The transition which the poet makes from the vision of the deluge, to the concern it occasioned in Adam, is exquisitely grace.'ul, and copied after Virgil, though the first thought it introduces it rather in the spirit of Ovid.— " How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold I have been the more particular in my quotations out of the eleventh book of Paradise Lost, because it is not generally reckoned among the most shining books of this poem; for which reason the reader might be apt to overlook those many passages in it which deserve our admiration. The eleventh and twelfth are indeed built upon that single circumstance of the removal of our first parents from Paradise; but though this is not in itself so great a subject as that in most of the foregoing books, it is extended and diversified with so many surprising incidents and pleasing episodes, that these two last books can by no means be ooked upon as unequal parts of this divine poem. I must further add, that, had not Milton represented our first parents as driven out of Paradise, his lall of man would not have been complete, and consequently his action would have been imperfect ADLISON. I/. No. 864. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1712. —— rTavitms atque Quadrigis petimu* bene vivere. noa. 1, BP. XI. 29. We ride and sail in quest of happiness. Cbkxch. " Mb. Spectator, " A Lady of my acquaintance, for whom I have too much respect to he easy while she is doing an indiscreet action, has given occasion to this trouble. She is a widow, to whom the indulgence of a tender husband has entrusted the management of a very great fortune, and a son about sixteen, both which she is extremely fond of. The boy has parts of the middle size, neither shining nor despicable, and has passed the common exercises of his years with tolerable advantage, but is withal what you would call a forward youth: by the help of this last qualification, which serves as a varnish to all the rest, he is enabled to make the best use of his learning, and display it at full length upon all occasions. Last summer he distinguished himself two or three times very remarkably, by puzzling the vicar before an assembly of most of the ladies in the neighbourhood; and from such weighty considerations as these, as it too often unfortunately falls out, the mother is become invincibly persuaded that her sou is a great scholar: and that to chain him down to the ordinary methods of education, with others of his age, would be to cramp his faculties, and do an irreparable injury to his wonderful capacity. " I happened to visit at the house last week, and missing the young gentleman at the tea-table, where he seldom fails to officiate, Could not upon so extraordinary a circumstance avoid inquiring after him. My lady told me he was gone out with her woman, in order to make some preparations for their equipnge; for that she intended very speedily to carry him to ' travel' The oddness of the expression shocked me a little; however, I soon recovered myself enough to let her know, that all I was willing to understand by it was, that she designed this summer to shew her son his estate in a distant county, in which he had never yet been. But she soon took care to rob me of that agreeable mistake, and let me into the whole affair. She enlarged upon young master's prodigious improvements, and his comprehensive knowledge of all book-learning; concluding, that it was now high time he should be made acquainted with men and things; that she had resolved he should make the tour of France and Italy, but could not bear to have him out of her sight, and therefore intended to go along with him. " I was going to rally her for so extravagant a resolution, hut found myself not in a fit humour to meddle with a subject that demanded the most soft and delicate touch imaginable. I was afraid of dropping something that might seem to bear hard either upon the son s abilities, or the mother s discretion; being sensible that in both these cases, though supported with all the powers of reason, I should, instead of gaiuing her ladyship over to my opinion, only expose myself to her disesteem; I therefore immediately determined to refer the whole matter to the Spectator. " When I came to reflect at night, as my custom is, upon the occurrences of the day, I could not but believe that this humour of carrying a boy to travel in his mother's lap, and that upon pretence of learning men and things, is a case of an extraordinary nature, and carries on it a particular stamp of folly. I did not remember to have met with its parallel within the compass of my observation, though I could call to mind some not extremely unlike it. From hence my thoughts took occasion to ramble iuto the general notion of travelling, as it is now made a part of education. Nothing is more frequent than to take a lad from grammar and taw and, tinder the tuition of some poor scholar, who is willing to be banished for thirty pounds a-year and a little victuals, lend him crying and snivelling into foreign countries. Thus he spends his time as children do at puppetrshows, and with much toe same advantage, in staring and gaping at an amazing variety of strange things; strange indeed to one who is not prepared to comprehend the reasons and meaning of them, whilst he should be lading the solid foundations of knowledge in his mind, and furnishing it with just rules to direct his future progress in life under some skilful master of the art of instruction. " " Can there be a more astonishing thought in nature, than to consider how men should fall into so palpable a mistake ? It is a large held, and may very well exercise a sprightly genius; but I no not remember you have yet taken a turn in it. I wish, Sir, you would make people understand, that' travel' is really the last step o be taken in the institution of youth; and to set out with it, is to begin where they should end. "Certainly the true end of visiting foreign parts, is to look into taeir customs and policies, and observe in what particulars they excel or come short of our own; to unlearn some odd peculiarities in our manners, and wear off such awkward stiffnesses and atfecwtions ln 0Ur behaviour, as possibly may have been contracted m>m constantly associating with one nation of men, by a more nje, general and mixed conversation. But how can any of these advantages be attained by one who is a mere stranger to the customs and policies of his native country, and has not yet fixed in ws mind the first principles of manners and behaviour' To endeavour ,t, ,s to build a gaudy structure without any foundation ; upon a cobweb expression, to work a rich embroidery "Another end of travelling, which deserves to be considered, is he improving our taste of the best authors of antiquity, by seeing t tulTrTM ^l1^' Md of .*"*<* they wrote; to compare Xen^L^ v6 coun,t1ry.wlth *» descriptions they have given us, and observe how well the picture agrees with the original is^aln "f cert,a,(.nly.be a m°s* banning exercise to the mind be iLy Ly "ed f°r ll' Yesldea that il may » a R°od measure te made subservient to morality, if the person is capable of draw E» • Uu con.cen"nS the uncertainty of human things, » manvnT0119 a'teratlon/ ^T and barbarity have brought upon iTrin P 1 6S' C'tleu'- aDd Wh0le count««, which make the most fchfr TM ■h,St0ry' And thi8 hint ma? be »ot a li»le SM b,7 esMnimn5 every snot of ground that we find celeC.«n t hV?enrv°f someJam°^ action, or retaining any footsteps of a Cato, Cicero, or Brutus, or some such great virtuous ZLfWearer ?eZ My 8uch P^ticular, though really little «'U infi.ng in uself, may serve the more powerfully to warm a generous mind to an emulation of their virtues, and a greater ardency of ambition to imitate their bright examples, if it comes duly tempered aud prepared for the impression. But this I believe yon will hardly think those to be, who are so far from entering into the sense and spirit of the ancients, that they do not yet understand their language with any exactness.* " But I have wandered from my purpose, which was only to desire you to save, if possible, a fond English mother, and mother's own son, from being shewn a ridiculous spectacle through the most polite parts of Europe: Pray tell them, thafthough to be sea sick or jumbled iu an outlandish stage coach, may perhaps be healthful for the constitution of the body, yet it is apt to cause saeh a dirziness in young empty heads, as too often lasts their lifetime. " 1 am, Sir, your most humble servant, " Philip Homebred." [mr. Philip Yobks, afterwards Karl of Hardwicke.] " Birchin-lane. •' Sir, " I Was married on Sunday last, and went peaceably to bed; bnt, to my surprise, was awakened the next morning by the thundor of a set of drums. These waTlike sounds (methinks) are very improper in a marriage-concert, and give great offence ; they seem to insinuate that the joys of this state are short, and that jars and discord soon ensne. 1 fear they have been ominous to many matches, and sometimes proved a prelude to a battle in the honeymoon. A nod from yon may hush them; therefore, pray, Sir, let them be silenced, that for the future none but soft airs may usher in the morning of a bridal night; which will be a favour not only to those who come after, but to me, who can still subscribe myself, " Your most humble and most obedient servant, " Robin Bridegroom." * The following paragraph is here reprinted from the first edition of this paper in folio. Whether written originally by Mr. Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, or inserted afterwards by Sir Richard Steele, it was probably suppressed on the first republication, at the request of Addison, to whom it is so very flattering a compliment.—" I cannot quit this head without paying my acknowledgments to one of the most entertaining pieces this age has produced, for the pleasure it gave me. You will easily guess that the book I hare in my head is Mr. Addison's Remarks upon Italy. That ingenious gentleman has with so much art and judgment applied his exact knowledge of all the parts of classical learning, to illustrate the several occurrences of his travels, that his work alone is a pregnant proof of what I have said. Noikmtv that has a taste this war can read him going from Rome to Naples, and making Horace and Silius Italicus his chart, hut he must feel some uneasiness in himself to reflect that he was not in his retinue. I am sure I wished it ten times in every page, and that not without a secret vanity to think in what state I shouM have travelled the Appian road, with Horace for a guide, and in company with a countryman of my own, who, of all men living, knows best how to follow his steps." " Mr. Spectator, "I Ax one of that sort of women whom the gayer part of our sex are apt to call a prude. But to show them that I have very little regard to their raillery, 1 shall he glad to see them all at " The Amorous Widow, or. The Wanton Wife," which is to be acted for the benefit of Mrs. Porter, on Monday the 28th instant. I assure you, 1 can laugh at an amorous widbw, or wanton wife, with as little temptation to imitate them, as I could at any other vicious character. Mrs. Porter obliged me so very much in the exquisite sense she seemed to have of the honourable sentiments and noble* fissions in the character of Hennione, that I shall appear in her behalf at a comedy, though I have no great relish for any entertainments where the mirth is not seasoned with a certain severity, srhieh ought to recommend it to people who pretend to keep reason and authority over all their actions. • " I am, Sir, your frequent reader, " Altamira." STEELE. T, No. 365. TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1712. Vere magis, quia vere calor redit ossibus Virq. Oeobq. m. 272. But most in spring; the kindy spring inspires The author of the Menagiana acquaints us, that discoursing one day with several ladies of quality about the effects of the month of May, which infuses a kindly warmth into the earth, and all its inhabitants, the Marchioness of S , who was one of the company, told him, that though she would promise to be chaste in «ery month besides, she could not engage for herself in May.' As the beginning therefore of this month is now very near, I design this paper for a caveat to the fair sex, and publish it before April is quite out, that if any of them should be caught tripping, they may not pretend they had not timely notice. 1 am induced to this, being persuaded the above-mentioned observation is as well calculated for our climate as for that of France, «id that some of our British ladies are of the same constitution *ith the French marchioness. I shall leave it among physicians to determine what may be the cause of such an anniversary inclination; whether or no it is that *e spirits, after having been as it were frozen and congealed by winter, are now turned loose, and set a-rambling; or that the gay prospects of fields and meadows, with the courtship of the birds Vol. m. L |