N° CCCCLXII. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20. PEOP NIL EGO PRETULERIM JUCUNDO SANUS AMICO. HOR. SAT. V. L. I. V.44. NOTHING SO GRATEFUL AS A PLEASANT FRIEND. land have been at the mercy of a prince merely as he was of this pleasant character.. MR. SPECTATOR, THERE is no one paffion which all and he who can agreeably condefcend to foothe our humour or temper, finds always an open avenue to our foul; efpecially if the flatterer happen to be our fuperior. EOPLE are not aware of the very great force which pleasantry in company has upon all thofe with whom a man of that talent converfes. His faults are generally overlooked by all his acquaintance, and a certain careleffnefs that conftantly attends all his actions, mankind fo naturally give into as carries him on with greater fuccefs, than pride, nor any other paflion which apdiligence and affiduity does others who pears in fuch different difguifes: it is to have no fhare of this endowment. Da- be found in all habits and complexions. cinthus breaks his word upon all occa- Is it not a question, whether it does fions both trivial and important; and more harm or good in the world? And when he is fufficiently railed at for that if there be not fuch a thing as what we abominable quality, they who talk of may call a virtuous and laudable pride? him end with- After all he is a very It is this paffion alone, when niifap. pleafant fellow.' Dacinthus is an ill-plied, that lays us fo open to flatterers; natured husband, and yet the very women end their freedom of difcourfe upon this subject' But after all he is very pleafant company.' Dacinthus is neither in point of honour, civility, goodbreeding, or good-nature, unexceptionable, and yet all is anfwered- For he is a very pleafant fellow. When this quality is confpicuous in a man who has to accompany it, manly and virtuous fentiments, there cannot certainly be any thing which can give fo pleafing gratification as the gaiety of fuch a perfon; but when it is alone, and ferves only to gild a crowd of ill qualities, there is no man fo much to be avoided as your pleafant fellow. A very pleafant fellow fhall turn your good name to a jelt, make your character contemptible, debauch your wife or daughter, and yet be received by the reft of the world with welcome wherever he appears. It is very ordinary with thofe of this character to be attentive only to their own fatisfa&tions, and have very little bowels for the concerns or forrows of other men; nay, they are capable of purchafing their own pleafures at the expence of giving pain to others. But they who do not confider this fort of men thus carefully, are irrefiftibly expofed to their infinuations. The author of the following letter carries the matter fo high, as to intimate that the liberties of Eng One might give many inftances of this in a late English monarch, under the title of, 'The Gaieties of King Charles II.' This prince was by nature extremely familiar, of very easy access, and much delighted to fee and be feen; and this happy temper, which in the higheft degree gratified his people's vanity, did him more fervice with his loving subjects than all his other virtues, though it must be confessed he had many. He delighted, though a mighty king, to give and take a jeft, as they fay; and a prince of this fortunate difpofition, who were inclined to make an illufe of his power, may have any thing of his people, be it never fo much to their preju dice. But this good king made gene rally a very innocent ufe, as to the public, of this infnaring temper; for, it is well known, he purfued pleasure more than ambition: he feemed to glory in being the first man at cock-matches,. horfe-races, balls, and plays; he appeared highly delighted on those occa fions, and never failed to warm and gladden the heart of every spectator. He more than once dined with his good citizens of London on their lord-mayor's day, and did fo the year that Sir Ro bert bert Viner was mayor. Sir Robert was a very loyal man, and, if you will allow the expreffion, very fond of his fovereign; but what with the joy he felt at heart for the honour done him by his prince, and through the warmth he was in with continual toasting healths to the royal family, his lordship grew a little fond of his majefty, and entered into a familiarity not altogether fo graceful in fo public a place. The king understood very well how to extricate himself in all kinds of difficulties, and with an hint to the company to avoid ceremony, ftole off and made towards his coach, which stood ready for him in Guildhall yard: but the mayor liked his company fo well, and was grown fo intimate, that he purfued him haftily, and catching him faft by the hand, cried out with a vehement oath and accent-Sir, you shall stay ⚫ and take the other bottle.' The airy monarch looked kindly at him over his fhoulder, and with a smile and graceful air (for I faw him at the time, and do now) repeated this line of the old fong; He that is drunk is as great as a king; and immediately turned back and complied with his landlord, I give you this story, Mr. Spectator, becaufe, as I faid, I faw the paffage; and I affure you it is very true, and yet no common one; and when I tell you the fequel, you will fay I have yet a better reafon for it. This very mayor afterwards erected a statue of his merry monarch in Stocks Market, and did the crown many and great fervices; and it was owing to this humour of the king, that his family had fo great a fortune fhut up in the exchequer of their pleafant fovereign. The many, good-natured condefcenfions of this prince are vulgarly known; and it is excellently faid of him by a great hand which writ his character-That he was not a king a quarter of an hour together in his whole reign.' He would receive vifits even from fools and half madmen; and at times I have met with people who have boxed, fought at back-fword, and taken poifon before King Charles II. In a word, he was fo pleasant a man, that no one could be forrowful under his government. This made him capable of baffling, with the greatest ease imaginable, all fuggeftions of jealoufy, and the people could not entertain notions of any thing terrible in him, whom they faw every way agreeable. This fcrap. of the familiar part of that prince's hiftory I thought fit to fend you, in compliance to the request you lately made to your correfpondents. I am, Sir, your most humble fervant. T VANAQUE NOCTURNIS META CAVETUR EQUIS. CLAUB. IN SLEEP, WHEN FANCY IS LET LOOSE TO PLAY, Was lately entertaining myfelf with comparing Homer's balance, in which Jupiter is reprefented as weighing the fates of Hector and Achilles, with a paffage of Virgil, wherein that deity is introduced as weighing the fates of Turnus Turnus and Æneas. I then confidered how the fame way of thinking prevailed in the eastern parts of the world, as in those noble paffages of Scripture, wherein we are told, that the great king of Babylon, the day before his death, had been weighed in the balance, and been found wanting. In other places of the Holy Writings, the Almighty is defcribed as weighing the nountains in fcales, making the weight for the winds, knowing the balancings of the clouds, and in others, as weighing the actions of men, and laying their calamities together in a balance. Milton, as I have obferved in a former paper, had an eye to feveral of these foregoing inftances in that beautiful description, wherein he reprefents the archangel and the evil fpirit as addreffing themselves for the combat, but parted by the balance which appeared in the heavens and weighed the confequences of fuch a battle. Th' Eternal, to prevent fuch horrid fray, Hung forth in heav'n his golden fcales, yet feen Betwixt Aftrea and the Scorpion fign, Wherein all things created first he weigh'd, The pendulous round earth, with balanc'd air In counterpoife, now ponders all events, Battles and realms; in these he put two weights, The fequel each of parting and of fight, The latter quick up flew, and kickt the beam, Which Gabriel fpying, thus bespake the fiend. Satan, I know thy ftrength, and thou 'know'ft mine, • Neither our own, but giv'n; what folly then • To boast what arms can do, fince thine no • If thou refist." The fiend look'd up, and knew His mounted fcale aloft; nor more; but fled Murm'ring, and with him fled the shades of night. These feveral amusing thoughts having taken poffeffion of my mind fome time before I went to fleep, and mingling themselves with my ordinary ideas, raifed in my imagination a very odd kind of vifion. I was, methought, replaced in my study, and feated in my elbow chair, where I had indulged the foregoing fpeculations, with my lamp burning by me as ufual. Whilft I was here meditating on feyeral fubjects of morali ty, and confidering the nature of many virtues and vices, as materials for thofe difcourfes with which I daily entertain the public; I faw, methought, a pair of golden feales hanging by a chain of the fame metal over the table that food before me; when, on a fudden, there were great heaps of weights thrown down on each fide of them. I found upon examining thefe weights, they fhewed the value of every thing that is in efteem among men. I made an effay of them, by putting the weight of wisdom in one fcale, and that of riches in another, upon which the latter, to fhew it's comparative lightnefs, immediately flew up and kicked the beam.' But, before I proceed, I must inform my reader, that thefe weights did not exert their natural gravity, until they were laid in the golden balance, infomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy, whilft I held them in my hand. This I found by feveral inftances; for upon my laying a weight in one of the scales, which was inscribed by the word Eternity; though I threw in that of time, profperity, affliction, wealth, poverty, intereft, fuccefs, with many other weights, which in my hand feemed very ponderous, they were not able to ftir the oppofite balance, nor could they have prevailed, though affifted with the weight of the fun, the stars, and the earth. Upon emptying the fcales, I laid feveral titles and honours, with pomps, triumphs, and many weights of the like nature, in one of them, and feeing a little glittering weight lie by me, I threw it accidentally into the other fcale, when to my great surprise it proved fo exact a counterpoife, that it kept the balance in an equilibrium. This little glittering weight was inferibed upon the edges of it with the word Vanity. I found there were feveral other weights which were equally heavy, and exact counterpoifes to one another; a few of them I tried, as avarice and poverty, riches and content, with fome others. There were likewife feveral weights that were of the fame figure, and seemed to correfpond with each other, but were entirely different when thrown into the fcales; as religion and hypocrify, pedantry and learning, wit and vivacity, fuperftition and devotion, gravity and wisdom, with many others. I obferved one particular weight let tered ered on both fides, and upon applying myfelf to the reading of it, I found on one fide written-In the dialect of 'men,' and underneath it- CALA MITIES.' On the other fide was written-' In the language of the gods,' and underneath BLESSINGS. I found the intrinfic value of this weight to be much greater than I imagined, for it overpowered health, wealth, good-fortune, and many other weights, which were much more ponderous in my hand than the other. There is a faying among the Scotch, 'that an ounce of mother-wit is worth a pound of clergy;' I was fenfible of the truth of this faying, when I faw the difference between the weight of natural parts, and that of learning. The obfervation which I made upon thefe two weights opened to me a new field of difcoveries; for notwithstanding the weight of natural parts was much heavier than that of learning, I obferved that it weighed an hundred times heavier than it did before, when I put learning into the same scale with it. I made the fame obfervation upon faith and morality; for notwithstanding the latter outweighed the former feparately, it received a thousand times more additional weight from it's conjunction with the former, than what it had by itself. This odd phenomenon fhewed itfelf in other particulars, as in wit and judgment, philofophy and religion, juftice and humanity, zeal and charity, depth of fenfe, and perfpicuity of ftile, with innumerable other particulars too long to be mentioned in this paper. As a dream feldom fails of dafhing seriousness with impertinence, mirth with gravity, methought I made feveral other experiments of a more ludicrous nature, by one of which I found that an English octavo was very often heavier than a French folio; and by another, that an old Greek or Latin author weighed down a whole library of moderns. Seeing one of my Spectators lying by me, I laid it into one of the fcales, and flung a twopenny piece into the other. The reader will not enquire into the event, if he remembers the firft trial which I have recorded in this paper. I afterwards threw both the fexes into the balance, but as it is not for my intereft to disoblige either of them, I shall desire to be excufed from telling the refult of this experiment. Having an opportunity of this nature in my hands, I could not forbear throwing into one fcale the principles of a Tory, and into the other those of a Whig; but as I have all along de clared this to be a neutral paper, I shall likewise defire to be filent under this head alfo, though upon examining one of the weights, I saw the word TEKEL engraven on it in capital letters. I made many other experiments, and though I have not room for them all in this day's fpeculation, I may perhaps referve them for another. I fhall only add, that upon my awaking I was forry to find my golden fcales vanished, but refolved for the future to learn this leffon from them, not to defpife or value any things for their appearances, but to regulate my esteem and paffions towards them according to their real and intrinfic value. N° CCCCLXIV. FRIDAY, AUGUST 22. AUREAM QUISQUIS MEDIOCRITATEM C others who have their virtues concealed by poverty.' Every man's obfervation will fupply him with inftances of rich men, who have feveral faults and defects that are overlooked, if not entirely hidden, by means of their riches; and, I think, we cannot find a more natural defcription of a poor man, whofe merits are lost in his poverty, than that in the words of the wite man. There was a little city, and few men within it: and there came a great king against it, and befieged it, and built great bulwarks againft it: now there was found in it a poor wife man, and he, by his wifdom, delivered the city; yet no man remembered that fame poor man. Then, faid I, wifdom is better than ftrength; nevertheless, the poor man's wifdom is defpifed, and his words are not heard.' The middle condition feems to be the most advantageoufly fituated for the gaining of wisdom. Poverty turns our thoughts too much upon the fupplying of our wants, and riches upon enjoying our fuperfluities; and as Cowley has faid in another cafe- It is hard for a man to keep a steady eye upon truth, who is always in a battle or a triumph.' If we regard poverty and wealth, as they are apt to produce virtues or vices in the mind of man, one may obferve that there is a fet of each of thefe grow. ing out of poverty, quite different from that which rifes out of wealth. Humility and patience, induftry and temperance, are very often the good qualities of a poor man. Humanity and good-nature, magnanimity and a sense of honour, are as often the qualifications of the rich. On the contrary, poverty is apt to betray a man into envy, riches into arrogance; poverty is too of ten attended with fraud, vicious compliance, repining, murmur, and difcontent. Riches expofe a man to pride and Juxury, a foolish elation of heart, and too great a fondnefs for the prefent world. In fhort, the middle condition is most eligible to the man who would improve himself in virtue; as I have before fhewn, it is the most advantageous for the gaining of knowledge. It was upon this confideration that Agur founded his prayer, which for the wifdom of it is recorded in Holy Writ. Two things have I required of thee, <deny me them not before I die. move far from me vanity and lics; Re give me neither poverty, nor riches feed me with food convenient for me • left I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or left I be poor and teal, and take the name of my God in vain.' I fhall fill the remaining part of my paper with a very pretty allegory, which is wrought into a play by Aristophanes the Greek comedian. It feems originally designed as a fatire upon the rich, though in fome parts of it, it is, like the foregoing difcourfe; a kind of compari fon between wealth and poverty. Chremylus, who was an old and a good man, and withal exceeding poor, being defirous to leave fome riches to his fon, confults the oracle of Apollo upen the subject. The oracle bids him follow the firft man he should fee upon his going out of the temple. The perion he chanced to fee was to appearance an old fordid blind man; but upon his following him from place to place, he at laft found by his own confetion, that he was Plutus the god of riches, and that he was juft come out of the houfe of a mifer. Plutus further told him, that when he was a boy, he used to declare, that as foon as he came to age he would distribute wealth to none but virtuous and just men; upon which Jupiter confidering the pernicious confequences of fuch a refolution, took his fight away from him, and left him to ftroll about the world in the blind condition wherein Chremylus beheld him. With much ado Chremylus prevailed upon him to go to his houfe, where he met an old woman in a tattered raiment, who had been his guest for many years, and whofe name was Poverty. The old woman refufing to turn out fo eafily as he would have her, he threatened to banish her not only from his own hori, but out of all Greece, if the made any more words upon the matter. Poverty on this occafion pleads her caufe very notably, and reprefents to her old landlord, that should he be driven out of the country, all their trades, arts, and fciences, would be driven out with her; and that if every one was rich, they would never be fupplied with thei pomps, ornaments, and conveniencies of life, which made riches delirable. She likewife reprefented to him the feveral advantages which the beltowed upon her votaries in regard to their fhape, their health, and their activity, by preferving them |