the Duty of a SPECTATOR, to tax the Writings of fuch as have long had the general Applause of a Nation :: But I fhall always make Reafon, Truth, and Nature the Measures of Praise and Difpraife; if thofe are for me, the Generality of Opinion is of no Confequence against me; if they are against me, the general Opinion cannot long fupport me. WITHOUT further Preface, I am going to look into fome of our most applauded Plays, and fee whether they deserve the Figure they at prefent bear in the Imaginations of Men, or not. IN reflecting upon thefe Works, I fhall chiefly dwell upon that for which each refpective Play is moft celebrated. The prefent Paper fhall be employed upon Sir Fopling Flutter. The received Character of this Play is, That it is the Pattern of Genteel Comedy. Dorimant. and Harriot are the Characters of greatest Confequence,, and if these are Low and Mean, the Reputation of the Play is very Unjust. I will take for granted, that a fine Gentleman should be honest in his Actions, and refined in his Language. Inftead of this, our Hero in this Piece, is a direct Knave. in his Defigns, and a Clown in his Language. Bellair is his Admirer and Friend; in return for which, because he is forfooth a greater Wit than his faid Friend, he thinks. it reafonable to perfwade him to Marry a young Lady, whofe Virtue, he thinks, will laft no longer than till fhe is a Wife, and then she cannot but fall to his Share, as he is an irrefiftable fine Gentleman. The Falfhood to Mrs. Loveit, and the Barbarity of Triumphing over her Anguish for lofing him, is another Inftance of his Honefty, as well as his good Nature. As to his fine Language; he calls the Orange-Woman, who,it feems,is inclined to grow Fat, An Over-grown Jade, with a Flasket of Guts before her; and falutes her with a pretty Phrafe of, How now, Double Tripe? Upon the mention of a Country Gentlewoman, whom he knows nothing of, (no one can imagine why), he will lay his Life fhe is fome aukward ill-fashioned Country Toad, who not having above four Dozen of Hairs on her Head, bas adorned her Baldness with a large white Fruz, that she may look Sparkifhly in the Fore-front of the King's Box at an eld Play. Unnatural Mixture of fenfelefs Common-Place! AS AS to the Generofity of his Temper, he tells his poor Footman, If he did not wait better he would turn him away, in the infolent Phrafe of, I'll Uncase you. NOW for Mrs. Harriot: She laughs at Obedience to an absent Mother, whofe Tenderness Bufie describes to be very exquifite, for that fhe is fo pleafed with finding Harriot again,that she cannot chide her for being out of the Way. This Witty Daughter, and fine Lady, has fo little Refpect for this good Woman, that the Ridicules her Air in taking. Leave, and cries, In what Struggle is my poor Mother yonder 3 See, fee, her Head tottering, her Eyes flaring, and her under Lip trembling. But all this is attoned for, because she has more Wit than is ufual in her Sex, and as much Malice, tho' fhe is as wild as you would wish her, and has a Demureness in her Looks that makes it fo furprizing! Then to recommend her as a fit Spoufe for his Hero, the Poet makes her fpeak her Senfe of Marriage very ingenioufly, I think, fays he, I might be brought to endure him, and that is all a reasonable Woman should expect in an Husband. It is, me thinks, unnatural that we are not made to understand how fhe that was bred under a filly pious old Mother, that would never truft her out of her Sight, came to be fo Pos/ lite. IT cannot be denied, but that the Negligence of eve ry thing, which engages the Attention of the fober and valuable Part of Mankind, appears very well drawn in this Piece: But it is denied, that it is neceffary to the Character of a Fine Gentleman, that he should in that manner Trample upon all Order and Decency. As for the Character of Dorimant, it is more of a Coxcomb than that of Foplin.. He fays of one of his Companions, that a good Correfpon dence between them is their mutual Intereft. Speaking of that Friend, he declares, their being much together makes the Women think the better of his Understanding, and judge more favourably of my Reputation. It makes him pafs upon fome for a Man of very good Senfe, and me upon others for a very civil Perfon. THIS whole celebrated Piece is a perfect Contradicti on to good Manners, good Senfe, and common Honefty; and as there is nothing in it but what is built upon the Ruin of Virtue and innocence, according to the Notion of Merit in this Comedy, I take the Shoemaker to bey : be, in reality, the Fine Gentleman of the Play: For it feems he is an Atheist, if we may depend upon his Character as given by the Orange-Woman, who is her felf far from being the loweft in the Play. She fays of a Fine Man who is Derimant's Companion, There is not such another Heathen in the Town, except the Shooemaker. His Pretention to be the Hero of the Drama appears ftill more in his own Defcription of his way of Living with his Lady. There is, fays he, never a Man in Town lives more like a Gentleman with his Wife than I do, I never mind her Motions'; fhe never enquires into mine. We speak to one another civily, hate one another heartily; and because it is Vulgar to Lye and Soak together, we have each of us our feveral SettleBed. That of Soaking together is as good as if Dorimant had spoken it himself; and, I think, fince he puts human Nature in as ugly a Form as the Circunftance will bear, and is a staunch Unbeliever, he is very much Wronged in having no part of the good Fortune bestowed in the laft A&. TO fpeak plainly of this whole Work, I think nothing but being loft to a Senfe of Innocence and Virtue can make any one fee this Comedy, without obferving more frequent Occafion to move Sorrow and Indignation, than Mirth and Laughter. At the fame time I allow it to be Nature, but it is Nature in its most Corruption and Degeneracy. R N 66. Wednesday, May 16. T Motus doceri gaudet Ionicos Matura Virgo, & fingitur artubus Jam nunc, & inceftos amores Hor. HE two following Letters are upon a Subject of very great Importance, tho' expreffed without any Air of Gravity. 6 SIR, I To the SPECTATOR. Take the Freedom of asking your Advice in Behalf of a young Country Kinfwoman of mine who is lately come to Town, and under my Care for her Education. She is very pretty, but you can't imagine how "unformed a Creature it is. She comes to my Hands juft as Nature left her, half finished, and without any ac quired Improvements. When I look on her I often think of the Belle Sauvage mentioned in one of your < Papers. Dear Mr. SPECTATOR, help me to make her comprehend the vifible Graces of Speech, and the dumb. Eloquence of Motion; for she is at present a perfect Stranger to both. She knows no Way to exprefs her ⚫ felf but by her Tongue, and that always to fignifie her Meaning. Her Eyes ferve her yet only to fee with, and fhe is utterly a Foreigner to the Language of Looks and Glances. In this I fancy you could help her better than any Body. I have bestowed two Months in teaching her to Sigh when she is not concerned, and to Smile when she is not pleased; and am afhamed to own fhe ⚫ makes little or no Improvement. Then fhe is no more ⚫able now to walk, than fhe was to go at a Year old. By Walking you will eafily know I mean that regular but eafie Motion, which gives our Perfons fo irrefiftible a Grace as if we moved to Musick, and is a kind of difengaged Figure, or, if I may fo fpeak, recitative Dancing. But the want of this I cannot blame in her, for I find fhe has no Ear, and means nothing by Walking but to change her Place. I could pardon too her Blufhing, if the knew how to carry her felf in it, and if it did not manifeftly injure her Complexion. THEY tell me you are a Perfon who have feen the "World, and are a Judge of fine Breeding; which makes me ambitious of fome Inftructions from you for her Improvement: Which when you have favoured me with, I fhall further advife with you about the Disposal of this fair Forrefter in Marriage; for I will make it no Secret to you, that her Person and Education are to be her Fortune. Iam, SIR, Your very humble Servant, SIR, BEING employed by Celimene to make up and you Letter, I make bold to recom mend the Cafe therein mentioned to your Confideration, because she and I happen to differ a little in our Notions. I, who am a rough a Man, am afraid the young Girl is in a fair Way to be fpoiled: Therefore pray, Mr. SPECTATOR, let us have your Opinion of this fine thing called Fine Breeding; for I am afraid it differs too much from that plain thing called Good Breeding. Your most humble Servant. you THE general Mistake among us in the Educating our Children, is, That in our Daughters we take care of their Perfons and neglect their Minds; in our Sons, we are fo intent upon adorning their Minds, that we wholly neglec their Bodies. It is from this that fhall fee a young Lady celebrated and admired in all the Affemblies about Town, when her elder Brother is afraid to come into a Room. From this ill Management it arifes, That we frequently obferve a Man's Life is half spent before he is taken Notice of; and a Woman in the Prime of her Years is out of Fashion and neglected. The Boy I fhall confider upon fome other Occafion, and at prefent ftick to theGirl: And I am the more inclined to this, because I have several. Letters which complain to me that my Female Readers have not understood me for fome Days laft paft, and take themselves to be unconcerned in the prefent Turn of my Writings. When a Girl is fafely brought from her Nurse, before the is capable of forming one fingle Notion of any thing in Life, fhe is delivered to the Hands of her DancingMafter; and with a Collar round her Neck, the pretty wild Thing is taught a fantastical Gravity of Behaviour, and forced to a particular Way of holding her Head, heaving her Breaft, and moving with her whole Body; and all this under Pain of never having an Husband, if fhe fteps, looks, or moves awry. This gives the young Lady wonderful workings of Imagination, what is to pafs between her and this Husband, that she is every Moment told of, and for whom fhe feems to be educated. Thus her Fancy is engaged to turn all her Endeavours to the Ornament of her Perfon, as what must determine her Good |