greatest Commendation not to be talked of one way or other. N82. PA Monday, June 4. - Caput domina venale sub hafta. Juv. ASSING under Ludgate the other Day, 1 heard a Voice bawling for Charity, which I thought I had fomewhere heard before. Coming near to the Grate, the Prifoner called me by my Name, and defired I would throw fomething into the Box: I was out of Countenance for him, and did as he bid me, by putting in half-a-Crown. I went away reflecting upon the ftrange Conftitution of fome Men, and how meanly they behave themfelves in all Sorts of Conditions. The Perfon who begged of me is now, as I take it, Fifty: I was well acquainted with him till about the Age of Twentyfive; at which Time a good Eftate fell to him by the Death of a Relation. Upon coming to this unexpected good Fortune, he ran into all the Extravagancies imaginable, was frequently in drunken Difputes, broke Drawers Heads, talked and fwore loud, was unmannerly to those above him, and infolent to thofe below him. I could not but remark, that it was the fame Bafenefs of Spirit which worked in his Behaviour in both Fortunes: The fame little Mind was infolent in Riches, and fhameless in Poverty. This Accident made me mufe upon the Circumftance of being in Debt in general, and folve in my Mind what Tempers were moft apt to fall into this Error of Life, as well as the Misfortune it must needs be to languifh under fuch Preffures. As for my self, my natural Averfion to that fort of Converfation which makes a Figure with the Generality of Mankind, exempts me from any Temptations to Expence; and all my Bufinefs lies within a very narrow Compass, which is only to give an honeft Man who takes care of my Eftate, proper Vouchers for his quarterly Payments me, and obferve what what Linnen my Laundrefs brings and takes away with her once a Week: My Steward brings his Receipt ready for my Signing; and I have a pretty Implement with the refpective Names of Shirts, Cravats, Handkerchiefs and Stockings, with proper Numbers to know how to reckon with my Laundrefs. This being almost all the Business L have in the World for the Care of my own Affairs, I am at full Leifure to obferve upon what others do, with relation to their Equipage and Oeconomy. When I walk the Street, and obferve the Hurry about me in this Town Where with like Hafte, tho' different Ways, they run; I fay, when I behold this vaft Variety of Perfons and Humours, with the Pains they both take for the Accomplishment of the Ends mentioned in the above Verses of Denham, I cannot much wonder at the Endeavour after Gain, but am extreamly astonished that Men can be fo infenfible of the Danger of running into Debt. One would think it impoffible a Man who is given to con tract Debts should know, that his Creditor has from that Moment in which he tranfgreffes Payment, fo much as that Demand comes to in his Debtor's Honour, Liberty and Fortune. One would think he did not know, that his Creditor can fay the worst Thing imaginable of him, to wit, That he is unjust, without Defamation; and can feize his Perfon, without being guilty of an Affault. Yet fuch is the loofe and abandoned Turn of fome Mens Minds, that they can live under thefe conftant Appre henfions, and ftill go on to encrease the Cause of them. Can there be a more low and fervile Condition, than to be afhamed; or afraid, to fee any one Man breathing? Yet he that is much in Debt, is in that Condition with relation to twenty different People. There are indeed Circumstances wherein Men of honeft: Natures may become liable to Debts, by fome unadvised Behaviour in any great Point of their Life, or mortgaging a Man's Honefty as a Security for that of another, and the like; but thefe Inftances are fo particular and circumftantiated, that they cannot come within general Confiderations: For For one fuch Cafe as one of these, there are ten, where a Man, to keep up a Farce of Retinue and Grandeur within his own House, shall shrink at the Expectation of farly Demands at his Doors. The Debtor is the Credi tor's Criminal, and all the Officers of Power and State, whom we behold make fo great a Figure, are no other than fo many Perfons in Authority to make good his Charge against him. Human Society depends upon his having the Vengeance Law allots him; and the Debtor owes his Liberty to his Neighbour, as much as the Mur derer does his Life to his Prince. OUR Gentry are, generally speaking, in Debt; and many Families have put it into a Kind of Method of being fo from Generation to Generation. The Father mortgages when his Son is very young: and the Boy is to marry as foon as he is at Age to redeem it, and find Portions for his Sifters. This, forfooth, is no great Inconvenience to him; for he may Wench, keep a publick Table, or feed Dogs, like a worthy English Gentleman, till he has out-run half his Eftate, and leave the fame Incumbrance upon his Firft-born, and fo on, till one Man of more. Vigour than ordinary goes quite through the Estate, or fome Man of Senfe comes into it, and fcorns to have an Eftate in Partnership, that is to fay, liable to the Demand or Infult of any Man living, There is my Friend Sir ANDREW, tho' for many Years a great and general Trader, was never the Defendant in a Law-Suit, in all the Perplexity of Bufinefs, and the Iniquity of Mankind at prefent: No one had any Colour for the leaft Complaint against his Dealings with him. This is certainly as uncommon, and in its Proportion as laudable in a Citizen, as it is in a General never to have fuffered a Difadvantage in Fight. How different from this Gentleman is Jack Truepenny, who has been an old Acquaintance of Sir ANDREW and my felf from Boys, but could never learn our Caution. Jack has a whorish unrefifting good Nature, which makes him incapable of having a Property in any Thing. His Fortune, his Reputation, his Time and his Capacity, are at any Man's Service that comes firft. When he was at School, he was whipped thrice a Week for Faults he took upon him to excufe others; fince he came came into the Bufinefs of the World, he has been arrested twice or thrice a Year for Debts he had nothing to do with, but as Surety for others; and I remember when a Friend of his had fuffered in the Vice of the Town, all the Phyfick his Friend took was conveyed to him by Jack, and infcribed, A Bolus or an Electuary for Mr. • Truepenny.' Jack had a good Eftate left him, which came to nothing; because he believed all who pretended to Demands upon it. This Eafinefs and Credulity deAtroy all the other Merit he has; and he has all his Life been a Sacrifice to others, without ever receiving Thanks, or doing one good Action. I will end this Difcourfe with a Speech which I heard Jack make to one of his Creditors, (of whom he deferv. ed gentler Ufage) after lying a whole Night in Cuftody at his Suit, . SIR, YOUR OUR Ingratitude for the many Kindneffes I have 'done you, fhall not make me unthankful for the • Good you have done me, in letting me fee there is fuch a Man as you in the World. I am obliged to you for the Diffidence I fhall have all the rest of my Life: I fhall •hereafter truft no Man fo far as to be in his Debt. R N® 83. W Tuesday, June 5. • Animum pi&ura pascit inani. Virg. HEN the Weather hinders me from taking my Diverfions without Doors, I frequently make a little Party with two or three felect Friends, to vifit any thing curious that may be feen under Covert. My principal Entertainments of this Nature are Pictures, infomuch that when I have found the Weather set in to be very bad, I have taken a whole Day's Journey to fee a Gallery that is furnished by the Hands of great Mafters. By this means, when the Heavens are filled with Clouds, Clouds, when the Earth fwims in Rain, and all Nature wears a low'ring Countenance, I withdraw my felf from thefe uncomfortable Scenes into the vifionary Worlds of Art; where I meet with fhining Landskips, gilded Triumphs, beautiful Faces, and all thofe other Objects that fill the Mind with gay Ideas, and difperfe that Gloa minefs which is apt to hang upon it in those dark discon folate Seafons. I was fome Weeks ago in a Course of these Diverfions; which had taken fuch an entire Poffeffion of my Imagination, that they formed in it a fhort Morning's Dream, which I fhall communicate to my Reader, rather as the first Sketch and Outlines of a Vifion, than as a finished Piece. I dreamt that I was admitted into a long fpacious Gallery, which had one fide covered with Pieces of all the famous Painters who are now living, and the other with the Works of the greatest Masters that are dead. ON the Side of the Living, I faw feveral Perfons bufie in Drawing, Colouring, and Defigning; on the Side of the Dead Painters, I could not discover more than one Perfon at Work, who was exceeding flow in his Mo tions, and wonderfully nice in his Touches. I was refolved to examine the feveral Artifts that flood before me, and accordingly applied my Self to the Side of the Living. The first I obferved at Work in this Part of the Gallery was VANITY, with his Hair tied be hind him in a Ribbon, and dreffed like a Frenchman. All the Faces he drew were very remarkable for their Smiles, and a certain fmirking Air which he bestowed indifferently on every Age and Degree of either Sex. The Toujours Gai appeared even in his Judges, Bifhops, and Privy-Counfellors: In a Word, all his Men were Petits Maitres, and all his Women Coquets. The Drapery of his Figures was extremely well-fuited to his Faces, and was made up of all the glaring Colours that could be mixt together; every Part of the Drefs was in a Flutter, and endeavoured to distinguish it self above the reft. ON the left Hand of VANITY ftood a laborious Workman, who I found was his humble Admirer, and copied |
