him, he having withdrawn himfelf thither on purpose to avoid her, It was in that island, and on this occafion, the is fuppofed to have made the hymn to Venus, with a tranflation of which I fhall prefent my reader. Her hymn was ineffectual for the procuring that happiness which he prayed for in it. Phaon was ftill obdurate, and Sappho fo tranfported with the violence of her paffion, that he was refolved to get rid of it at any price.

There was a promontory in Acarnania called Leucate, on the top of which was a little temple dedicated to Apollo. In this temple it was usual for defpairing lovers to make their vows in fecret, and afterwards to fling themfelves from the top of the precipice into the fea, where they were fometimes taken up alive. This place was therefore called The Lover's Leap; and whether or no the fright they had been in, or the refolution that could pufh them to fo dreadful a remedy, or the bruifes which they often received in their fall, banifhed all the tender fentiments of love, and gave their fpirits another turn; thofe who had taken this leap were observed never to relapfe into that paffion. Sappho tried the cure, but perished in the experiment.

After having given this fhort account of Sappho, fo far as it regards the following ode, I fhall fubjoin the tranflation of it as it was fent me by a friend, whofe admirable Paftorals and Winterpiece have been already fo well received. The reader will find in it that pathetic fimplicity which is fo peculiar to him, and fo fuitable to the ode he has here tranflated. This ode in the Greek, befides thofe beauties obferved by Madain Dacier, has feveral harmonious turns in the words, which are not loft in the English. I muft farther add, that the tranflation has preferved every image and fentiment of Sappho, not

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