day, October 29, 1712, No. 522. Circumstance which they meet with. He will lay out his Wednes Invention in forming new Pleasures and Amusements, and make the Fortune she has brought him subservient to the Honour and Reputation of her and hers. A Man of Sense who is thus obliged, is ever contriving the Happiness of her who did him so great a Distinction; while the Fool is ungrateful without Vice; and never returns a Favour because he is not sensible of it. I would, methinks, have so much to say for my self, that if I fell into the Hands of him who treated me ill, he should be sensible when he did so: His Conscience should be of my Side whatever became of his Inclination. I do not know but it is the insipid Choice which has been made by those who have the Care of young Women, that the Marriage State it self has been liable to so much Ridicule. But a well-chosen Love, moved by Passion on both Sides, and perfected by the Generosity of one Party, must be adorn'd with so many handsome Incidents on the other Side, that every particular Couple would be an Example in many Circumstances to all the rest of the Species. I shall end the Chat upon this Subject with a Couple of Letters, one from a Lover who is very well acquainted with the way of bargaining on these Occasions; and the other from his Rival, who has a less Estate, but great Gallantry of Temper, As for my Man of Prudence, he makes Love, as he says, as if he were already a Father, and laying aside the Passion, comes to the Reason of the Thing. 'Madam, My Council has perused the Inventory of your Estate, and considered what Estate you have, which it seems is only yours, and to the Male Heirs of your Body; but, in Default of such Issue, to the right Heirs of your Uncle Edward for ever. Thus, Madam, I am advised you cannot (the Remainder not being in you) dock the Entail; by which means my Estate, which is Fee Simple, will come by the Settlement proposed to your Children begotten by me whether they are Males or Females; but my Children begotten upon you will not inherit your Lands, except I beget a Son. Now, Madam, since Things are so, you are a Woman of that Prudence, and understand the World so well well, as not to expect I should give you more than you No, 522. Wednes day, October (With great Respect) 29, 1712. Your most Obedient Humble Servant, T. W The other Lover's Estate is less than this Gentleman's, but he express'd himself as follows, 'Madam, I have given in my Estate to your Council, and desired my own Lawyer to insist upon no Terms which your Friends can propose for your certain Ease and Advantage: For indeed I have no Notion of making Difficulties of pre senting you with what cannot make me happy without you. I am, Madam, Your most Devoted Humble Servant, B. T. You must know the Relations have met upon this, and the Girl being mightily taken with the latter Epistle, she is laugh'd out, and Uncle Edward is to be dealt with to make her a suitable Match to the worthy Gentleman who has told her he does not care a Farthing for her. All I hope for is, that the Lady Fair will make use of the first light Night to show B. T. she understands a Marriage is not to be considered as a common Bargain. No. 523, [ADDISON.] I -Nunc augur Apollo, Thursday, October 30, Nunc Lyciae sortes, nunc & Jove missus ab ipso T AM always highly delighted with the Discovery_of any rising Genius among my Countrymen. For this Reason I have read over, with great Pleasure, the late Miscellany No. 523. Miscellany published by Mr. Pope, in which there are Thursday, many excellent Compositions of that ingenious Gentleman. October I have had a Pleasure, of the same Kind, in perusing a Poem 30, 1712. that is just published on the Prospect of Peace, and which, I hope, will meet with such a Reward from its Patrons, as so noble a Performance deserves. I was particularly well pleased to find that the Author had not amused himself with Fables out of the Pagan Theology, and that when he hints at any thing of this Nature, he alludes to it only as to a Fable, Many of our Modern Authors, whose Learning very often extends no farther than Ovid's Metamorphosis, do not know how to celebrate a great Man, without mixing a parcel of School-boy Tales with the Recital of his Actions. If you read a Poem on a fine Woman, among the Authors of this Class, you shall see that it turns more upon Venus or Helen, than on the Party concerned. I have known a Copy of Verses on a great Hero highly commended, but upon asking to hear some of the beautiful Passages, the Admirer of it has repeated to me a Speech of Apollo, or a Description of Polypheme. At other times when I have searched for the Actions of a Great Man, who gave a Subject to the Writer, I have been entertained with the Exploits of a River God, or have been forced to attend a Fury in her mischievous Progress, from one end of the Poem to the other. When we are at School it is necessary for us to be acquainted with the System of Pagan Theology, and may be allowed to enliven a Theme, or point an Epigram with an Heathen God; but when we would write a manly Panegyrick, that should carry in it all the Colours of Truth, nothing can be more ridiculous than to have Recourse to our Jupiters and Junos. No Thought is beautiful which is not just, and no Thought can be just which is not founded in Truth, or at least in that which passes for such In Mock-Heroick Poems, the Use of the Heathen Mythology is not only excusable but graceful, because it is the Design of such Compositions to divert, by adapting the fabulous Machines of the Antients to low Subjects, and at the same time by ridiculing such kinds of Machinery in Modern Writers. If any are of Opinion, that there is a Necessity of admitting these Classical Legends into our No. 523. Serious Compositions, in order to give them a more Thursday. Poetical Turn; I would recommend to their Consideration October 30, 1712. the Pastorals of Mr. Philips. One would have thought it impossible for this kind of Poetry to have subsisted without Fawns and Satyrs, Wood-Nymphs and Water Nymphs, with all the Tribe of Rural Deities. But we see he has given a new Life, and a more natural Beauty to this way of Writing, by substituting in the Place of these antiquated Fables, the superstitious Mythology which prevails among the Shepherds of our own Country, Virgil and Homer might compliment their Heroes, by interweaving the Actions of Deities with their Atchieve ments; but for a Christian Author to write in the Pagan Creed, to make Prince Eugene a Favourite of Mars, or to carry on a Correspondence between Bellona and the Marshal De Villars, would be downright Puerility, and unpardonable in a Poet that is past Sixteen. It is Want of sufficient Elevation in a Genius to describe Realities, and place them in a shining Light, that makes him have Recourse to such trifling antiquated Fables; as a Man may write a fine Description of Bacchus or Apollo, that does not know how to draw the Character of any of his Contemporaries. In order therefore to put a stop to this absurd Practice, I shall publish the following Edict, by Vertue of that Spectatorial Authority with which I stand invested. 'Whereas the Time of a General Peace is, in all Appear ance, drawing near; being informed that there are several ingenious Persons who intend to shew their Talents on so happy an Occasion, and being willing, as much as in me lies, to prevent that Effusion of Nonsense, which we have good Cause to apprehend; I do hereby strictly require every Person, who shall write on this Subject, to remember that he is a Christian, and not to sacrifice his Catechism to his Poetry. In order to it, I do expect of him in the first Place, to make his own Poem, without depending upon Phoebus for any part of it, or calling out for Aid upon any one of the Muses by Name, I do like ways positively forbid the sending of Mercury with any particular October 30, 1712. No. 523. particular Message or Dispatch relating to the Peace, and Thursday, shall by no means suffer Minerva to take upon her the Shape of any Plenipotentiary concerned in this Great Work. I do further declare, that I shall not allow the Destinies to have had an Hand in the Deaths of the several Thousands who have been slain in the late War, being of Opinion that all such Deaths may be very well accounted for by the Christian System of Powder and Ball. I do therefore strictly forbid the Fates to cut the Thread of Man's Life upon any Pretence whatsoever, unless it be for the sake of the Rhime, And whereas I have good Reason to fear, that Neptune will have a great deal of Business on his Hands, in several Poems which we may now suppose are upon the Anvil, I do also pro hibit his Appearance, unless it be done in Metaphor, Simile, or any very short Allusion, and that even here he be not permitted to enter, but with great Caution and Circumspection. I desire that the same Rule may be extended to his whole Fraternity of Heathen Gods, it being my Design to condemn every Poem to the Flames in which Jupiter thunders, or exercises any other Act of Authority which does not belong to him; In short, I expect that no Pagan Agent shall be introduced, or any Fact related which a Man cannot give Credit to with a good Conscience. Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall_extend, or be construed to extend, to several of the Female Poets in this Nation, who shall be still left in full Possession of their Gods and Goddesses, in the same manner as if this Paper had never been written,' No. 524. Nos populo damus Friday, October 31. --Sen. WHEN I first of all took it in my Head to write Dreams and Visions, I determined to Print nothing of that nature, which was not of my own Invention. But several laborious Dreamers have of late communicated to me Works of this nature, which, for their Reputations and my own, I have hitherto suppressed. Had I printed |