approach of Florio, and a little disdain at Strephon's affurance in his address, you cry out, "What an unexcep«tionable husband could I make out of both' It would therefore, methinks, be a good way to determine yourself: take him in whom what you like is not transferable to another; for, if you chuse otherwise, there is no hopes your husband will ever have what you liked in his rival; but intrinfic qualities in one man may very probably purchase every thing that is adventitious in another. In plainer terms; he whom you take for his personal perfections will sooner arrive at the gifts of fortune, than he whom you take for the sake of his fortune attain to personal perfections. If Strephon is not as accomplished and agreeable as Florio, marriage to you will never make him so; but marriage to you may make Florio as rich as Strephon: therefore to make a sure purchase, employ fortune upon certain. ties, but do not sạcrifice certainties to fortune. I am, T Your most obedient, humble servant. a N° 150. ...... WEDNESDAY, August 22. ...4.4.4..«*».............. Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, Quàm quòd ridiculos homines facit Juv. Sat. 3. v. 152. Want is the scorn of ev'ry wealthy fool, And wit in rags is turn'd to ridicule. DRYDEN. A S I was walking in my chamber the morning before I went laft into the country, I heard the hawkers, with great vehemence, crying about a paper, entitled, The ninety-nine plagues of an empty purse. I had indeed some time before observed, that the orators of Grub-street had dealt very much in plagues. They had already published in the same month, The plagues of matrimony, The plagues of a single life, The nineteen plagues of a chambermaid, The plagues of a coachman, The plagues of a footman, and The plague of plagues. The success a these several plagues met with, probably gave occafion to the above-mentioned poem on an empty purse. However that be, the fame noise so frequently repeated under my window, drew me insensibly to think on some of those inconveniencies and mortifications which usually attend on poverty, and in short gave birth to the present fpeculation; for, after my fancy had run over the most obvious and common calamities which men of mean fortunes are liable to, it descended to those little insults and contempts, which, though they may seem to dwindle into nothing, when a man offers to describe them, are perhaps in themselves more cutting and unsupportable than the former. Juvenal, with a great deal of humour and reason, tells us, that nothing bore harder upon a poor man in his time, than the continual ridicule which his habit and dress afforded to the beaux of Rome. Quid, quòd materiam prebet caufasque jocorum Juv. Sat. 3.8. 147- It is on this occafion that he afterwards adds the reflection which I have chosen for my motto. • Want is the scorn of ev'ry wealthy fool, * And wit in rags is turn’d to ridicule.' DRYDEN. It must be confessed, that few things make a man appear more despicable, or more prejudice his hearers against what he is going to offer, than an awkward or pitiful dress; insomuch that I fancy, had Tully himself pronounced one of his orations with a blanket about his. shoulders, more people would have laughed at his dress, than have admired his eloquence. This last reflection made me wonder at a set of men, who, without being subjected to it by the unkindness of their fortunes, are contented to draw upon themselves the ridicule of the world in this particular: I mean, such as take it into their heads, that the first regular step to be a wit, is to commence a Noven. It is certain nothing has so much debased that, which must have been otherwise so great a character; and I know not how to account for it, unless it may possibly be in complaisance to those narrow minds who can have no notion of the same person's possessing different accomplishments; or that it is a sort of sacrifice which fome men are contented to make to calumny, by allowing it to faften on one part of their character, while they are endeavouring to establish another. Yet however unaccountable this foolish custom is, I am afraid it could plead a long prescription; and probably gave too much occasion for the vulgar definition till remaining among us of an heathen philosopher. I have seen the speech of a Terræ filius, spoken in King Charles II's reign: in which he describes two very eminent men, who were perhaps the greatest scholars of their age; and after having mentioned the entire friendship between them, concludes, that they had but one mind, one purse, one chamber, and one hat,' The men of business were also infected with a sort of singularity little better than this. I have heard my father say, that a broad-brimmed hat, short hair, and an unfolded handkerchief, were, in his time, absolutely necessary to denote a notable man; and that he had known two or three, who aspired to the characters of very notable, wear shoe-strings with great success. To the honour of our present age it must be allowed, that some of our greatest geniuses for wit and business have almost entirely broke the neck of these absurdities. Victor, after having dispatched the most important affairs of the commonwealth, has appeared at an affembly, where all the ladies have declared him the genteelest man in the company; and in Atticus, though every way one of the greatest geniuses the age has produced, one fees nothing particular in his dress or carriage to denote his pretensions to wit and learning: so that at present a man may 6 a а venture to cock up his hat, and wear a fashionable wig, without being taken for a rake or a fool. The medium between a fop and a sloven is what a man of sense would endeavour to keep; yet I remember Mr. Olburn advises his son to appear in his habit rather above than below his fortune; and tells him, that he will find an handsomne suit of cloaths always procure fome additional respect. I have indeed myself observed that my banker ever bows lowest to me when I wear my full-bottomed wig; and writes me Mr. or Esq; accordingly as he sees me dressed. I shall conclude this paper with an adventure which I was myfelf an eye-witness of very lately. I happened the other day to call in at a celebrated coffee-house near the Temple. I had not been there long when there came in an elderly man very meanly dressed, and sat down by me; he had a thread-bare loose coat on, which it was plain he wore to keep himself warm, and not to favour his under fuit, which seemed to have been at least its contemporary: his short wig and hat were both answerable to the rest of his apparel. He was no sooner feated than he called for a dish of tea; but as several gentlemen in the room wanted other things, the boys of the house did not think themselves at leisure to mind him. I could observe the old fellow was very uneasy at the affront, and at his being obliged to repeat his commands several times to no purpose; till at last one of the lads presented him with some Itale tea in a broken dish, accompanied, with a plate of brown sugar; which so raised his indignation, that after several obliging appellations of dog and rascal, he asked him aloud before the whole company, 'Why he must be used with less respect than that fop there?' pointing to a well-dressed young gentleman who was drinking tea at the oppofite table. The boy of the house replied, with a good deal of pertness, that his master had two sorts of customers, and that the gentleman at the other table had given him many a fixpence for wiping his shoes. By this time the young Templar, who found his honour concerned in the dispute, and that the eyes of the whole coffee-house were upon him, had thrown afide a paper he had in his hand, and was coming towards us, while we at the table made what haste we could to get away from the impending quarrel, but were all of us surprised to see him as he approached nearer put on an air of deference and respect. To whom the old man said, • Hark you, firrah, I'll pay off your extravagant bills once more; but will take effectual care for the future, that your prodigality shall not fpirit up a parcel of rafcals to insult your father.' Though I by no means approve either the impudence of the servants or the extravagance of the son, I cannot but think the old gentleman was in some measure justly served for walking in masquerade, I mean appearing in a dress so much beneath his quality and estate. X N° 151. THURSDAY, August 23. ..2.4.6.4**-->-->-->-...DO Maximas virtutes jacere omnes neceffe eft, voluptate dominante. Tull. de Fin. In the pursuit of pleasure, the greatest virtues lie neglected. I KNOW no one character that gives reason a greater shock, at the fame time that it presents a good ridiculous image to the imagination, than that of a man of wit and pleasure about the town. This description of a man of fashion spoken by some with a mixture of scorn and ridicule, by others with great gravity as a laudable distinction, is in every body's mouth that spends any time in conversation. My friend Will Honeycomb has this expression very frequently; and I never could understand by the story which follows, upon his mention of such a one, but that his man of wit and pleasure was either a drunkard too old for wenching, or a young lewd fellow with some liveliness, who would converse with you, receive kind offices of you, and at the same time debauch your fifter, or lie with your wife. According to his description, a man of wit when he could have wenches for crowns a-piece which he liked quite as well, would be so extravagant as to bribe fervants, make false friendships, fight relations: Vol. II. Y t a |
