Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

These toys will once to serious mischiefs fall,
When he is laugh'd at, when he's jeer'd by all.
Creech.

From my own Apartment, December 5. THERE is nothing gives a man a greater satisfaction, than the sense of having despatched a great deal of business, especially when it turns to the public emolument. I have much pleasure of this kind upon my spirits at present, occasioned at the fatigue of affairs which I went through last Saturday. It is some tine since I set apart that day for examining the pretensions of several who had applied to me for canes, perspective-glasses, snuff-boxes, orangeflower waters, and the like ornaments of life. In order to adjust this matter, I had before directed Charles Lillie, of Beaufort-buildings, to prepare a great bundle of blank licenses in the following words;

You are hereby required to permit the bearer of this cane to pass and repass through the streets and suburbs of London, or any place within ten miles of it, without let or molestation, provided that he does not walk with it under his arm, brandish it in the air, or hang it on a button; in which case it shall be forfeited; and I hereby declare it forfeited to any one who shall think it safe to take it from him.

[ocr errors][merged small]

deliver out to him a plain joint, headed with walnut; and then, in order to wean him from it by degrees, permitted him to wear it three days in a week, and to abate proportionably until he found himself able to go alone.

The second who appeared came limping into the court: and setting forth in his petition many pretences for the use of a cane, I caused them to be examined one by one; but finding him in different stories, and confronting him with several witnesses who had seen him walk upright, I ordered Mr. Lillie to take in his cane, and rejected his petition as frivolous.

A third made his entry with great difficulty, leaning upon a slight stick, and in danger of falling every step he took. I saw the weakness of his hams; and hearing that he had married a young wife about a fortnight before, I bid him leave his cane, and gave him a new pair of crutches, with which he went off in great vigour and alacrity. This gentleman was succeeded by another, who seemed very much pleased while his petition was reading, in which he represented, That he was extremely afflicted with the gout, and set his foot upon the ground with the caution and dignity which accompany that distemper. I suspected him for an impostor, and having ordered him to be searched, I committed him into the hands of Doctor Thomas Smith in King-street, my own. corn-cutter, who attended in an outward room, and wrought so speedy a cure upon him, that I thought fit to send him also away without his cane.

The same form, differing only in the provisos, will serve for a perspective, snuff-box, or perfumed handkerchief. I had placed myself in my elbow-chair at While I was thus dispensing justice, I heard a the upper-end of my great parlour, having ordered noise in my outward room; and enquiring what was Charles Lillie to take his place upon a joint-stool, the occasion of it, my door-keeper told me, that they with a writing-desk before him. John Morphew also had taken up one in the very fact as he was passing took his station at the door; I having, for his good by my door. They immediately brought in a lively and faithful services, appointed him my chamber-fresh-coloured young man, who made great resistance keeper upon court-days. He let me know, that there was a great number attending without. Upon which I ordered him to give notice, that I did not intend to sit upon snuff-boxes that day; but that those who appeared for canes might enter. The first presented me with the following petition, which I ordered Mr. Lillie to read.

TO ISAAC BICKERSTAFF, ESQUIRE, CENSOR OF
GREAT BRITAIN.

'The humble petition of Simon Trippit, Showeth,-That your petitioner having been bred up to a cane from his youth, it is now becoming as necessary to him as any other of his limbs.

That, a great part of his behaviour depending upon it, he should be reduced to the utmost necessities if he should lose the use of it,

That the knocking of it upon his shoe, leaning one leg upon it, or whistling with it on his mouth, are such great reliefs to him in conversation, that he does not know how to be good company without it,

That he is at present engaged in an amour, and must despair of success if it be taken from him.

Your petitioner, therefore, hopes, that the premises tenderly considered, your worship will not deprive him of so useful and so necessary a support.

'And your petitioner shall ever, &c.'

Upon the hearing of his case, I was touched with some compassion, and the more so, when, upon observing him nearer, I found he was a Prig. I bid him produce his cane in court, which he had left at the door. He did so, and I finding it to be very curiously clouded, with a transparent amber head, and a blue ribband to hang upon his wrist, I immediately ordered my clerk, Lillie, to lay it up, and THE TATLER, No. 22.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

with hand and foot, but did not offer to make use of
his cane, which hung upon his fifth button. Upon
examination, I found him to be an Oxford scholar,
who was just entered at the Temple. He at first
disputed the jurisdiction of the court; but being
driven out of his little law and logic, he told me
very pertly, that he looked upon such perpendicular
creatures as man to make a very imperfect figure
without a cane in his hand. It is well known,'
says he, we ought, according to the natural situa-
tion of our bodies. to walk upon our hands and feet;
and that the wisdom of the ancients had described
man to be an animal of four legs in the morning, two
at noon, and three at night; by which they intimated,
that the cane might very properly become part
of us in some period of life.' Upon which I asked
him, whether he wore it at his breast to have it in
readiness when that period should arrive? My
young lawyer immediately told me, he had a property
in it, and a right to hang it where he pleased, and to
make use of it as he thought fit, provided that he
did not break the peace with it and further said,
'that he never took it off his button, unless it were
to lift it up at a coachman, hold it over the head of
a drawer, point out the circumstances of a story, or
for other services of the like nature, that are all
within the laws of the land.' I did not care for
discouraging a young man, who, I saw, would come
to good; and, because his heart was set upon his new
purchase, I only ordered him to wear it about his
neck, instead of hanging it upon his button, and so
dismissed him.

[ocr errors]

There were several appeared in court, whose pretensions I found to be very good, and, therefore, gave them their licences upon paying their fees; as many 2

others had their licences renewed, who required more time for recovery of their lameness than I had before allowed them.

[ocr errors]

the mind of the person that commits them. When I was a young man, I remember a gentleman of great integrity and worth was very remarkable for wearing a broad belt and a hanger, instead of a fashionable sword, though in all other points a very well-bred man. I suspected him at first sight to have something wrong in him, but was not able for a long while to discover any collateral proofs of it. I watched him narrowly for six-and-thirty years, when at last, to the surprise of every body but myself, who had long expected to see the folly break out, he married his own cook-maid.

-Garrit aniles

Ex re fabellas-
Hor. ii. Sat. vi. 78.
He tells an old wife's tale very pertinently.

Having dispatched this set of my petitioners, there came in a well-dressed man, with a glass tube in one hand, and his petition in the other. Upon his entering the room, he threw back the right side of his wig, put forward his right leg, and advancing the glass to his right eye, aimed it directly at me. In the mean while, to make my observations also, I put on my spectacles; in which posture we surveyed each other for some time. Upon the removal of our glasses, I desired him to read his petition, which he did very promptly and easily; though at the same time it set forth, that he could see nothing distinctly, and No. 104.] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1709. was within very few degrees of being utterly blind; concluding with a prayer, that he might be permitted to strengthen and extend his sight by a glass.' In answer to this, I told him, he might sometimes extend it to his own destruction. As you are now,' said I, you are out of the reach of beauty; and shafts of the fine eyes lose their force before they can come at you; you cannot distinguish a toast from an orange-wench; you can see a whole circle of beauty without any interruption from any impertinent face to discompose you. In short, what are snares for others- My petitioner would hear no more, but told me very seriously, 'Mr. Bickerstaff, you quite mistake your man; it is the joy, the pleasure, the employment of my life, to frequent public assemblies, and gaze upon the fair.' In a word, I found his use of a glass was occasioned by no other infirmity but his vanity, and was not so much designed to make him see, as to make him be seen and distinguished by others. I therefore refused him a licence for a perspective, but allowed him a pair of spectacles, with full permission to use them in any public assembly, as he should think fit. He was followed by so very few of this order of men, that I have reason to hope this sort of cheats is almost at an end.

[ocr errors]

The orange-flower-men appeared next with petitions perfumed so strongly with musk, that I was almost overcome with the scent; and for my own sake was obliged forthwith to licence their handkerchiefs, especially when I found they had sweetened them at Charles Lillie's, and that some of their persons would not be altogether inoffensive without them. John Morphew, whom I have made the general of my dead men, acquainted me, that the petitioners were all of that order, and could produce certificates to prove it, if I required it.' I was so well pleased with this way of their embalming themselves, that I commanded the abovesaid Morphew to give it in orders to his whole army, that every one, who did not surrender himself up to be disposed of by the upholders, should use the same method to keep himself sweet during his present state of putrefaction.

From my own Apartment, December 7. My brother Tranquillus being gone out of town for some days. my sister Jenny sent me word she would come and dine with me, and therefore desired me to have no other company. I took care accordingly, and was not a little pleased to see her enter the room with a decent and matron-like behaviour, which I thought very much became her. I saw she had a great deal to say to me, and easily discovered in her eyes, and the air of her countenance, that she had abundance of satisfaction in her heart, which she longed to communicate. However, I was resolved to let her break into her discourse her own way, and reduced her to a thousand little devices and intimations to bring me to the mention of her husband. But, finding I was resolved not to name him, she began of her own accord. My husband,' "said she, 'gives his humble service to you,' to which I only answered, 'I hope he is well;' and, without waiting for a reply, fell into other subjects. She at last was out of all patience, and said, with a smile and manner that I thought had more beauty and spirit than I had ever observed before in her, 'I did not think, brother, you had been so ill-natured. You have seen, ever since I came in, that I had a mind to talk of my husband, and you will not be so kind as to give me an occasion.'-'I did not know,' said I, but it might be a disagreeable subject to you. You do not take me for so old-fashioned a fellow as to think of entertaining a young lady with the discourse of her husband. I know, nothing is more acceptable than to speak of one who is to be so, but to speak of one who is so indeed, Jenny, I am a better bred man than you think me.' She showed a little dislike at my raillery; and, by her bridling up, I perceived she expected to be treated hereafter not as Jenny Distaff, but Mrs. Tranquillus. I was very well pleased with this change in her humour; and, upon talking with her on several subjects, I could not but fancy that I saw a great deal of her husband's way and manner in her remarks, her phrases, the tone of her voice, and the very air of her countenance. This gave me an unspeakable satisfaction, not only because I had found her a husband, from whom she could learn many things that were laudable, but also because I looked upon her imitation of him as an infallible sign that she entirely loved him. This is an observation that I never knew fail, though I do not remember that any other has made it.

I finished my session with great content of mind, reflecting upon the good I had done; for, however slightly men may regard these particulars, and little follies in dress and behaviour, they lead to greater evils. The bearing to be laughed at for such singularities, teaches us insensibly an impertinent fortitude, and enables us to bear public censure for things which more substantially deserve it. By this means they open a gate to folly, and oftentimes render a man so ridiculous, as to discredit his virtues and capacities, and unqualify him from doing any good in the world. Besides, the giving into uncommon habits of this nature, is a want of that humble defer-natural shyness of her sex, hindered her from telling ence which is due to mankind, and, what is worst me the greatness of her own passion; but I easily of all, the certain indication of some secret flaw in collected it from the representation she gave me of

The

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

It filled the whole company with a deep melancholy, to compare the description of the letter with the person that occasioned it, who was now reduced to a few crumbling bones, and a little mouldering heap of earth. With much ado I decyphered another letter, which began with, My dear, dear wife.' This gave me a curiosity to see how the style of one written in marriage differed from one written in courtship. To my surprise, I found the fondness rather augmented than lessened, though the panegyric turned upon a different accomplishment. The words

his. I have every thing,' says she, in Tranquillus, | son, return every moment to my imagination: the that I can wish for; and enjoy in him, what, indeed, brightness of your eyes hath hindered me from closyou have told me were to be met with in a good ing mine since I last saw you. You may still add A frown will make me husband, the fondness of a lover, the tenderness of a to your beauties by a smile. parent, and the intimacy of a friend.' It transported the most wretched of men, as I am the most passionate me to see her eyes swimming in tears of affection of lovers.' when she spoke. And is there not, dear sister,' said I, more pleasure in the possession of such a man, than in all the little impertinencies of balls, assemblies, and equipage, which it cost me so much pains to make you contemn?' she answered, smiling, Tranquillus has made me a sincere convert in a few weeks, though I am afraid you could not have done it in your whole life. To tell you truly, I have only one fear hanging upon me, which is apt to give me trouble in the midst of all my satisfactions; I am afraid, you must know, that I shall not always make the same amiable appearance in his eye that I do at present. You know, brother Bickerstaff, that you have the reputation of a conjurer; and, if you have any one secret in your art to make your sister always beautiful, I should be happier than if I were the mistress of all the worlds you have shewn me in a starry night. Jenny,' said I, without having recourse to magic, I shall give you one plain rule, that will not fail of making you always amiable to a man who has so great a passion for you, and is of so equal and reasonable a temper as Tranquillus. Endeavour to please, and you must please; be always in the same disposition as you are when you ask for this secret, and you may take my word, you will never want it. An inviolable fidelity, good humour, and complacency of temper, out-live all the charms of a fine face, and make the decays of it invisible.'

We discoursed very long upon this head, which was equally agreeable to us both; for, I must confess, as I tenderly love her, I take as much pleasure in giving her instructions for her welfare, as she herself does in receiving them. I proceeded, therefore, to inculcate these sentiments, by relating a very particular passage that happened within my own knowledge.

were as follow:

'Before this short absence from you, I did not know that I loved you so much as I really do; though, at the same time, I thought I loved you as much as possible. I am under great apprehension, least you should have any uneasiness whilst I am defrauded of my share in it, and cannot think of tasting any pleasures that you do not partake with me. Pray, my dear, be careful of your health, if for no other reason, but because you know I could not outlive

you. It is natural in absence to make professions of an inviolable constancy; but towards so much merit, it is scarce a virtue, especially when it is but a bare return to that of which you have given me such continued proofs ever since our first acquaint

ance.

I am, &c.'

It happened that the daughter of these two excellent persons was by when I was reading this letter. At the sight of the coffin, in which was the body of her mother, near that of her father, she melted into a flood of tears. As I had heard a great character of her virtue, and observed in her this instance of filial piety, I could not resist my natural inclination of giving advice to young people, and therefore addressed myself to her. Young lady,' said I, 'you see how short is the possession of that beauty, in which nature has been so liberal to you. You find the melancholy sight before you is a contradiction to the first letter that you heard on that subject; whereas, you may observe, the second letter, which celebrates

There were several of us making merry at a friend's house in a country village, when the sexton of the parish church entered the room in a sort of surprise, and told us, that as he was digging a grave in the chancel, a little blow of his pick-axe opened a decayed coffin, in which there were several written papers.' Our curiosity was immediately raised, so that we went to the place where the sexton had been at work, and found a great concourse of people about the grave. Among the rest, there was an old woman. who told us, the person buried there was a lady, whose name I do not think fit to mention, though there is nothing in the story but what tends very much to her honour. This lady lived several years an exemplary pattern of conjugal love, and, dying No. 105.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1709. soon after her husband, who every way answered her character in virtue and affection, made it her deathbed request, that all the letters which she had received from him, both before and after her marriage, should be buried in the coffin with her.' These, I found upon examination, were the papers before us. Several of them had suffered so much by time, that I could only pick out a few words; as my soul ! lilies! roses! dearest angel! and the like. One of them, which was legible throughout, ran thus.

your mother's constancy, is itself, being found in this place, an argument of it. But, madam, I ought to caution you, not to think the bodies that he before you your father and your mother. Know, their constancy is rewarded by a nobler union than by this mingling of their ashes, in a state where there is no danger or possibility of a second separation.'

'MADAM,

'If you would know the greatness of my love, consider that of your own beauty. That blooming countenance, that snowy bosom, that graceful per

Sheer-lane, December 9.

As soon as my midnight studies are finished I take but a very short repose, and am again up at an exercise of another kind; that is to say, my fencing. Thus my life passes away in a restless pursuit of fame, and a preparation to defend myself against such as attack it. This anxiety, in the point of reputation, is the peculiar distress of fine spirits, and makes them liable to a thousand inquietudes, from which men of grosser understandings are exempt; so that nothing is more common, than to see one part of mankind live at perfect ease under such circumstances as would make another part of them entirely miserable.

This may serve for a preface to the history of poor Will Rosin, the fiddler of Wapping, who is a man as much made for happiness and a quiet life, as any one breathing; but has been lately entangled in so many intricate and unreasonable distresses, as would have made him, had he been a man of too nice honour, the most wretched of all mortals. I came to the knowledge of his affairs by mere accident, Several of the narrow end of our lane having made an appointment to visit some friends beyond Saint Katharine's, where there was to be a merry-meeting, they would needs take with them the old gentleman, as they are pleased to call me. I, who value my company by their good will, which naturally has the same effect as good breeding, was not too stately, or too wise, to accept of the invitation. Our design was to be spectators of a sea-ball; to which I readily consented, provided I, might be incognito, being naturally pleased with the survey of human life in all its degrees and circumstances. In order to this merriment, Will Rosin, who is the Corelli of the Wapping side, as Tom Scrape is the Bononcini of Redriffe, was immediately sent for; but, to our utter disappointment, poor Will was under an arrest, and desired the assistance of all his kind masters and mistresses, or he must go to jail. The whole company received his message with great humanity, and very generously threw in their halfpence a piece in a great dish, which purchased his redemption out of the hands of the bailiffs. During the negociation for his enlargement, I had an opportunity of acquainting myself with his history.

Mr. William Rosin, of the parish of Saint Katharine, is somewhat stricken in years, and married to a young widow, who has very much the ascendant over him; this degenerate age being so perverted in all things, that, even in the state of matrimony, the young pretend to govern their elders. The musician is extremely fond of her; but is often obliged to lay by his fiddle, to hear louder notes of hers, when she is pleased to be angry with him: for, you are to know, Will is not of consequence enough to enjoy her conversation but when she chides him, or makes use of him to carry on her amours: for she is a woman of stratagem; and even in that part of the world, where one would expect but very little gallantry, by the force of natural genius, she can be sullen, sick, out of humour, splenetic, want new clothes, and more money, as well as if she had been bred in Cheapside, or Cornhill. She was lately under a secret discontent, upon account of a lover she was like to lose by his marriage; for her gallant, Mr. Ezekiel Boniface, had been twice asked in the church, in order to be joined in matrimony with Mrs. Winifred Dimple, spinster, of the same parish. Hereupon Mrs. Rosin was far gone in that distemper which well-governed husbands know by the description of, "I am I know not how;' and Will soon understood, that it was his part to enquire into the occasion of her melancholy, or suffer as the cause of it himself. After much importunity, all he could get out of her was, that she was the most unhappy and the most wicked of all women, and had no friend in the world to tell her grief to. Upon this, Will doubled his importunities; but she said, 'that she should break her poor heart, if he did not take a solemn oath upon a book that he would not be angry; and that he would expose the person who had wronged her to all the world, for the case of her mind, which was no way else to be quieted. The fiddler was so melted, that he immediately kissed her, and afterwards the book. When his oath was taken, she began to lament herself, and

[ocr errors]

revealed to him, that, miserable woman as she was, she had been false to his bed.' Will was glad to hear it was no worse; but, before he could reply, 'nay,' said she, ‘I will make you all the atonement I can, and take shame upon me, by proclaiming it to all the world, which is the only thing that can remove my present terrors of mind.' This was indeed too true, for her design was to prevent Mr. Boni face's marriage, which was all she apprehended. Will was thoroughly angry, and began to curse and sweary the ordinary expressions of passion in persons of his condition. Upon which his wife Ah, William! how well you mind the oath you have taken, and the distress of your poor wife, who can keep nothing from you! I hope you will not be such a perjured wretch as to forswear yourself.' The fiddler answered, that his oath obliged him only not to be angry at what was passed; but I find you intend to make me laughed at all over Wapping. No, no,” replied Mrs. Rosin,' I see well enough what you would be at, you poor-spirited cuckold! You are afraid to expose Boniface, who has abused your poor wife, and would fain persuade me still to suffer the stings of conscience; but I assure you, sirrah, I will not go to the devil for you.' Poor Will was not made for contention, and, beseeching her to be pacified, desired 'she would consult the good of her soul her own way, for he would not say her nay in any thing.'

[ocr errors]

Mrs. Rosin was so very loud and public in her invectives against Boniface, that the parents of his mistress forbade the banns, and his match was prevented; which was the whole design of this deep stratagem. The father of Boniface brought his action of defamation, arrested the fiddler, and recovered damages. This was the distress from which he was relieved by the company; and the good husband's air, history, and jollity upon his enlargement, gave occasion to very much mirth; especially when Wil finding he had friends to stand by him, proclaimed himself a cuckold, by way of insult over the family of the Bonifaces. Here is a man of tranquillity without reading Seneca! What work had such an incident made among persons of distinction? The brothers and kindred of each side must have been drawn out, and hereditary hatred entailed on the families as long as their very names rentained in the world. Who would believe that Heród, Othello, and Will Rosin, were of the same species?

There are quite different sentiments which reign in the parlour and the kitchen; and it is by the point of honour, when justly regulated, and inviolably observed, that some men are superior to others, as much as mankind in general are to brutes. This puts me in mind of a passage in the admirable poem called The Dispensary, where the nature of true honour is artfully described in an ironical dispraise of it:

But ere we once engage in honour's cause,
First know what honour is and whence it was.
Scorn'd by the base, 'tis courted by the brave,
The hero's tyrant, and the coward's slave.
Born in the noisy camp, it lives on air;
And both exists by hope, and by despair.
Angry whene'er a moment's ease.we gain,
And reconcil'd at our returns of pain.
It lives when in death's arms the hero lies,
But when his safety he consults, it dies.
Bigoted to this idol, we disclaim

Rest, health, and ease, for nothing, but a name.'

A very odd fellow visited me to-day at my lodgings, and desired encouragement and recommendation

from me for a new invention of knockers to doors which he told me he had made, and professed to teach rustic servants the use of them. I desired him to show me an experiment of this invention; upon which he fixed one of his knockers to my parlour-door. He then gave me a complete set of knocks, from the solitary rap of the dun and beggar, to the thunderings of the saucy footman of quality, with several flourishes and rattlings never yet performed. He likewise played over some private notes, distinguishing the familiar friend or relation from the most modish visitor; and directing when the reserve candles are to be lighted. He has several other curiosities in this art. He waits only to receive my approbation of the main design. He is now ready to practise to such as shall apply themselves to him; but I have put off his public licence until next court-day.

N. B. He teaches under-ground.

No. 106.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1709. Invenies disjecti membra poeta. Hor. Sat. iv. 62. You will find the limbs of a dismember'd poet.

Will's Coffee-house, December 12.

I was this evening sitting at the side-table and reading one of my own papers with great satisfaction, not knowing that I was observed by any in the room. I had not long enjoyed this secret pleasure of an author, when a gentleman, some of whose works 1 have been highly entertained with, accosted me after the following manner. Mr. Bickerstaff, you know I have for some years devoted myself wholly to the muses, and, perhaps, you will be surprised when I tell you I am resolved to take up, and apply myself to business. I shall therefore beg you will stand my friend, and recommend a customer to me for several goods that I have now upon my hands.'—' I desired him to let me have a particular, and I would do my utmost to serve him.' I have first of all,' says he, 'the progress of an amour digested into sonnets, beginning with a poem to the unknown fair, and ending with an epithalamium. I have celebrated in it her cruelty, her pity, her face, her shape, her wit, her good humour, her dancing, her singing'—I could not forbear interrupting him; This is a most accomplished lady, said I; but has she really, with all these perfections, a fine voice?'- Pugh,' says he, 'You do not believe there is such a person in nature. This was only my employment in solitude last summer, when I had neither friends nor books to divert me.'-'I was going,' said I, 'to ask her name, but I find it is only an imaginary mistress. That's true, replied my friend, but her name is Flavia. I have,' continued he, in the second place, a collection of lampoons, calculated either for the Bath, Tunbridge, or any place where they drink waters, with blank spaces for the names of such person or persons as may be inserted in them on occasion. Thus much

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

I have told only of what I have by me, proceeding from love and malice. I have also at this time the sketch of a heroic poem upon the next piece : several, indeed of the verses are either too long or too short, it being a rough draught of my thoughts upon that subject.' I thereupon told him, That, as it was, it might probably pass for a very good Pindaric, and I believe I knew one who would be willing to deal with him for it upon that foot. I must tell you also,' said he, I have made a dedication to it, which is about four sides close written, that may serve any one that is tall, and understands Latin. I have

further about fifty similes, that were never yet applied, besides three-and-twenty descriptions of the sun rising, that might be of great use to an epic poet. These are my more bulky commodities; besides which, I have several small wares that I would part with at easy rates; as, observations upon life, and moral sentences, reduced into several couplets, very proper to close up acts of plays, and may be easily introduced by two or three lines of prose, either in tragedy or comedy. If I could find a purchaser curious in Latin poetry, I could accommodate him with two dozen of epigrams, which by reason of a few false quantities, should come for little, or nothing.'

I heard the gentleman with much attention, and asked him, Whether he would break bulk, and sell his goods by retail, or designed they should all go in a lump? He told me, 'That he should be very loath to part them, unless it was to oblige a man of quality, or any person for whom I had a particular friendship.' -My reason for asking,' said I, 'is, only because I know a young gentleman who intends to appear next spring in a new jingling chariot, with the figures of the nine muses on each side of it; and, I believe, would be glad to come into the world in verse.' We could not go on in our treaty, by reason of two or three critics that join us. They had been talking, it seems, of the two letters which were found in the coffin, and mentioned in one of my late lucubrations, and came with a request to me, that I would communicate any others of them that were legible. One of the gentlemen was pleased to say that it was a very proper instance of a widow's constancy; and said, he wished I had sabjoined, as a foil to it, the following passage in Hamlet.' The young prince was not yet acquainted with all the guilt of his mother, but turns his thoughts on her sudden forgetfulness of his father, and the indecency of her hasty marriage: -That it should come to this!

[ocr errors]

But two months dead! nay, not so much, not two;
So excellent a king! that was, to this,

Hyperion to a satyr: so loving to my mother:
That he might not let e'en the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Must I remember? Why she would hang on him,
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month!
Let me not think on't-Frailty thy name is Woman!
A little month! or ere those shoes were old,
With which she followed my poor father's body,
Like Niobe, all tears, why she, even she,

O heaven! a brute, that wants discourse of reason, Would have mourned longer-married with mine uncle!

My father's brother! but no more like my father,
Than I to Hercules. Within a month!
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her gauled eyes,
She married-O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!

It is not, nor it cannot come to, good.
But, break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue!

J

The several emotions of mind, and breaks of passion, in this speech, are admirable. He has touched every circumstance that aggravated the fact, and seemed capable of hurrying the thoughts of a son into distraction. His father's tenderness for his mother, expressed in so delicate a particular: his mother's fondness for his father, no less exquisitely described : the great and amiable figure of his dead parent drawn by a true filial piety; his disdain of so unworthy a successor to his bed; but, above all, the shortness of

« НазадПродовжити »