6

own Corner, and by their Noife and Gestures fhew they have no Respect for the reft of the Company. You frequently meet with these Sets at the Opera, the Play, the 'Water-works, and other publick Meetings, where their whole Business is to draw off the Attention of the Spectators from the Entertainment, and to fix it upon themfelves; and it is to be observed that the Impertinence is ever loudeft, when the Set happens to be made up of 'three or four Females who have got what you call a 'Woman's Man among them.

' I am at a loss to know from whom People of For'tune fhould learn this Behaviour, unless it be from the 'Footmen who keep their Places at a new Play, and are ' often feen paffing away their Time in Sets at All-fours in the Face of a full House, and with a perfect Difregard to the People of Quality fitting on each fide of them.

FOR preferving therefore the Decency of publick Affemblies, methinks it would be but reasonable that those who difturb others fhould pay at least a double · Price for their Places; or rather Women of Birth and 'Distinction fhould be informed, that a Levity of Beha'viour in the Eyes of People of Understanding degrades them below their meaneft Attendants; and Gentlemen 'fhould know that a fine Coat is a Livery, when the Per'fon who wears it discovers no higher Senfe than that of a Footman. I am,

Mr. SPECTATOR,

:I

SIR, Your most Humble Servant. Bedfordshire, Sept. 1, 1711. Am one of those whom every Body calls a Pocher, and fometimes go out to courfe with a Brace of Greyhounds, a Mastiff,and a Spaniel or two; and when I am weary with Courfing, and have killed Hares enough, go to an Ale-house to refresh my self. I beg the Favour ' of you (as you set up for a Reformer) to fend us Word how many Dogs you will allow us to go with, how many Full-Pots of Ale to drink, and how many Hares ' to kill in a Day, and you will do a great Piece of Ser'vice to all the Sports-men: Be quick then, for the Time. ' of Courfing is come on.

6

T

Yours in Hafte,

Ifaac Hedgeditch.

N° 169. Thursday, September 13.

Sic vita erat: facilè omnes perferre ac pati:
Cum quibus erat cunque unà, his fefe dedere,
Eorum obfequi ftudiis: advorfus nemini;
Nunquam præponens fe aliis. Ita facillimè

Sine invidia invenias laudem.

M

Ter. Andr.

AN is fubject to innumerable Pains and Sorrows by the very Condition of Humanity, and yet, as if Nature had not fown Evils enough in Life, we are continually adding Griefto Grief,and aggravating the common Calamity by our cruel Treatment of one another. Every Man's natural Weight of Affliction is ftill made more heavy by the Envy, Malice, Treachery, or Injuftice of his Neighbour. At the fame time that the Storm beats upon the whole Species, we are falling foul upon one another.

HALF the Mifery of human Life might be extinguished, would Men alleviate the general Curfe they lie under, by mutual Offices of Compaffion, Benevolence and Humanity. There is nothing therefore which we ought more to encourage in our felves and others, than that Difpofition of Mind which in our Language goes under the Title of Good-nature, and which I fhall choose for the Subject of this Day's Speculation.

GOOD-NATURE is more agreeable in Converfation than Wit, and gives a certain Air to the Countenance which is more amiable than Beauty. It fhews Virtue in the faireft Light, takes off in fome measure from the Deformity of Vice,and makes even Folly and Impertinence fupportable.

THERE is no Society or Converfation to be kept up in the World without Good-nature, or fomething which muft bear its Appearance, and fupply its Place. For this Reafon Mankind have been forced to invent a kind of Artificial Humanity, which is what we express by the Word Good-Breeding. For if we examine thoroughly the Idea of what we call fo, we fhall find it to be nothing elfe but an Imitation and Mimickry of Good-nature, or in other Terms, Affability, Complaifance and Eafinefs of Temper reduced into an Art. THESE

THESE exterior Shows and Appearances of Humanity render a Man wonderfully popular and beloved when they are founded upon a real Good-nature; but without it are like Hypocrify in Religion, or a bare Form of Holinefs, which, when it is difcovered, makes a Man more deteitable than profeffed Impiety.

GOOD-NATURE is generally born with us: Health, Profperity and kind Treatment from the World are great Cherishers of it where they find it, but nothing is capable of forcing it up, where it does not grow of it felf. It is one of the Bleffings of a happy Constitution, which Education may improve but not produce.

XENOPHON in the Life of his Imaginary Prince, whom he describes as a Pattern for Real ones, is always celebrating the Philanthropy or Good-nature of his Hero, which he tells us he brought into the World with him, and gives many remarkable Inftances of it in his "Childhood, as well as in all the feveral Parts of his Life. Nay, on his Death-bed, he describes him as being pleased, that while his Soul returned to him who made it, his Body fhould incorporate with the great Mother of all things, and by that means become beneficial to Mankind. For which reafon he gives his Sons a pofitive Order not to enfhrine it in Gold or Silver, but to lay it in the Earth as foon as the Life was gone out of it.

AN Inftance of fuch an Overflowing of Humanity, fuch an exuberant Love to Mankind, could not have entered into the Imagination of a Writer, who had not a Soul filled with great Ideas, and a general Benevolence to Mankind.

IN that celebrated Paffage of Saluft, where Cafar and Cato are placed in fuch beautiful, but oppofite Lights Cefar's Character is chiefly made up of Good-nature,as it fhewed it felf in all its Forms towards his Friends or his Enemies, his Servants or Dependents, the Guilty or the Diftreffed. As for Cato's Character, it is rather awful than amiable. Juftice feems most agreeable to the Nature of God, and Mercy to that of Man. A Being who has nothing to Pardon in himfelf, may reward every Man according to his Works; but he whofe very best Actions must be feen with Grains of Allowance, cannot be too mild, moderate, and forgiving. For this reafon, among all the monfirous Characters in human Nature, there is

mone

none fo odious, nor indeed fo exquifitely Ridiculous, as
that of a rigid fevere Temper in a Worthless Man.

THIS Part of Good-nature, however, which confifts
in the pardoning and overlooking of Faults, is to be
exercifed only in doing our felves Justice, and that too
in the ordinary Commerce and Occurrences of Life; for
in the Publick Adminiftrations of Juftice, Mercy to one
may be Cruelty to others.

IT is grown almoft into a Maxim, that Good-natured
Men are not always Men of the most Wit. This Observa-
tion, in my Opinion, has no Foundation in Nature. The
greatest Wits I have converfed with are Men eminent for
their Humanity. I take therefore this Remark to have
been occafioned by two Reasons. First, Because Ill-nature
among ordinary Obfervers paffes for Wit. A fpiteful
Saying gratifies fo many little Paffions in those who hear
it, that it generally meets with a good Reception. The
Laugh rifes upon it, and the Man who utters it is looked
upon as a fhrewd Satyrift. This may be one Reafon, why
a great many pleafant Companions appear fo furprizingly
dull, when they have endeavoured to be Merry in Print;
the Publick being more just than Private Clubs or Affem-
blies, in diftinguishing between what is Wit and what is
Ill-Nature.

ANOTHER Reason why the Good-natured Man may
fometimes bring his Wit in Queftion, is perhaps, because
he is apt to be moved with Compaffion for those Misfor-
tunes or Infirmities, which another would turn into Ridi-
cule, and by that means gain the Reputation of a Wit,
The Ill-natured Man, though but of Equal Parts, gives
himself a larger Field to expatiate in; he expofes those
Failings in Human Nature which the other would cast a
Veil over, laughs at Vices which the other either excuses
or conceals, gives Utterance to Reflexions which the other
ftifles, falls indifferently upon Friends or Enemies, expo-
fes the Person who has obliged him, and, in short, sticks at
nothing that may establish his Character of a Wit. It is
no Wonder therefore he fucceeds in it better than the
Man of Humanity, as a Perfon who makes ufe of indi-
rect Methods is more likely to grow Rich than the fair
Trader.

L

INDE X.

A

A.

CTION the Felicity of the Soul, Numb. 116.
Affliction and Sorrow, not always expreft by Tears,

N. 95. True Affliction labours to be invisible, ibid. Age: the unnatural Misunderstanding between Age and Youth, N. 153. The Authority of an aged virtuous Perfon preferable to the Pleasures of Youth, ibid. Albacinda, her Character, N. 144.

Alexander, his Artifice in his Indian Expedition, N. 127. His Answer to those who asked him if he would not be a Competitor for the Prize in the Olympick Games, ibid. Amaryllis, her Character, N. 144.

Ambition, the Occafion of Factions, N. 125. Animals, the different make of every Species, N. 120. The Inftinct of Brutes, ibid. exemplify'd in several Inftances, ibid. God himself the Soul of Brutes. 121. The Variety of Arms with which they are provided by Nature, ibid. Amusements of Life, when innocent, neceffary and allowable, N. 93.

Apparitions, the Creation of weak Minds, N. 110. Arable, (Mrs.) the great Heiress, the Spectator's FellowTraveller, N. 132.

Ariftotle, his Account of the World, N. 166.

Ariftus and Afpafia, an happy Couple, N. 128.

Artift, wherein he has the Advantage of an Author, N. 166. Affociation of honest Men propofed by the Spectator, N. 126. Author: in what Manner one Author is a Mole to another, N. 124. Wherein an Author has the Advantage of an Artift, 166. The Care an Author ought to take of what he writes. ibid. A Story of an Atheistical Author, ibid.

B.

BAREFACE, his Succefs with the Ladies, and the

Reafon for it, N. 156.

Bear-Garden, the Spectator's Method for the Improve. ment of it, N. 141.

Beau