ridiculous. As for your wild raillery on matrimony, it is all hypocrify; you, and all the handfome young women of your acquaintance, fhew yourfelves to no other purpose than to gain a conqueft over fome man of worth, in order to bestow your charms and fortune on him. There is no indecency in the confeffion, the defign is modeft and honourable, and all your affectation cannot disguise it.

I am married, and have no other concern but to please the man I love; he is the endof every care I have; if I drefs, it is for him; if I read a poem or a play, it is to qualify myself for converfation agreeable to his tafte: he is almoft the end of my devotions; half my prayers are for his happiness-I love to talk of him, and never hear him named but with pleasure and emotion, I am your friend, and with you happiness, but am forry to fee by the air of your letter that there are a fet of women who are got into the common place raillery of every thing that is fober, decent, and proper: matrimony and the clergy are the topics of people of little wit and no understanding. I own to you, I have learned of the vicar's wife all you tax me with: fhe is a difcreet, ingenious, pleafant, pious woman; I with the had the handling of you and Mrs. Modifh; you would find, if you were too free with her, fhe would foon make you as charming as ever you were, the would make you blush as much as if you never had been fine ladies. The vicar, Madam, is fo kind as to visit my husband, and his agree

MARY HOME.

DEAR MR. SPECTATOR,

YOU have no goodness in the world,

and are not in earnest in any thing you fay that is ferious, if you do not fend me a plain answer to this: I happened fome days pait to be at the play, where during the time of performance, I could not keep my eyes off from a beautiful young creature who fat just before me, and who I have been fince informed has no fortune. It would utterly ruin my reputation for difcretion to marry fuch a one, and by what I can learn the has a character of great modesty, so that there is nothing to be thought on any other way.

My mind has ever fince been fo wholly bent on her, that I am much in danger of doing something very extravagant without your speedy advice to, Sir, your most humble fervant,

I am forry I cannot answer this impatient gentleman, but by another queftion.

DEAR CORRESPONDENT,

WOULD you marry to please other people, or yourself?

T

HOR, EP. I. LIB. I. VER. 3k.

THE HE foul, confidered abstractedly from it's paffions, is of a remifs and fedentary nature, flow in it's refolves, and languifhing in it's executions. The ufe therefore of the paffions is to stir it up, and to put it upon action, to awaken the understanding, to enforce the will, and to make the whole man more vigorous and attentive in the pro

fecution of his defigns. As this is the end of the paffions in general, fo it is particularly of ambition, which pushes the foul to fuch actions as are apt to procure honour and reputation to the actor. But if we carry our reflections higher, we may discover farther ends of Providence in implanting this paffion in mankind,

It was neceffary for the world, that arts fhould be invented and improved, books written and tranfmitted to pofte. rity, nations conquered and civilized: now fince the proper and genuine motives to these and the like great actions, would only influence virtuous minds; there would be but small improvements in the world, were there not some common principle of action working equally with all men. And fuch a principle is ambition, or a defire of fame, by which great endowments are not fuffered to lie idle and useless to the public, and many vicious men, over reached, as it were, and engaged contrary to their natural inclinations in a glorious and laudable courfe of action. For we may farther obferve, that men of the greatest abilities are moft fired with ambition: and that on the contrary, mean and narrow minds are the leaft actuated by it; whether it be that a man's fenfe of his own incapacities makes him defpair of coming at fame, or that he has not enough range of thought to look out for any good which does not more immediately relate to his interelt or convenience, or that Providence, in the very frame of his foul, would not fubject him to fuch a paffion as would be ufelefs to the world, and a torment to himfelf.

Were not this defire of fame very frong, the difficulty of obtaining it, and the danger of lofing it when obtained, would be fufficient to deter a man from so vain a purfuit.

How few are there who are furnished with abilities fufficient to recommend their actions to the admiration of the world, and to diftinguish themselves from the rest of mankind! Providence for the most part fets us upon a level, and obferves a kind of proportion in it's difpenfation towards us. If it renders us perfect in one accomplishment, it generally leaves us defective in another, and feems careful rather of preferving every perfon from being mean and deficient in his qualifications, than of making any fingle one eminent or extraordinary.

And among thofe who are the most richly endowed by nature, and accomplished by their own industry, how few are there whofe virtues are not obfcured by the ignorance, prejudice, or envy of their beholders! Some men cannot difcern between a noble and a mean action;

others are apt to attribute them to fome falfe end or intention; or others pur pofely mifreprefent, or put a wrong in terpretation on them.

But the more to enforce this confide ration, we may observe that those are generally moft unfuccessful in their purfuit after fame, who are most defirous of obtaining it. It is Sallust's remark upon Cato, that the lefs he coveted glory the more he acquired it.

Men take an ill-natured pleasure in croffing our inclinations, and difappointing us in what our hearts are most fet upon. When, therefore, they have difcovered the paffionate defire of fame in the ambitious man, as no temper of mind is more apt to flew itself, they be come sparing and reserved in their commendations, they envy him the fatiffaction of an applaufe, and look on their praises rather as a kindness done to his perfon, than as a tribute paid to his merit. Others who are free from this natural perverseness of temper grow wary in their praises of one, who fets too great a value on them, left they fhould raise him too high in his own imagination, and by consequence remove him to a greater distance from themselves.

But farther, this defire of fame naturally betrays the ambitious man into fuch indecencies, as are a leffening to his reputation. He is ftill afraid left any of his actions should be thrown away in private, left his deserts should be concealed from the notice of the world, or receive any difadvantage from the reports which others make of them. This often fets him on empty boafts and oftentations of himself, and betrays him into vain fantastical recitals of his own performances: his difcourfe generally leans one way, and, whatever is the fubject of it, tends obliquely either to the detracting from others, or to the extolling of himself. Vanity is the natu ral weakness of an ambitious man, which expofes him to the fecret fcorn and derifion of thofe he converfes with, and ruins the character he is fo induftrious to advance by it. For though his actions are never fo glorious, they lofe their luftre when they are drawn at large, and fet to fhow by his own hand and as the world is more apt to find fault than to commend, the boaft will probably be cenfured when the great action that occafioned it is forgotten. 302

Befides,

Befides, this very defire of fame is looked on as a meanness and imperfection in the greateft character. A folid and fubftantial greatness of foul looks down with a generous neglect on the cenfures and applaufes of the multitude, and places a man beyond the little noife and ftrife of tongues. Accordingly we find in ourselves a fecret awe and veneration for the character of one who moves about us in a regular and illuftrious courfe of virtue, without any regard to our good or ill opinions of him, to our reproaches or commendations. As on the contrary it is ufual for us, when we would take off from the fame and reputation of an action, to afcribe it to vain-glory, and a defire of fame in the actor. Nor is this common judgment and opinion of mankind ill-founded for certainly it denotes no great bravery of mind to be worked up to any

TH

HESIOD.

HERE are many paffions and tempers of mind which naturally difpofe us to deprefs and vilify the merit of one rifing in the efteem of mankind. All thofe who made their entrance into the world with the fame advantages, and were once looked on as his equals, are apt to think the fame of his merits a reflection on their own indeferts; and will therefore take care to reproach him with the fcandal of fome paft action, or derogate from the worth of the prefent, that they may ftill keep him on the fame level with themfelves. The like kind of confideration often tirs up the envy of fuch as were once his fuperiors, who think it a detraction from their merit to fee another get ground upon them, and overtake them in the purfuits of glory; and will therefore endeavour to fink his reputation, that they may the better preferve their own. Thofe who were once his equals envy and defame him, because they now fee him their fuperior; and those who were once his fuperiors, because they look upon him as their equal.

But farther, a man whose extraordi

C

nary reputation thus lifts him up to the notice and obfervation of mankind, draws a multitude of eyes upon him that will narrowly inspect every part of him, confider him nicely in all views, and not be a little pleated when they have taken him in the worst and most difadvantageous light. There are many who find a pleasure in contradicling the common reports of fame, and in spreading abroad the weakneffes of an exalted character. They publish their ill-natured discoveries with a fecret pride, and applaud themfelves for the fingularity of their judgment which has fearched deeper than others, detected what the relt of the world have overlooked, and found a flaw in what the generality of mankind admires. Others there are, who proclaim the errors and infirmities of a great man with an inward fatisfaction and complacency, if they difcover none of the like errors and infimties in themfelves; for while they are expofing another's weakneffes, they are tacity Liming at their own commendations, who are not fubject to the like infirmities, and are apt to be transported with a 1

cret kind of vanity to fee themselves fuperior in fome refpects to one of a fublime and celebrated reputation. Nay, it very often happens, that none are more industrious in publishing the blemishes of an extraordinary reputation, than fuch as lie open to the fame cenfures in their own characters, as either hoping to excufe their own defects by the authority of fo high an example, or raifing an imaginary applaufe to themfelves for refembling a perfon of an exalted reputation, though in the blameable parts of his character. If all these fecret fprings of detraction fail, yet very

often a vain oftentation of wit fets a man on attacking an established name, and facrificing it to the mirth and laughter of thofe about him. A fatire or a libel on one of the common stamp, never meets with that reception and approba-, tion among it's readers as what is aimed at a person whofe merit places him upon an eminence, and gives him a more confpicuous figure among men. Whether it be that we think it fhews greater art to expofe and turn to ridicule a man whofe character feems fo improper a fubject for it, or that we are pleafed by fome implicit kind of revenge to fee him taken down and humbled in his reputation, and in fome meafure reduced to our own rank, who had fo far raised himself above us in the reports and opinions of mankind.

Thus we fee how many dark and intricate motives there are to detraction and defamation, and how many malicious spies are searching into the actions of a great man, who is not, always, the best prepared for fo narrow an infpection. For we may generally obferve, that our admiration of a famous man leffens upon our nearer acquaintance with him: and that we feldom hear the defcription of a celebrated perfon, without a catalogue of fome notorious weakneffes and infirmities. The reafon may be, becaufe any little flip is more confpicuous and observable in his conduct than in another's, as it is not of a piece with the rest of his character, or because it is impossible for a man at the fame time to be attentive to the more important part of his life, and to keep a watchful eye over all the inconfiderable circumstances of his behaviour and converfation; or because, as we have before obferved, the fame temper of mind which inclines us to a delire of

fame, naturally betrays us into fuch flips and unwarineffes as are not incident to men of a contrary difpofition.

After all, it must be confeffed, that a noble and triumphant merit often breaks through and diffipates thefe little fpots and fullies in it's reputation; but if by a mistaken pursuit after fame, or through human infirmity, any falfe ftep be made in the more momentous concerns of life, the whole fcheme of ambitious defigns is broken and disappointed. The finaller ftains and blemishes may die away and disappear amidst the brightnefs that furrounds them; but a blot of a deeper nature cafts a fhade on all the other beauties, and darkens the whole character. How difficult therefore is it to preferve a great name, when he that has acquired it is fo obnoxious to fuch little weakneffes and infirmities as are no finall diminution to it when difcovered, efpecially when they are so induftriously proclaimed, and aggravated by fuch as were once his fuperiors, or equals; by fuch as would fet to fhew their judgment or their wit, and by fuch as are guilty or innocent of the fame flips or misconducts in their own behaviour!

But were there none of thefe difpofitions in others to cenfure a famous man, nor any fuch mifcarriages in himself, yet would he meet with no fmall trouble in keeping up his reputation in all it's heighth and fplendour. There must be always a noble train of actions to preferve his fame in life and motion. For when it is once at a stand, it naturally flags and languifhes. Admiration is a very fhort-lived paffion, that inmediately decays upon growing familiar with it's object, unless it be still fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual fucceffion of miracles rifing up to it's view. And even the greateft actions of a celebrated perfon labour under this difadvantage, that however furprifing and extraordinary they may be, they are no more than what are expected from him; but on the contrary, if they fall any thing below the opinion that is conceived of him, though they might raife the reputation of another, they are a diminution to bis.

One would think there fhould be fomething wonderfully pleafing in the pof feffion of fame, that, notwithstanding all thefe mortifying confiderations, can engage a man in fo defperate a purfuit;

and

and yet if we confider the little happinefs that attends a great character, and the multitude of difquietudes to which the defire of it subjects an ambitious mind, one would be ftill the more furprifed to fee fo many reftlefs candidates for glory.

Ambition raises a feeret tumult in the foul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought: it is still reaching after an empty imaginary good, that has not in it the power to abate or fatisfy it. Moft other things we long for can allay the cravings of their proper fenfe, and for a while fet the appetite at reft: but fame is a good fo wholly foreign to our natures, that we have no faculty in the foul adapted to it, nor any organ in the body to relith it; an object of defire placed out of the poffibility of fruition. It may indeed fill the mind for a while with a giddy kind of pleasure, but it is such a pleafure as makes a man restlefs and uncafy under it; and which does not fo much fatisfy the prefent thirst, as it excites fresh defires, and fets the foul on new enterprizes. For how few ambitious men are there, who have got as much fame as they defired, and whofe thirst after it has not been as eager in the very height of their reputation, as it was before they became known and eminent among men! There is not any circumftance in Cæfar's character which gives me a greater idea of him, than a faying which Cicero tells us he frequently made ufe of in private converfation, That he was fatisfied with his fhare of life and fame-Se fatis vel ad naturam, vel ad gloriam vixiffe. Many, indeed, have given over their purfuits after fame, but that has proceeded either from the difappointments they have met in it, or from their experience of the little pleafore which attends it, or from the better informations or natural coldness of old age; but feldom from a full fatisfaction and acquiefcence in their present enjoy. ments of it.

Nor is fame only unfatisfying in itself, but the defire of it lays us open to many accidental troubles which those are free from who have not fuch a tender regard for it. How often is the ambitious man caft down and difappointed, if he redives no praise where he expected it!

Nay, how often is he mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not rife fo high as he thinks they ought, which they feldom do unless increased by flattery, fince few men have fo good an opinion of us as we have of ourselves! But if the ambitious man can be fo much grieved even with praise itself, how will he be able to bear up under fcandal and defamation? For the fame temper of mind which makes him defire fame, makes him hate reproach. If he can be transported with the extraordinary praises of men, he will be as much dejected by their cenfures. How little, therefore, is the happiness of an ambitious man, who gives every one a dominion over it, who thus fubjects himfelf to the good or ill fpeeches of others, and puts it in the power of every malicious tongue to throw him into a fit of melancholy, and destroy his natural rest and repofe of mind! efpecially when we confider that the world is more apt to cenfure than applaud, and himself fuller of imperfections than virtues.

We may farther observe, that such a man will be more grieved for the lofs of fame, than he could have been pleased with the enjoyment of it. For though the prefence of this imaginary good cannot make us happy, the abfence of it may make us miferable; becaufe in the enjoyment of an object we only find that fare of pleasure which it is capable of giving us, but in the lefs of it we do not proportion our grief to the real value it bears, but to the value our fancies and imaginations fet upon it.

So inconfiderable is the fatisfaction that fame brings along with it, and fo great the difquietudes to which it makes us liable. The defire of it ftirs up very uneafy motions in the mind, and is ra ther inflamed than fatisfied by the prefence of the thing defired. The enjoy ment of it brings but very little pleafure, though the lofs or want of it be very fenfible and afflicting; and even this little happiness is fo very precarious, that it wholly depends on the will of others. We are not only tortured by the reproaches which are offered us, but are difappointed by the filence of men when it is unexpected; and humbled even by their praises.

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N° CCLVII