happy in her love; that of Pafiphae was monstrous; and whilft the other caught at his beloved likeness, he deftroyed the watery image, which ever eluded his embraces. The fountain reprefented Narciffus to himself, and the picture both that and him, thiriting after his adored image. But I am yet less unhappy, I enjoy her prefence continually, and if I touch her, I destroy not the beauteous form, but the looks pleafed, and a sweet smile fits in the charming fpace which divides her lips. One would fwear that voice and fpeech were iffuing out, and that one's ears felt the melodious found. How often have I, deceived by a lover's credulity, hearkened if he had not fomething to whisper me? and when fruftrated of my hopes, how often have I taken my revenge in kiffes from her cheeks and eyes, and foftly wooed her to my embrace, while the, as to me it feemed, only with-held her tongue the more to inflame me? But, madman that I am, fhall I be thus taken with the reprefentation only of a beauteous face, and flowing hair, and thus wafte myfelf, and melt to tears for a fhadow? Ah, fure it is fomething more, it is a reality! for fee her beauties shine out with new luftre, and she seems to upbraid me with unkind reproaches. Oh may I have a living mistress of this form, that when I fhall compare the work of nature with that of art, I may be ftill at a lofs which to chuse, and be long perplexed with the pleasing uncertainty! N° CCXXXIX, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4: -BELLA, HORRIDA BELLA! I Have fometimes amufed myself with confidering the feveral methods of managing a debate which have obtained in the world. The first races of mankind used to difpute, as our ordinary people do nowa days, in a kind of wild logic, uncultivated by rules of art. Socrates intro luced a catechetical method of arguing. He would ask his adverfary queftion upon question, until he had convinced him out of his own mouth that his opinions were wrong. This way of debating drives an enemy up into a corner, feizes all the paffes through which he can make an efcape, and forces him to furrender at difcretion. Ariftotle changed this method of attack, and invented a great variety of little weapons, called Syllogifms. As in the Socratic way of difpute you agree to every thing which your opponent advances, in the Ariftotelic you are still denying and contradicting fome part or other of what he fays. Socrates conquers you by ftratagem, Ariftotle by force: the one takes the town by fap, the other fword in hand. The universities of Europe. for many years, carried on their debates by fyllogifm, infomuch that we fee the knowledge of feveral centuries laid out into objections and answers, and all the good VIRG. EN. VI. VER. 86. DRYDEN. T fenfe of the age cut and minced into almost an infinitude of diftinctions. When our univerfities found that there was no end of wrangling this way, they invented a kind of argument, which is not reducible to any mood or figure of Ariftotle. It was called the Argumentum Bafilinum, others write it Bacilinum or Baculinum, which is pretty well expreffed in our English word, Clublaw. When they were not able to confute their antagonist, they knocked him down. It was their method in thefe polemical debates, first to discharge their fyllogifms, and afterwards to betake themfelves to their clubs, until such time as they had one way or other confounded their gainfayers. There is in Oxford a narrow defile, to make use of a military term, where the partisans ufed to encounter, for which reafon it ftill retains the name of Logic Lane. I have heard an old gentleman, a phyfi cian, make his boats, that when he was a young fellow he marched feveral times at the head of a troop of Scotifts, and cudlet a body of Smiglefians half the length of High Street, until they had difperfed themfelves for fhelter into their respective garrifons. This humour, I find, went very far in Erafmus's time. For that author tells us, that upon the revival of Greek letters, 1 letters, most of the universities of Europe were divided into Greeks and Trojans. The latter were thofe who bore a mortal enmity to the language of the Grecians, infomuch that if they met with any who understood it, they did not fail to treat him as a foe. Erafmus himself had, it seems, the misfortune to fall into the hands of a party of Trojans, who laid on him with fo many blows and buffets, that he never forgot their hoftilities to his dying day. There is a way of managing an argument not much unlike the former, which is made ufe of by ftates and communities, when they draw up a hundred thousand difputants on each fide, and convince one another by dint of fword. A certain grand monarch was fo fenfible of his ftrength in this way of reafoning, that he writ upon his great guns -Ratio ultima Regum-The Logic of Kings; but, God be thanked, he is now pretty well baffled at his own weapons. When one has to do with a philofopher of this kind, one fhould remember the old gentleman's faying, who had been engaged in an argument with one of the Roman emperors. Upon his friend's telling him, that he wondered he would give up the question, when he had vifibly the better of the difpute I am never afhamed,' fays he, to be confuted by one who is mafter of fifty •legions.' I fhall but juft mention another kind of reafening, which may be called arguing by poll; and another which is of equal force, in which wagers are made ufe of as arguments, according to the celebrated line in Hudibras. But the most notable way of managing a controverfy, is that which we may call arguing by torture. This is a method of reafoning which has been made ufe of with the poor refugees, and which was fo fafhionable in our country during the reign of Queen Mary, that in a paffage of an author quoted by Monfieur Bayle, it is faid the price of wood was raifed in England, by reafon of the executions that were made in Smithfield. These difputants convince their adverfaries with a Sorites, com monly called a pile of faggots. The rack is also a kind of fyllogifm which has been used with good effect, and has made multitudes of converts. Men were formerly disputed out of their doubts, reconciled to truth by force of reafon, and won over to opinions by the candour, fenfe, and ingenuity of those who had the right on their fide; but this method of conviction operated too flowly. Pain was found to be much more enlightening than reafon. Every fcruple was looked upon as obftinacy, and not to be removed but by feveral engines invented for that purpofe. In a word, the application of whips, racks, gibbets, gallies, dungeons, fire and faggot, in a difpute, may be looked upon as popish refinements upon the old heathen logic. There is another way of reasoning which feldom fails, though it be of a quite different nature to that I have last mentioned. I mean, convincing a man by ready-money, or as it is ordinarily called, bribing a man to an opinion. This method has often proved fucceffful, when all the others have been made ufe of to no purpose. A man who is furnished with arguments from the mint, will convince his antagonist much fooner than one who draws them from reafon and philofophy. Gold is a wonderful clearer of the understanding; it diffipates every doubt and fcruple in an inftant; accommodates itself to the meanest capacities; filences the loud and clamorous, and brings over the most obitinate and inflexible. Philip of Macedon was a man of most invincible reafon this way. He refuted by it all the wisdom of Athens, confounded their ftatefmen, ftruck their orators dumb, and at length argued them out of all their liberties. Having here touched upon the feveral methods of difputing, as they have prevailed in different ages of the world, I fhall very fuddenly give my reader an account of the whole art of cavilling; which fhall be a full and fatisfactory answer to all fuch papers and pamphlets as have yet appeared against the Spec tator. C N° CCXL. CCXL. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5. ALITER NON FIT, AVITE, LIBER. MART. EF. XVII. LIB. I. OF SUCH MATERIALS, SIR, ARE BOOKS COMPOS'D. MR. SPECTATOR, people of diftinction, the prefent ease and plenty of my circumstances, but also the government of my paffions, and regulation of my defires. I doubt not, Sir, but in your imagination fuch virtues as thefe of my worthy friend, bear as great a figure as actions which are more glittering in the common estimation. What I would ask of you, is to give us a whole Spectator upon heroic virtue in common life, which may incite men to the fame generous inclinations, as have by this admirable perfon been fhewn to, and raifed in, Si, Your most humble fervant. MR. SPECTATOR, Am of one of the moft genteel trades in the city, and understand thus much of liberal education, as to have an ardent ambition of being useful to mankind, and to think that the chief end of being as to this life. I had thefe good impreffions given me from the handfome behaviour of a learned, generous, and wealthy man to wards me, when I first began the world. Some diffatisfaction between me and my parents made me enter into it with Jefs relifh of bufinefs than I ought; and to turn off this uneafinefs, I gave myself to criminal pleatures, fome exceffes, and a general loofe conduct. I know not what the excellent man above-men-Am a country gentleman, of a good tioned faw in me, but he defcended from the fuperiority of his wifdom and merit, to throw himself frequently into my company. This made me foon hope that I had fomething in me worth cultivating, and his converfation made me fenfible of fatisfactions in a regular way, which I had never before imagined. When he was grown familiar with me, he opened himself like a good angel, and told me, he had long laboured to ripen me into a preparation to receive his friendship and advice, both which I hould daily command, and the ufe of any part of his fortune, to apply the meatures he should propofe to me, for the improvement of my own. I affure you, I cannot recollect the goodness and confufion of the good man when he poke to this purpose to me, without netting into tears; but in a word, Sir, I must haften to tell you, that my heart buns with gratitude towards him, and he is so happy a man, that it can never be in my power to return him his favours in kind, but I am fure I have made him the most agreeable fatisfaction I could poibly, in being ready to ferve others to my utmoft ability, as far as is confiftent with the prudence he prefcribes to me. Dear Mr. Spectator, I do not owe to him only the good-will and efteen of my own relations, who are But fo it is, plentiful eftate, and live as the rest of my neighbours with great hofpitality. I have been ever reckoned among the ladies the belt company in the world, and have accefs as a fort of favourite. I never came in public but I faluted them, though in great affemblies, all around, where it was feen how genteel ly I avoided hampering my fpurs in their petticoats, whilst I moved amongit them; and on the other fide how prettily they curtfied and received me, ftanding in proper rows, and advancing as fait as they faw their elders, or their betters, difpatched by me. Mr. Spectator, that all our good-breeding is of late loft by the unhappy arrival of a courtier, or town gentleman, who came lately among us: this perfon whereever he came into a room made a profound bow, and fell back, then reco. vered with a foft air, and made a bow to the next, and fo to one or two more, and then took the crofs of the room, by paffing by them in a continued bow until he arrived at the perfon he thought proper particularly to entertain. This he did with fo good a grace and affor ance, that it is taken for the present fafhion; and there is no young gentlewoman within feveral miles of this place has been killed ever fince his frit appearance among us. We country gen tlemen 1 Was the other night at Philafter, where I expected to hear your famous trunk-maker, but was unhappily difap-. pointed of his company, and faw another perfon who had the like ambition to diftinguish himself in a noify manner, partly by vociferation or talking loud, and partly by his bold agility. This was a very lufty fellow, but withal a fort of beau, who getting into one of the fide-boxes on the ftage before the curtain drew, was difpofed to fhew the whole audience his activity by leaping over the spikes; he paffed from thence to one of the entering doors, where he. took fnuff with a tolerable good grace, difplayed his fine cloaths, made two or three feint paffes at the curtain with his cane, then faced about and appeared at the other door: here he affected to furvey the whole houfe, bowed and smiled at random, and then fhewed his teeth, which were fome of them indeed very white: after this he retired behind the curtain, and obliged us with feveral views of his perfon from every opening. During the time of acting, he appeared frequently in the prince's apartment, made one at the hunting-match, and was very forward in the rebellion. If there were no injunctions to the contrary, yet this practice must be confeffed to dimi nifh the pleasure of the audience, and for that reafon prefumptuous and unwarrantable: but fince her Majefty's late command has made it criminal, you have authority to take notice of it. Sir, your humble fervant, T. CHARLES EASY. N° CCXLI. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6. —SEMPERQUE RELINQUI SOLA SIBI, SEMPER LONGAM INCOMITATA VIDETUR VIRG. ÆN. IV. VER. 466. SHE SEEMS ALONE TO WANDER IN HER SLEEP THROUGH WAYS UNKNOWN, MR. SPECTATOR, T HOUGH you have confidered virtuous love in most of it's diftreffes, I do not remember that you have given us any differtation upon the abfence of lovers, or laid down any methods how they fhould fupport themfelves under thofe long feparations which they are fometimes forced to undergo. I am at prefent in this unhappy circuinftance, having parted with the best of hufbands, who is abroad in the service of his country, and may not poffibly return for fome years. His warm and generous affection while we were together, with the tenderness which he expreffed to me at parting, make his abfence almoft infupportable. I think of him every moment of the day, and meet him every night in my dreams. Every thing I fee puts me in mind of him. I apply myself with more than DRYDEN. I ordinary diligence to the care of his family and his eftate; but this, instead of relieving me, gives me but fo many occafions of wishing for his return. frequent the rooms where I used to converfe with him, and not meeting him there, fit down in his chair, and fall a weeping. I love to read the books he delighted in, and to converse with the perfons whom he esteemed. I vifit his picture a hundred times a day, and place myfelf over-againft it whole hours together. I rafs a great part of my time in the walks where I used to lean upon his arm, and recollect in my mind the difcourfes which have there paffed between us: I look over the feveral profpects and points of view which we ufed to furvey together, fix my eye upon the obje&a which he has made me take no tice of, and call to mind a thousand, agreeable remarks which he has made ΟΠ The confolations of lovers on these occafions are very extraordinary. Befides thofe mentioned by Afteria, there are many other motives of comfort, which are made ufe of by abfent lovers. I remember in one of Scudery's romances, a couple of honourable lovers agreed at their parting to fet afide one half hour in the day to think of each other during a tedious abfence. The romance tells us, that they both of them punctually obferved the time thus agreed upon; and that whatever company or bufinefs they were engaged in, they left it abruptly as foon as the clock warned them to retire. The romance further adds, that the lovers expected the return of this ftated hour with as much impatience, as if it had been a real affignation, and enjoyed an imaginary happinefs that was almoft as pleafing to them as what they would have found from a real meeting. It was an inexpreffible fatisfaction to thefe divided lovers, to be affured that each was at the fame time employed in the fame kind of contemplation, and making equal returns of tenderness and affection. If I may be allowed to mention a more ferious expedient for the alleviating of abfence, I fhall take notice of one which I have known two perfons practife, who joined religion to that elegance of fentiments with which the paflion of love generally infpires it's votaries. This was, at the return of fuch an hour, to offer up a certain prayer for each other, which they had agreed upon before their parting. The hufband, who is a man that inakes a figure in the polite world, as well as in his own family, has often told me, that he could not have fupported an absence of three years without this expedient. Strada, in one of his prolufions, gives an account of a chimerical correfpondence between two friends by the help of a certain loadstone, which had fuch virtue in it, that if it touched two feveral needles, when one of the needles fo touched began to move, the other, though at never fo great a distance, moved at the fame time, and in the fame manner. He tells us, that the two friends, being each of them poffeffed of one of thefe needles, made a kind of a dial-plate, infcribing it with the four and twenty letters, in the fame manner as the hours of the day are marked upon the ordinary dial-plate. They then fixed one of the needles on each of thefe plates in fuch a manner, that it could move round without impediment, fo as to touch any of the four and twenty letters. Upon their feparating from one another into diftant countries, they agreed to withdraw themselves pun&ually into their closets at a certain hour of the day, and to converfe with one another by means of this their invention. Accordingly when they were some hundred miles afunder, each of them shut himself up in his clofet at the time appointed, and immediately caft his eye upon his dial-plate. If he had a mind to write any thing to his friend, he directed his needle to every letter that formed the words which he had occafion for, making a little paufe at the end of every word or fentence, to avoid confufion. The friend, in the mean while, saw his own fympathetic needle moving of itfelf to every letter which that of his correfpondent pointed at. By this means they talked together across a whole continent, and conveyed their thoughts to one another in an inftant over cities or mountains, feas or defarts. If Monfieur Scudery, or any other writer of romance, had introduced a necromancer, who is generally in the train of a knight-errant, making a prefent to two lovers of a couple of thefe above |