No. 149. Tuesday, August 21, 1711. Steele.
"Cui in manu sit quem esse dementem velit, Quem sapere, quem sanari, quem in morb.u.m injici, Quem contra amari, quem accersiri, quem expeti."
Caecil. apud Tull.
The following Letter and my Answer shall take up the present Speculation.
_Mr_. SPECTATOR,
"I am the young Widow of a Country Gentleman who has left me Entire Mistress of a large Fortune, which he agreed to as an Equivalent for the Difference in our Years. In these Circ.u.mstances it is not extraordinary to have a Crowd of Admirers; which I have abridged in my own Thoughts, and reduced to a couple of Candidates only, both young, and neither of them disagreeable in their Persons; according to the common way of computing, in one the Estate more than deserves my Fortune, and in the other my Fortune more than deserves the Estate.
When I consider the first, I own I am so far a Woman I cannot avoid being delighted with the Thoughts of living great; but then he seems to receive such a Degree of Courage from the Knowledge of what he has, he looks as if he was going to confer an Obligation on me; and the Readiness he accosts me with, makes me jealous I am only hearing a Repet.i.tion of the same things he has said to a hundred Women before.
When I consider the other, I see myself approached with so much Modesty and Respect, and such a Doubt of himself, as betrays methinks an Affection within, and a Belief at the same time that he himself would be the only Gainer by my Consent. What an unexceptionable Husband could I make out of both! but since that"s impossible, I beg to be concluded by your Opinion; it is absolutely in your Power to dispose of
_Your most Obedient Servant_, Sylvia.
_Madam_,
You do me great Honour in your Application to me on this important Occasion; I shall therefore talk to you with the Tenderness of a Father, in Grat.i.tude for your giving me the Authority of one. You do not seem to make any great Distinction between these Gentlemen as to their Persons; the whole Question lies upon their Circ.u.mstances and Behaviour; If the one is less respectful because he is rich, and the other more obsequious because he is not so, they are in that Point moved by the same Principle, the Consideration of Fortune, and you must place them in each others Circ.u.mstances before you can judge of their Inclination. To avoid Confusion in discussing this Point, I will call the richer Man _Strephon_, and the other _Florio_. If you believe _Florio_ with _Strephon"s_ Estate would behave himself as he does now, _Florio_ is certainly your Man; but if you think _Strephon_, were he in _Florio"s_ Condition, would be as obsequious as _Florio_ is now, you ought for your own sake to choose _Strephon_; for where the Men are equal, there is no doubt Riches ought to be a Reason for Preference. After this manner, my dear Child, I would have you abstract them from their Circ.u.mstances; for you are to take it for granted, that he who is very humble only because he is poor, is the very same Man in Nature with him who is haughty because he is rich.
When you have gone thus far, as to consider the Figure they make towards you; you will please, my Dear, next to consider the Appearance you make towards them. If they are Men of Discerning, they can observe the Motives of your Heart; and _Florio_ can see when he is disregarded only upon your Account of Fortune, which makes you to him a mercenary Creature: and you are still the same thing to _Strephon_, in taking him for his Wealth only: You are therefore to consider whether you had rather oblige, than receive an Obligation.
The Marriage-Life is always an insipid, a vexatious, or an happy Condition. The first is, when two People of no Genius or Taste for themselves meet together, upon such a Settlement as has been thought reasonable by Parents and Conveyancers from an exact Valuation of the Land and Cash of both Parties: In this Case the young Lady"s Person is no more regarded, than the House and Improvements in Purchase of an Estate: but she goes with her Fortune, rather than her Fortune with her. These make up the Crowd or Vulgar of the Rich, and fill up the Lumber of human Race, without Beneficence towards those below them, or Respect towards those above them; and lead a despicable, independent and useless Life, without Sense of the Laws of Kindness, Good-nature, mutual Offices, and the elegant Satisfactions which flow from Reason and Virtue.
The vexatious Life arises from a Conjunction of two People of quick Taste and Resentment, put together for Reasons well known to their Friends, in which especial Care is taken to avoid (what they think the chief of Evils) Poverty, and insure to them Riches, with every Evil besides. These good People live in a constant Constraint before Company, and too great Familiarity alone; when they are within Observation they fret at each other"s Carriage and Behaviour; when alone they revile each other"s Person and Conduct: In Company they are in a Purgatory, when only together in an h.e.l.l.
The happy Marriage is, where two Persons meet and voluntarily make Choice of each other, without princ.i.p.ally regarding or neglecting the Circ.u.mstances of Fortune or Beauty. These may still love in spite of Adversity or Sickness: The former we may in some measure defend our selves from, the other is the Portion of our very Make. When you have a true Notion of this sort of Pa.s.sion, your Humour of living great will vanish out of your Imagination, and you will find Love has nothing to do with State. Solitude, with the Person beloved, has a Pleasure, even in a Woman"s Mind, beyond Show or Pomp. You are therefore to consider which of your Lovers will like you best undressed, which will bear with you most when out of Humour? and your way to this is to ask your self, which of them you value most for his own sake? and by that judge which gives the greater Instances of his valuing you for your self only.
After you have expressed some Sense of the humble Approach of _Florio_, and a little Disdain at _Strephon"s_ a.s.surance in his Address, you cry out, _What an unexceptionable Husband could I make out of both?_ It would therefore methinks be a good way to determine your self: Take him in whom what you like is not transferable to another; for if you choose otherwise, there is no Hopes your Husband will ever have what you liked in his Rival; but intrinsick Qualities in one Man may very probably purchase every thing that is advent.i.tious in [another.[1]] 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 Certainties, but do not sacrifice Certainties to Fortune.
_I am, Your most Obedient, Humble Servant_.
T.
[Footnote 1: any other.]
No. 150. Wednesday, August 22, 1711. Budgell.
"Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, Quam quod ridiculos homines facit ..."
Juv.
As I was walking in my Chamber the Morning before I went last into the Country, I heard the Hawkers with great Vehemence crying about a Paper, ent.i.tled, _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 have 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 these several _Plagues_ met with, probably gave Occasion to the above-mentioned Poem on an _empty Purse_. However that be, the same Noise so frequently repeated under my Window, drew me insensibly to think on some of those Inconveniences and Mortifications which usually attend on Poverty, and in short, gave Birth to the present Speculation: 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 insupportable 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 Beaus of _Rome_.
_Quid, quod materiam praebet causasque jocorum Omnibus hic idem? si foeda et scissa lacerna, Si toga sordidula est, et rupta calceus alter Pelle patet, vel si consuto vulnere cra.s.sum Atque recens linam ostendit non una Cicatrix_.
(Juv. Sat. 3.)
_Add, that the Rich have still a Gibe in Store, And will be monstrous witty on the Poor; For the torn Surtout and the tatter"d Vest, The Wretch and all his Wardrobe are a Jest: The greasie Gown sully"d with often turning, Gives a good Hint to say the Man"s in Mourning; Or if the Shoe be ript, or Patch is put, He"s wounded I see the Plaister on his Foot_.
(Dryd.)
"Tis on this Occasion that he afterwards adds the Reflection which I have chosen for my Motto.
_Want is the Scorn of every wealthy Fool, And Wit in Rags is turn"d to Ridicule_.
(Dryd.)
It must be confess"d 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 Sloven. 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 some Men are contented to make to Calumny, by allowing it to fasten 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 still remaining among us of an _Heathen Philosopher_.
I have seen the Speech of a _Terrae-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-brimm"d Hat, short Hair, and unfolded Hankerchief, were in his time absolutely necessary to denote a _notable Man;_ and that he had known two or three, who aspired to the Character of _very notable_, wear Shoestrings with great Success.
To the Honour of our present Age it must be allowed, that some of our greatest Genius"s 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 a.s.sembly, where all the Ladies have declared him the genteelest Man in the Company; and in _Atticus_, though every way one of the greatest Genius"s the Age has produced, one sees nothing particular in his Dress or Carriage to denote his Pretensions to Wit and Learning: so that at present a Man may venture to c.o.c.k 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. _Osbourn_ advises his Son [1] to appear in his Habit rather above than below his Fortune; and tells him, that he will find an handsom Suit of Cloathes always procures some additional Respect. I have indeed myself observed that my Banker bows lowest to me when I wear my full-bottom"d Wig; and writes me _Mr._ or _Esq._, accordingly as he sees me dressed.
I shall conclude this Paper with an Adventure which I was myself an Eye-witness of very lately.