be on Occasion easily affected: For I must tell you, dear No. 515. Jenny, I hold one Maxim, which is an uncommon one, Tuesday, October to wit, That our greatest Charms are owing to Affectation. 21, 1712. 'Tis to That that our Arms can lodge so quietly just over our Hips, and the Fan can play without any Force or Motion but just of the Wrist. 'Tis to Affectation we owe the pensive Attention of Deidamia at a Tragedy, the scornful Approbation of Dulcimara at a Comedy, and the lowly Aspect of Lanquícelsa at a Sermon. To tell you the plain Truth, I know no Pleasure but in being admired, and have yet never failed of attaining the Approbation of the Man whose Regard I had a Mind to You see all the Men who make a Figure in the World (as wise a Look as they are pleased to put upon the Matter) are moved by the same Vanity as I am, What is there in Ambition, but to make other People's Wills depend upon yours? This indeed is not to be aim'd at by one who has a Genius no higher than to think of being a very good Housewife in a Country Gentleman's Family. The Care of Poultrey and Piggs are great Enemies to the Countenance: The vacant Look of fine Lady is not to be preserved, if she admits_any Thing to take up her Thoughts but her own dear Person. But I interrupt you too long from your Cares, and my self from my Conquests. I am, Madam, Your most humble Servant." Give me Leave, Mr. SPECTATOR, to add her Friend's answer to this Epistle, who is a very discreet ingenious Woman. "Dear Gatty, I take your Raillery in very good Part, and am obliged to you for the free Air with which you speak of your own Gayeties. But this is but a barren superficial 'Pleasure; indeed, Gatty, we are made for Man, and in serious Sadness I must tell you, whether you your self know it or no, all these Gallantries tend to no other End but to be a Wife and Mother as fast as you can, T I am, Your most humble Servant."' No. 516. No. 516. day, October 22, 1712, Wednesday, October 22+ Immortale odium & nunquam sanabile vulnus, Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum F all the monstrous Passions and Opinions which have crept into the World, there is none so wonder ful as that those who profess the common Name of Christians should pursue each other with Rancour and Hatred for Differences in their Way of following the Example of their Saviour. It seems so natural, that all who pursue the Steps of any Leader should form them selves after his Manners, that it is impossible to account for Effects so different from what we might expect from those who profess themselves Followers of the highest Pattern of Meekness and Charity, but by ascribing such Effects to the Ambition and Corruption of those who are so audacious, with Souls full of Fury, to serve at the Altars of the God of Peace. The Massacres to which the Church of Rome has animated the ordinary People are dreadful Instances of the Truth of this Observation; and whoever reads the History of the Irish Rebellion, and the Cruelties which ensued thereupon, will be sufficiently convinced to what Rage poor Ignorants may be work'd up by those who profess Holiness, and become Incendiaries, and, under the Dispensation of Grace, promote Evils abhorrent to Nature. This Subject and Catastrophe, which deserve so well to be remarked by the Protestant World, will, I doubt not, be considered by the Reverend and Learned Prelate that preaches to Morrow before many of the Descendants of those who perished on that lamentable Day, in a Manner suitable to the Occasion, and worthy his own great Virtue and Eloquence, I shall not dwell upon it any further, but only transcribe out of a little Tract, called The Christian Heroe, pub lished in 1701, what I find there in Honour of the re nowned Heroe William III, who rescued that Nation from the the Repetition of the same Disasters. His late Majesty, of No. 516. glorious Memory, and the most Christian King are Wednes considered at the Conclusion of that Treatise as Heads of day, the Protestant and Roman Catholick World in the follow 22, 1712. ing Manner, There were not ever, before the Entrance of the Christian Name into the World, Men who have maintain'd a more renown'd Carriage, than the two great Rivals who possess the full Fame of the present Age, and will be the Theme and Examination of the future. They are exactly form'd by Nature for those Ends to which Heaven seems to have sent them amongst us: Both animated with a restless Desire of Glory, but pursue it by different Means, and with different Motives: To one it consists in an extensive undisputed Empire over his Subjects, to the other in their rational and voluntary Obedience: One's Happiness is founded in their Want of Power, the other's in their Want of Desire to oppose him: The one enjoys the Summit of Fortune with the Luxury of a Persian, the other with the Moderation of a Spartan: One is made to oppress, the other to relieve the Oppressed: The one is satisfied with the Pomp and Ostentation of Power to prefer and debase his Inferiours, the other delighted only with the Cause and Foundation of it to cherish and protect 'em: To one therefore Religion is but a convenient Disguise, to the other a vigorous Motive of Action, For without such Ties of real and solid Honour, there is no Way of forming a Monarch, but after the Machi avilian Scheme, by which a Prince must ever seem to have all Virtues, but really to be Master of none, but is to be liberal, merciful, and just only as they serve his Interests; while, with the noble Art of Hypocrisy, Empire would be to be extended, and new Conquests be made by new Devices, by which prompt Address his Creatures might insensibly give Law in the Business of Life, by leading Men in the Entertainment of it, Thus when Words and Show are apt to pass for the substantial Things they are only to express, there would need no more to enslave a Country but to adorn a Court; for while every Man's Vanity makes him believe himself capable October No. 516, day, 22, 1712. capable of becoming Luxury, Enjoyments are a ready Bait for Sufferings, and the Hopes of Preferment Invita tions to Servitude, which Slavery would be colour'd with all the Agreements, as they call it, imaginable. The noblest Arts and Artists, the finest Pens and most elegant Minds, jointly employ'd to set it off, with the various Embellishments of sumptuous Entertainments, charming Assemblies and polished Discourses: And those apostate Abilities of Men, the adored Monarch might profusely and skillfully encourage, while they flatter his Virtue, and gild his Vice at so high a Rate, that he, without Scorn of the one, or Love of the other, would alternately and occasionally use both, so that his Bounty should support him in his Rapines, his Mercy in his Cruelties. Nor is it to give Things a more severe Look than is natural, to suppose such must be the Consequences of a Prince's having no other Pursuit than that of his own Glory; for, if we consider an Infant born into the World, and beholding it self the mightiest Thing in it, its self the present Admiration and future Prospect of a fawning People, who profess themselves Great or Mean, according to the Figure he is to make amongst them, what Fancy would not be debauched to believe they were but what they professed themselves, his mere Creatures, and use them as such by Purchasing with their Lives a boundless Renown, which he, for Want of a more just Prospect, would place in the Number of his Slaves, and the Extent of his Territories; such undoubtedly would be the tragical Effects of a Prince's Living with no Religion, which are not to be surpassed but by his having a false one, If Ambition were spirited with Zeal, what would follow, but that his People should be converted into an Army, whose Swords can make Right in Power, and solve Con troversy in Belief? And if Men should be stiff-necked to the Doctrine of that visible Church, let them be con tented with an Oar and a Chain, in the Midst of Stripes and Anguish, to contemplate on him, whose Yoke is easy, and whose Burthen is light. With a Tyranny begun on his own Subjects, and Indignation that others draw their Breath independent of his Frown or Smile, why should he not proceed to the Seizure October Seizure of the World? And if Nothing but the Thirst No. 516, of Sway were the Motive of his Actions, why should Wednes Treaties be other than meer Words, or solemn national day Compacts be any Thing but an Halt in the March of that 22, 1712. Army, who are never to lay down their Arms, 'till all Men are reduced to the Necessity of hanging their Lives on his way ward Will; who might supinely, and at Leisure, expiate his own Sins by other Men's Suffer ings, while he daily meditates new Slaughter, and new Conquest? For meer Man, when giddy with unbridled Power, is an insatiate Idol, not to be appeased with Myriads offered to his Pride, which may be puffed up by the Adulation of a base and prostrate World, into an Opinion that he is Something more than humane, by Being Something less And, alas, what is there that mortal Man will not believe of himself, when complimented with the Attributes of God? He can then conceive Thoughts of a Power as Omnipresent as his: But should there be such a Foe of Mankind now upon Earth, have our Sins so far pro voked Heaven, that we are left utterly Naked to his Fury? Is there no Power, no Leader, no Genius, that can conduct and animate us to our Death, or our De fence? Yes, our great God never gave one to reign by his Permission, but he gave to another also to reign by his Grace, All the Circumstances of the Illustrious Life of our Prince, seem to have conspired to make him the Check and Bridle of Tyranny; for his Mind has been streng thened and confirmed by one continued Struggle, and Heaven has educated him by Adversity to a quick Sense of the Distresses and Miseries of Mankind, which he was born to redress: In just Scorn of the trivial Glories and light Ostentations of Power, that glorious Instrument of Providence moves, like that, in a steady, calm, and silent Course, independent either of Applause or Calumny which renders him, if not in a political, yet in a moral, a philosophick, an heroick, and a Christian Sense, an absolute Monarch: Who satisfied with this unchangeable, just, and ample Glory, must needs turn all his Regards from him self, to the Service of others; for he begins his Enterprizes |