Parents take a liking to a particular Profession, and No. 21. therefore desire their Sons may be of it. Whereas, in Saturday, so great an Affair of Life, they should consider the Genius March 24, and Abilities of their Children, more than their own Inclinations. It is the great Advantage of a trading Nation, that there are very few in it so dull and heavy, who may not be placed in Stations of Life which may give them an Opportunity of making their Fortunes. A wellregulated Commerce is not, like Law, Physick, or Divinity, to be over-stocked with Hands; but,_on_the contrary, flourishes by Multitudes, and gives Employ ment to all its Professors, Fleets of Merchantmen are so many Squadrons of floating Shops, that vend our Wares and Manufactures in all the Markets of the World, and find out Chapmen under both the Tropicks. No. 22. THE Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odí.-Hor. C HE Word SPECTATOR being most usually understood as one of the Audience at publick Representations in our Theatres, I seldom fail of many Letters relating to Plays and Operas. But indeed there are such monstrous_things done in both, that if one had not been an Eye-witness of them, one could not believe that such Matters had really been exhibited. There is very little which concerns Human Life, or is a Picture of Nature that is regarded by the greater Part of the Company. The Understanding is dismissed from our Entertainments. Our Mirth is the Laughter of Fools, and our Admiration the Wonder of Idiots; else such improbable, monstrous, and incoherent Dreams could not go off as they do, not only without the utmost Scorn and Contempt, but even with the loudest Applause and Approbation. But the Letters of my Correspondents will represent this Affair in a more lively manner than any Discourse of my own; I shall therefore give them to my Reader with only this Preparation, that they all come 1711. No. 22, come from Players, and that the Business of Playings Monday, is now so managed, that you are not to be surprised March 26, when I say one or two of them are rational, other 1711. sensitive and vegetative Actors, and others wholly inanimate. I shall not place these as I have named them, but as they have Precedence in the Opinion o their Audiences. 'Mr. SPECTATOR, Your having been so humble as to take notice of the Epistles of other Animals, emboldens me, who am the wild Boar that was killed by Mrs. Tofts, to re present to you, That I think I was hardly used in not having the Part of the Lion in Hydaspes given to me It would have been but a natural Step for me to have personated that noble Creature, after having behaved my self to Satisfaction in the Part above-mentioned But that of a Lion is too great a Character for one that never trod the Stage before but upon two Legs As for the little Resistance which I made, I hope it may be excused, when it is considered that the Dart. was thrown at me by so fair an Hand, I must con fess I had but just put on my Brutality; and Camilla's Charms were such, that beholding her erect Mien, hearing her charming Voice, and astonished with her graceful Motion, I could not keep up to my assumed Fierceness, but died like a Man. I am, Sir, 'Mr. SPECTATOR, Your most humble Servant, Thomas Prone. This is to let you understand, that the Play-house is a Representation of the World in nothing so much as in this Particular, that no one rises in it according to his Merit. I have acted several Parts of Houshold stuff with great Applause for many Years: I am on of the Men in the Hangings in the Emperor o the Moon; I have twice performed the third Chair in an English Opera; and have rehearsed the Pump in the Fortune Hunters. I am now grown old, and hop you will recommend me so effectually, as that I ma S say say something before I go off the Stage: In which No. 22. you will do a great Act of Charity to Your most humble Servant, 'Mr. SPECTATOR, William Screne,' Understanding that Mr. Screne has writ to you, and desired to be raised from dumb and still Parts; I desire, f you give him Motion or Speech, that you would advance me in my Way, and let me keep on in what I humbly presume I am a Master, to wit, in re presenting human and still Life together, I have several times acted one of the finest Flower-pots in the same Opera wherein Mr. Screne is a Chair; there fore upon his Promotion, request that I may succeed him in the Hangings, with my Hand in the Orange-Trees. Your humble Servant, 'Sir, Ralph Simple.' Drury Lane, March 24, 1710 I saw your Friend the Templer this Evening in the Pit, and thought he looked very little pleased with the Representation of the mad Scene of the Pilgrim. I wish, Sir, you would do us the Favour to animadvert frequently upon the false Taste the Town is in, with Relation to Plays as well as Operas. It certainly requires a Degree of Understanding to play justly; but such is our Condition, that we are to suspend our Reason to perform our Parts. As to Scenes of Mad ness, you know, Sir, there are noble Instances of this Kind in Shakespear; but then it is the Disturbance of a noble Mind, from generous and human Resentments: It is like that Grief which we have for the Decease of our Friends: It is no Diminution, but a Recom mendation of human Nature, that in such Incidents Passion gets the better of Reason; and all we can think to comfort our selves, is impotent against half what we feel. I will not mention that we had an Idiot in the Scene, and all the Sense it is represented to have, is that of Lust. As for my self, who have long taken Pains in personating the Passions, I have to Night acted only an Appetite: The Part I play'd is Monday, 1711. No, 22, Thirst, but it is represented as written rather by a Monday, Dray-man than a Poet I come in with a Tub about March 26, me, that Tub hung with Quart-pots, with a full Gallon 1711. at my Mouth. I am ashamed to tell you that I pleased Your most obedient 'Mr. SPECTATOR, and humble Servant! From the Savoy in the Strand, If you can read it with dry Eyes, I give you this Trouble to acquaint you, that I am the unfortunate King Latínus, and believe I am the first Prince that dated from this Palace since John of Gaunt. Such is the Uncertainty of all human Greatness, that I who lately never moved without a Guard, am now pressed as a common Soldier, and am to sail with the first fair Wind against my Brother Lewis of France. It is a very hard thing to put off a Character which one has appeared in with Applause: This I experienced since the loss of my Diadem; for upon quarrelling with another Recruit, I spoke my Indignation out of my Part in recitativo; Most audacious Slave, Dar'st thou an angry Monarch's Fury brave? The Words were no sooner out of my Mouth, when a Serjeant knock'd me down, and asked me if I had a Mind to mutiny, in talking things no body understood. You see, Sir, my unhappy Circumstances; and if by your Mediation you can procure a Subsidy for a Prince (who never failed to make all that beheld him merry at his Appearance) you will merit the Thanks of Your Friend, The King of Latium. ADVERTISEMENT. For the Good of the Publick. Within two Doors of the Masquerade, lives an eminent Italian Chirurgeon, arrived from the Carnaval at Ace No. 22, at Venice, of great Experience in private Cures. commodations are provided, and Persons admitted in Monday, their Masquing Habits. He has cured since his coming thither, in less than a Fortnight, Four Scaramouches, a Mountebank Doctor, Two Turkish Bassas, three Nuns, and a Morris Dancer. Venienti occurrite Morbo. N.B. Any Person may agree by the Great, and be kept in Repair by the Year. The Doctor draws Teeth without pulling off your Mask. TH Tuesday, March 27, Saevit atrox Volscens, nec teli conspicit usquam R HERE is nothing that more betrays a base ungenerous Spirit, than the giving of secret Stabs to a Man's Reputation. Lampoons and Satyrs, that are written with Wit and Spirit, are like poisoned Darts, which not only inflict a Wound, but make it incurable. For this Reason I am very much troubled when I see the Talents of Humour and Ridicule in the Possession of an ill-natured Man. There cannot be a greater Gratification to a barbarous and inhuman Wit, than to stir up Sorrow in the Heart of a private Person, to raise Uneasiness among near Relations, and to expose whole Families to Derision, at the same time that he remains unseen and undiscovered. If, besides the Accomplishments of being witty and ill-natured, a Man is vicious into the bargain, he is one of the most mischievous Creatures that can enter into a Civil Society. His Satyr will then chiefly fall upon those who ought to be the most exempt from it Virtue, Merit, and every thing that is Praise-worthy, will be made the Subject of Ridicule and Buffoonry, impossible to enumerate the Evils which arise from these Arrows that fly in the dark, and I know no other Excuse that is or can be made for them, than that the Wounds they give are only imaginary, and D 164 It is produce March 26, 1711, |