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have not yet begun my story, and what is making fentences and obfervations, when a man is pleading for his life? To begin then: this lady has correfponded with me under the names of love, the my Belinda, I her Cleanthes. Though I am thus well got into the account of my affair, I cannot keep in the thread of it fo much as to give you the character of Mrs. Jane, whom I will not hide under a borrowed name; but let you know that this creature has been fince I knew her very handsome, (though I will not allow her even she has been for the future) and during the time of her bloom and beauty was so great a tyrant to her lovers, fo over-valued herself, and under-rated all her pretenders, that they have deferted her to a man; and the knows no comfort but that common one to all in her condition, the pleasure of interrupting the amours of others. It is impoffible but you must have seen several of thefe volunteers in malice, who pafs their whole time in the most laborious way of life, in getting intelligence, running from place to place with new whispers, without reaping any other benefit but the hopes of making others as unhappy as themselves. Mrs. Jane happened to be at a place where I, with many others well acquainted with my paffion for Belinda, paffed a Christmas evening. There was among the reft a young lady, fo free in mirth, so amiable in a juft referve that accompanied it; I wrong her to call it a reserve, but there appeared in her a mirth or chearfulness which was not a forbearance of more immoderate joy, but the natural appearance of all which could flow from a mind poffeffed of an habit of innocence and purity. I must have utterly forgot Belinda to have taken no notice of one who was growing up to the fame womanly virtues which thine to perfection in her, had I not diftinguifhed one who feemed to promife to the world the fame life and conduct with my faithful and lovely Belinda. When the company broke up, the fine young thing permitted me to take care of her home. Mrs. Jane faw my particular regard to her, and was informed of my attending her to her father's houfe. She came early to Belinda the next morning, and afked her if Mrs. Such-a-one had been with her? No.' If Mr. Such-a-one's

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lady? No.-Nor your cousin Sucha-one? No. Lord,' fays Mrs. Jane, what is the friendship of women? -Nay, they may well laugh at it. And 'did no one tell you any thing of the behaviour of your lover Mr. What'd'ye call last night? But perhaps it is nothing to you that he is to be married to young Mrs. -on Tuesday next.' Belinda was here ready to die with rage and jealoufy. Then Mrs. Jane goes on: I have a young kinfman who is clerk to a great conveyancer, who fhall fhew you the rough draught of the marriage-fettlement. The world fays her father gives him two thousand pounds more than he could have with you.' I went innocently to wait on Belinda as ufual, but was not admitted; I writ to her, and my letter was fent back unopened. Poor Betty her maid, who is on my fide, has been here just now blubbering, and told me the whole matter. She fays she did not think I could be fo base; and that fhe is now fo odious to her mistress for having fo often spoke well of me, that he dare not mention me more. All our hopes are placed in having these circumftances fairly represented in the Spectator, which Betty fays the dare not but bring up as foon as it is brought in; and has promifed when you have broke the ice to own this was laid between us: and when I can come to an hearing, the young lady will support what we fay by her teltimony, that I never faw her but that once in my whole life. Dear Sir, do not omit this true relation, nor think it too particular; for there are crowds of forlorn coquettes who intermingle themselves with other ladies, and contract familiarities out of malice, and with no other design but to blaft the hopes of lovers, the expectation of parents, and the benevolence of kindred. I doubt not but I fhall be, Sir, your most obliged humble fervant, CLEANTHES.

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NOTE WELL THE MANNERS.

HAVING examined the action of

Paradife Loft, let us in the next place confider the actors. This is Aritotle's method of confidering, first the fable, and fecondly the manners; or, as we generally call them in English, the fable and the characters.

Homer has excelled all the heroic poets that ever wrote in the multitude and variety of his characters: every god that is admitted into his poem, acts a part which would have been fuitable to no other deity. His princes are as much diftinguished by their manners, as by their dominions; and even thofe among them, whofe characters feem wholly made up of courage, differ from one another as to the particular kinds of courage in which they excel.

In short,

there is fcarce a fpeech or action in the Iliad, which the reader may not afcribe to the perfon that speaks or acts, with out feeing his name at the head of it.

Homer does not only outshine all ether poets in the variety, but alfo in the novelty of his characters. He has introduced among his Grecian princes a perfon who had lived thrice the age of man, and converfed with Thefeus, Hercules, Polyphemus, and the first race of heroes. His principal actor is the fon of a goddefs, not to mention the offspring of other deities, who have likewife a place in his poem, and the venerable Trojan prince, who was the father of fo many kings and heroes. There is in thefe feveral characters of Homer, a certain dignity as well as novelty, which adapts them in a more peculiar manner to the nature of an heroic poem. Though at the fame time, to give them the greater variety, he has defcribed a Vulcan, that is a buffoon among his gods, and a Therfites among his mortals.

HOR. ARS POET. VER. 156.

Virgil falls infinitely fhort of Homer in the characters of his poem, both as to their variety and novelty. Æneas is indeed a perfect character; but as for Achates, though he is ftiled the hero's friend, he does nothing in the whole poem which may deferve that title. Gyas, Mneftheus, Sergeftus, and Cloanthus, are all of them men of the fame ftamp and character.

Fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloantbum.” There are indeed several natural incidents in the part of Afcanius; as that of Dido cannot be fufficiently admired. I do not fee any thing new or particular in Turnus. Pallas and Evander are remote copies of Hector and Priam, as Laufus and Mezentius are almott parallels to Pallas and Evander. The characters of Nifus and Euryalus are beautiful, but common. We must not forget the parts of Sinon, Camilla, and fome few others, which are fine improvements on the Greek poet. In thort, there is neither that variety nor novelty in the perfons of the neid, which we meet with in thofe of the Iliad.

If we look into the characters of Milton, we shall find that he has introduced all the variety his fable was capable of receiving. The whole fpecies of mankind was in two pet fons at the time to which the fubject of his poem is confined. We have, however, four dif tinct characters in thefe two perfons. We fee man and woman in the highest innocence and perfection, and in the most abject state of guilt and infirmity. The two laft characters are, indeed, very common and obvious; but the twa firft are not only more magnificent, but more new than any characters either in Virgil or Homer, or indeed in the whole circle of nature,

Milton

Milton was fo fenfible of this defect in the fubject of his poem, and of the few characters it woul! afford him, that he has brought into it two actors of a fhadowy and fictitious nature, in the perfons of Sin and Death, by which means he has wrought into the body of his fable a very beautiful and well-invented allegory. But notwithstanding the fineness of this allegory may atone for it in fome meafure, I cannot think that perfons of fuch a chimerical existence are proper actors in an epic poem; because there is not that measure of probability annexed to them, which is requifite in writings of this kind, as I fhall fhew more at large hereafter.

Virgil has, indeed, admitted Fame as an actress in the Æneid, but the part the acts is very fhort, and none of the moft admired circumftances in that divine work. We find in mock-heroic poems, particularly in the Difpenfary and the Lutrin, feveral allegorical perfons of this nature, which are very beautiful in thofe compofitions, and may perhaps be used as an argument, that the authors of them were of opinion fuch characters might have a place in an epic work. For my own part, I fhould be glad the reader would think fo, for the fake of the poem I am now examining; and muft further add, that if fuch empty unfubftantial beings may be ever made ufe of on this occafion, never were any more nicely imagined, and employed in more proper actions, than those of which I am now fpeaking.

Another principal actor in this poem is the great enemy of mankind. The part of Ulyffes in Homer's Odyffey is very much admired by Ariftotle, as perplexing that fable with very agreeable plots and intricacies, not only by the many adventures in his voyage, and the fubtlety of his behaviour, but by the various concealments and discoveries of his perfon in feveral parts of that poem. But the crafty being I have now mentioned, makes a much longer voyage than Ulyffes, puts in practice many more wiles and ftratagems, and hides himself under a greater variety of fhapes and appearances, all of which are feverally detected, to the great delight and furprise of the reader.

We may likewife obferve with how much art the poet has varied feveral characters of the perfons that speak in his infernal affembly. On the contrary,

how has he reprefented the whole Godhead exerting itself towards man in it's full benevolence under the threefold diftinction of a Creator, a Redeeiner, and a Comforter!

Nor must we omit the perfon of Raphael, who, amidst his tenderness and friendship for man, fhews fuch a dignity and condefcenfion in all his fpeech and behaviour, as are fuitable to a fuperior nature. The angels are indeed as much diverfified in Milton, and diftinguished by their proper parts, as the gods are in Homer or Virgil. The reader will find nothing afcribed to Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, or Raphael, which is not in a particular manner fuitable to their respective characters.

There is another circumftance in the principal actors of the Iliad and Æneid, which gives a peculiar beauty to those two poems, and was therefore contrived with very great judgment. I mean the authors having chofen for their heroes perfons who were fo nearly related to the people for whom they wrote. Achil les was a Greek, and Æneas the remote founder of Rome. By this means their countrymen, whom they principally propofed to themselves for their readers, were particularly attentive to all the parts of their ftory, and fympathized with their heroes in all their adventures. Roman could not but rejoice in the efcapes,fucceffes, and victories of Æneas, and be grieved at any defeats, misfortunes, or difappointments that befel him; as a Greek mult have had the fame regard for Achilles. And it is plain that each of thofe poems have loft this great advantage, among thofe readers to whom their heroes are as ftrangers, or indifferent perfons.

A

Milton's poem is admirable in this refpect, fince it is impoffible for any of it's readers, whatever nation, country, or people he may belong to, not to be related to the perfons who are the principal actors in it; but what is ftill infinitely more to it's advantage, the principal actors in this poem are not only our progenitors, but our reprefentatives. We have an actual intereft in every thing they do, and no less than our ut moft happiness is concerned, and lies at ftake in all their behaviour.

I fhall fubjoin as a corollary to the foregoing remark, an admirable obfervation out of Ariftotle, which hath been very much misreprefented in the quota

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tions of fome modern critics. • If a man of perfect and confummate virtue falls into a misfortune, it raifes our pity, but not our terror, becaufe we do not fear that it may be our own cafe, who do not refemble the fuffering perfon. But as that great philofopher adds, If we fee a man of virtue mixt with infirmities, fall into any misfortune, it does not only raifé our pity but our terror; because we are afraid that the like misfortunes may happen to ourselves, who refemble the cha•racter of the fuffering perfon."

I fhall take another opportunity to observe, that a perfon of an abfolute and confummate virtue fhould never be introduced in tragedy, and fhall only remark in this place, that the foregoing obfervation of Ariftotle, though it may be true in other occafions, does not hold in this; because in the ju efent cafe, though the perfons who fall into misfortune

are of the most perfect and confummate virtue, it is not to be confidered as what may poflibly be, but what actually is our own cafe; fince we are embarked with them on the fame bottom, and must be partakers of their happiness or mifery.

In this, and fome other very few inftances, Ariftotle's rules for epic poetry, which he had drawn from his reflections upon Homer, cannot be fuppofed to quadrate exactly with the heroic poems which have been made fince his time; fince it is plain his rules would still have been more perfect, could he have perused the Encid which was made fome hundred years after his death.

In my next, I fall go through other parts of Milton's poem; and hope that what I fhall there advance, as well as what I have already written, will not only ferve as a comment upon Milton, but upon Aristotle.

N° CCLXXIV. MONDAY, JANUARY 14.

AUDIRE EST OPERE PRETIUM, PROCEDERE RECTE
QUI MOECHIS NON VULTIS-

HOR. SAT. II. LIB. I. VEF. 37

ALL YOU, WHO THINK THE CITY NE'ER CAN THRIVE,
TILL EVERY CUCKOLD MAKER'S FLAY'D ALIVE,

ATTEND. ——

I Have upon feveral occafions, that have

occurred fince I first took into my thoughts the present state of fornication, weighed with myfelf in behalf of guilty females, the impulfes of flesh and blood, together with the arts and gallantries of crafty men; and reflect with fome fcorn that most part of what we in our youth think gay and polite, is nothing elfe but an habit of indulging a pruriency that way. It will coft fome labour to bring people to fo lively a fenfe of this, as to recover the manly modefty in the behaviour of my men readers, and the bafhful grace in the faces of my women; but in all cafes which come into debate, there are certain things previously to be done before we can have a true light into the fubject matter; therefore it will, in the first place, be neceffary to confider the impotent wenchers and induftrious hags, who are fupplied with, and are conftantly fupplying, new facrifices to the devil of luft. You are to know then, if you are fo happy as not to know it already, that the great havock which

is

POPE.

C

made in the habitations of beauty and

innocence, is committed by fuch as can only lay waste and not enjoy the foil. When you obferve the prefent state of vice and virtue, the offenders are fuch as one would think fhould have no impulfe to what they are purfuing; as in bufinefs, you fee fometimes fools pretend to be knaves, fo in pleasure, you will find old men fet up for wenchers. This latter fort of men are the great bafis and fund of iniquity in the kind we are fpeaking of: you fhall have an old rich man often receive fcrawls from the feveral quarters of the town, with defcriptions of the new wares in their hands, if he will please to send word when he will be waited on. This interview is contrived, and the innocent is brought to fuch indecencies as from time to time banifh fhame and raife defire. With thefe preparatives the hags break their wards by little and little, until they are brought to lofe all apprehenfions of what fhall befal them in the poffeffion of younger men. It is a com

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non poffcript of a hag to a young fellow, whom the invites to a new woman She has, I affure you, feen none but old Mr. Such-a-one. It pleases the old fellow that the nymph is brought to him unadorned, and from his bounty fhe is accommodated with enough to

drefs her for other lovers. This is the moft ordinary method of bringing beauty and poverty into the poffeffion of the town: but the particular cafes of kind keepers, fkilful pimps, and all others who drive a feparate trade, and are not in the general fociety or commerce of fin, will require diftinct confideration. At the fame time that we are thus fevere on the abandoned, we are to reprefent the cafe of others with that mitigation as the circumstances demand. Calling names does no good; to fpeak worfe of any thing than it deferves, does only take off from the credit of the accufer, and has implicitly the force of an apology in the behalf of the perfon accufed. We shall therefore, according as the circumstances differ, vary our appellations of these criminals: thofe who offend only against themfelves, and are not fcandals to fociety, but out of deference to the fober part of the world, have fo much good left in them as to be afhamed, must not be huddled in the common word due to the worst of women; but regard is to be had to their circumftances when they fell, to the uneafy perplexity under which they lived under fenfelefs and fevere parents, to the importunity of poverty, to the violence of a paffion in it's beginning well grounded, and all other alleviations which make unhappy women refign the characteristic of their fex, modefty. To do otherwife than this, would be to act like a pedantic ftoic, who thinks all crimes alike, and not like an impartial Spectator, who looks upon them with all the circumftances that diminish or enhance the guilt. I am in hopes, if this fubject be well purfued, women will hereafter from their infancy be treated with an eye to their future ftate in the world; and not have their tempers made too untractable from an improper fournefs or pride, or too complying from familiarity or forwardness.contracted at their own houfes. After these hints on this fubject, I fhall end this paper with the following ge. nuine letter; and defire all who think they may be concerned in future fpeculations on this fubject, to fend in what

they have to fay for themselves for fome incidents in their lives, in order to have proper allowances made for their conduct.

MR.SPECTATOR,

JAN. 5, 1711.

THE fubject of your yesterday's pa

per is of fo great importance, and the thorough handling of it may be fo very ufeful to the prefervation of many an innocent young creature, that I think every one is obliged to furnish us with what lights he can, to expofe the pernicious arts and practices of thofe unnatural women called bawds. In order to this the inclofed is fent you, which is verbatim the copy of a letter written by a bawd of figure in this town to a noble lord. I have concealed the names of both, my intention being not to expose the perfons but the thing. I am, Sir, Your humble fervant.

MY LORD,

Having a great efteem for your hó

nour, and a better opinion of you than of any of the quality, makes me acquaint you of an affair that I hope will oblige you to know. I have a niece that came to town about a fortnight ago. Her parents being lately dead, the came to me, expecting to have found me in fo good a condition as to fet her up in a milliner's fhop. Her father gave fourfcore pound with her for five years: her time is out, and the is not fixteen: as pretty a black gentlewoman as ever you faw, a little woman, which I know your lordship likes: well fhaped, and as fine a complexion for red and white as ever I faw; I doubt not but your lordthip will be of the fame opinion. She defigns to go down about a month hence, except I can provide for her, which I cannot at prefent: her father was one with whom all he had died with him, fo there is four children left deftitute; fo if your lordship thinks fit to make an appointment where I fhall wait on you with my niece, by a line or two, I stay for your answer; for I have no place fitted up fince I left my house, fit to entertain your honour. I told her fhe fhould go with me to fee a gentleman, a very good friend of mine; fo I defire you to take no notice of my letter, by reafon fhe is ignorant of the ways of the town. My lord, I defire if you meet us to come alone; for upon my word and honour you are the firft that

ever

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