No LXXXVI. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1753. SIR, CONCUBITU PROHIBERE VAGO. THE WANDERING WISH OF LAWLESS LOVE SUPPRESS. TO THE ADVENTURER. O indulge that reftlefs impatience, cidents by which the paffions have been My mother died when I was very young; and my father, who was a naval commander, and had, therefore, no opportunity to fuperintend my conduct, placed me at a grammar fchool, and afterwards removed me to the university. At school the number of boys was fo great, that to regulate our morals was impoffible; and at the univerfity even my learning contributed to the diffolutenefs of my manners. As I was an only child, my father had always allowed me more money than I knew how to lay out, otherwife than in the gratification of my vices: I had fometimes, indeed, been reftrained by a general fenfe of right and wrong; but I now oppofed the remonftrances of confcience by the cavils of fophiftry; and having learned of fome celebrated philofophers, as well ancient as modern, to prove that nothing is good but pleafure, I became a rake upon principle. My father died in the fame year with Queen Anne, a few months before I became of age, and left me a very confiderable fortune in the funds. I immediately quitted the university and came to London, which I confidered as the great mart of pleafure; and as I could afford to deal largely, I wifely determined not to endanger my capital. I projected a fcheme of life that was moft agreeable to my temper, which was rather fedate than volatile, and regulated my expences with the economy of a philofopher. I found that my favourite appe. tites might be gratified with greater convenience and lefs fcandal, in proportion HOR. FRANCIS. as my life was more private: inftead, therefore, of incumbering myfelf with a family, I took the first floor of a house which was let into lodgings, hired one fervant, and kept a geldings at a livery stable. I conftantly frequented, the theatres, and found my principles confirmed by almost every piece that was reprefented, particularly my refolution never to marry. In comedy, indeed, the action terminated in marriage; but it was generally the marriage of a rake, who gave up his liberty with reluctance, as the only expedient to recover a fortune; and the husband and wife of the drama were wretches whofe example juftified this reluctance, and appeared to be exhibited for no other purpose than to warn nankind, that whatever may be prefumed by thofe whom indigence has made defperate, to marry is to forfeit the quiet, independence, and felicity of life. In this courfe I had continued twenty years, without having impaired my conftitution, leffened my fortune, or incumbered myself with an illegitimate offspring; when a girl about eighteen, juft arrived from the country, was hired as a chambermaid by the perfon who kept the house in which I lodged: the native beauty of health and fimplicity in this young creature had fuch an effect upon my imagination, that I practised every art to debauch her, and at length fucceeded. I found it convenient for her to continue in the houfe, and therefore made no propofal of removing her into lodg ings; but after a few months the found herielf with child, a difcovery which interrupted the indolence of my fenfuality, and made me repent my indifcretion: however, as I would not incur my own cenfure by ingratitude or inhumanity, I provided her a lodging and attendants, and he was at length delivered of a daughter. The child I regarded as a new incumbrance; for though I did not confider myself as under parental or con jugal obligations, yet I could not think myfelf myfelf at liberty wholly to abandon either the mother or the infant. To the mother, indeed, I had ftill fome degree of inclination; though I should have been heartily content never to have feen her again, if I could at once have been freed from any farther trouble about her; but as fomething was to be done, I was willing to keep her within my reach,, at leaft till fhe could be fubfervient to my pleafure no longer: the child, however, I would have fent away; but the intreated me to let her fuckle it, with an importunity which I could not resist. After much thinking, I placed her in a little fhop in the fuburbs, which I furnifhed, at the expence of about twenty pounds, with chandlery ware, commodities of which he had fome knowledge, as her father was a petty fhopkeeper in the country: the reported that her hufband had been killed in an engagement at fea, and that his pay, which the had been impowered to receive by his will, had purchafed her ftock. I now thought I had difcharged every obligation, as I had enabled her to fubfift, at least as well as fhe could have done by her labour in the station in which I found her; and as often as I had an inclination to fee her, I fent for her to a bagnio. But thefe interviews did not produce the pleasure which I expected: her affection for me was too tender and delicate; fhe often wept in fpight of all her efforts against it; and could not forbear telling me ftories of her little girl with the fond prolixity of a mother, when I wifhed to regard her only as a mistress. These incidents at once touched me with compunction, and quenched the appetite which I had intended to gratify: my vifits, therefore, became lefs frequent; but she never fent after me when I was abfent, nor reproached me, otherwife than by tears of tenderness, when she saw me again. After the first year I wholly neglected her; and having heard nothing of her during the winter, I went to spend the fummer in the country. When I returned, I was prompted rather by curiofity than defire to make fome inquiry after her; and foon learnt that the had died fome months before of the fmall pox, that the goods had been feized for rent, and the child taken by the parish. At this account, fo fudden and unexpected, I was fenfibly touched; and at ceived a defign to refcue the child from the hands of a parish nurf and make fome little provifion for i when it fhould be grown up: but th was delayed from day to day, fuch wa the fupineness of my difpofition, till th event was remembered with less and le! fenfibility; and at length I congratulat ed myself upon my deliverance from a engagement which I had always confi dered as refembling in fome degree th fhackles of matrimony. I refolved t incur the fame embarraffinent no mort and contented myself with itrolling fror one prostitute to another, of whom I ha feen many generations perish; and th new faces which I once fought amon the masks in the pit, I found with le trouble at Cuper's, Vauxhall, Ranelagh and innumerable other places of publi entertainment, which have appeared dur ing the lait twenty years of my life. A few weeks ago I celebrated m fixtieth birth-day with fome friends i a tavern; and as I was returning to my lodgings, I faw a hackney coach ftop a the door of a house which I knew to b of ill repute, though it was private an of the first class. Juft as I came up, girl ftepped out of it, who appeared, b the imperfect glimpfe I caught of her a fhe paffed, to be very young, and ex tremely beautiful. As I was warm wit wine, I followed her in without hefita tion, and was delighted to find he equally charming upon a nearer view I detained the coach, and propofed the we should go to Haddock's: fhe heft tated with fome appearance of unwil Jingnefs and confufion, but at lengt confented: fhe foon became more free and I was not lefs pleased with her con verfation than her perfon: I obferve that he had a foftnefs and modefty in her manner, which is quickly worn of by habitual proftitution. We had drank a bottle of French wine, and were preparing to go to bed when, to my unfpeakable confufion and aftonishment, I difcovered a mark by which I knew her to be my child: for 1 remembered, that the poor girl, whom I fo cruelly feduced and neglected, had once told me with tears in her eyes, that the had imprinted the two letters of my name under her little Nancy's left breaft, which, perhaps, would be the only memorial fhe would ever have of a father. I was inftantly ftruck with a fenfe of guilt with which I had not been familiar, and therefore felt all it's force. The The poor wretch, whom I was about to hire for the gratification of a brutal appetite, perceived my diforder with furprife and concern: The enquired with an officious folicitude, what fudden illness had feized me; fhe took my hand, preffel it, and looked eagerly in my face, fil inquifitive what could be done to relieve me. I remained fome time torFil; but was foon rouzed by the reflecboa, that I was receiving the careffes of my child, whom I had abandoned to the loweft infamy, to be the flave of drunkenness and luft, and whom I had led to the brink of inceft. I fuddenly farted up; first held her at a distance; then catching her in my arms, ftrove to peak, but burst into tears. I faw that he was confounded and terrified; and s foon as I could recover my speech, I put an end to her doubts by revealing the fecret. It is impoffible to exprefs the effect it had upon her: fhe ftood motionless a few inutes; then clafped her hands toge ther, and looked up in an agony, which not to have feen is not to conceive. The tears at length started from her eyes; the recollected herself, called me Father, threw herfelf upon her knees, embracing mine, and plunging a new dagger in my heart by afking my bleffing. We fat up together the remainder of the night, which I fpent in liftening to aftory that I may, perhaps, hereafter Communicate; and the next day took lodgings for her about fix miles from town. I vifit her every day with emotions to which my heart has till now been a ftranger, and which are every day more frequent and more strong. I propofe to retire with her into fome remote part of the country, and to atone for the paft by the future: but, alas! of the future a few years only can remain; and of the past not a moment can return. What atonement can I make to thofe upon whofe daughters I have contributed to perpetuate that calamity, from which by miracle I have rescued my own! How can I bear the reflection, that though for my own child I had hitherto expreffed lefs kindness than brutes for their young; yet, perhaps, every other whom I either hired or feduced to proftitution, had been gazed at in the ardor of parental affection, till tears have started to the eye; had been catched to the bofom with tranfport, in the prattling fimplicity of infancy; had been watched in fickness with anxiety that fufpended fleep; had been fed by the toil of induftrious poverty, and reared to maturity with hope and fear. What a moniter is he by whom these fears are verified, and this hope deceived! And yet, fo dreadful is the force of habitual guilt, I fometimes regret the reftraint which is come upon me; I wish to fink again into the flum ber from which I have been rouzed, and to repeat the crimes which I abhor. My heart is this moment bursting for utterance: but I want words. Farewel. AGAMUS. N° LXXXVII. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1753. IRACUNDIOR EST PAULO; MINUS APTUS ACUTIS HOR. YOUR FRIEND IS PASSIONATE; PERHAPS UNFIT HIS HAIR ILL CUT, HIS ROBE THAT AUKWARD FLOWS, BUT UNDERNEATH THIS ROUGH UNCOUTH DISGUISE, THERE are many accompliments. rely trivial, and may be acquired by finall abilities, are yet of great import HERE are many accomplishments, FRANCIS. ance in our common intercourfe with men. Of this kind is that general courtefy, which is called Good Breeding; a name by which, as an artificial excel Ff lence, lence, it is at once characterifed and recommended. Good-breeding, as it is generally employed in the gratification of vanity, a paffion almoft univerfally predominant, is more highly prized by the majority than any other; and he who wants it, though he may be preferved from contempt by incontestable fuperiority either of virtue or of parts, will yet be regarded with malevolence, and avoided as an enemy with whom it is dangerous to combat. In fome inftances, indeed, the enmity of others cannot be avoided without the participation of guilt; but then it is the enmity of thofe with whom neither virtue nor wisdom can defire to affociate: and good-breeding may generally be practifed upon more eafy and more honourable terms, than acquiefcence in the detraction of malice or the adulation of 'fervility, the obscenity of a letcher, or the blafphemy of an infidel. Difagreeable truths may be fuppreffed; and when they can be fuppreffed without guilt, they cannot innocently be uttered; the boat of vanity may be fuffered without fevere reprehenfion, and the prattle of abfurdity may be heard without expreffions of con tempt. It happens, indeed, fomewhat unfortunately, that the practice of good-breeding, however neceffary, is obstructed by the poffeflion of more valuable talents; and that great integrity, delicacy, fenfibility, and fpirit, exalted genius, and extenlive learning, frequently render men ill-bred. Petrarch relates, that his admirable friend and cotemporary, Dante Aligheri, one of the most exalted and original geniuses that ever appeared, being banithed his country, and having retired to the court of a prince which was then the fan&tuary of the unfortunate, was held at firit in great efteem; but became daily less acceptable to his patron, by the feverity of his manners and the freedom of his fpeech. There were at the fame court many players and buffoons, gamefters and debauchees; one of whom, diftinguifhed by his impudence, ribaldry, and obfcenity, was greatly careffed by the rest; which the prince fufpecting Dante not to be pleased with, ordered the man to be brought before him; and, having highly extolled him, turned to Dante, and faid- I wonder that this perfon, who is by fome deemed a fool, and by others a madman, should yet But by this answer, though the indig. nation which produced it was founded on virtue, Dante probably gratified his own vanity, as much as he mortified that of others: it was the petulant reproach of refentment and pride, which is always retorted with rage; and not the still voice of Reason, which is heard with complacency and reverence. If Dante intended reformation, his anfwer was not wife; if he did not intend reformation, his anfwer was not good. Great delicacy, fenfibility, and penetration, do not lefs obftruct the practice of good-breeding than integrity. Perfons thus qualified, not only discover proportionably more faults and failings in the characters which they examine, but are more difgufted with the faults and failings which they difcover: the common topics of converfation are too trivial to engage their attention; the various turns of fortune that have lately happened at a game at Whift, the hiftory of a ball at Tunbridge or Bath, a defcription of Lady Fanny's jewels and Lady Kitty's vapours, the journals of a horfe-race or a cock-match, and disquifitions on the game act or the searcity of partridges, are fubjects upon which men of delicate tafte do not always chufe to declaim, and on which they cannot patiently hear the declamation of others. But they should remember, that their impatience is the impotence of reafon and the prevalence of vanity; that if they fit filent and referved, wrapped up in the contemplation of their own dignity, they will in their turn be defpifed and hated by thofe whom they hate and despise; and with better reason, for perverted power ought to be more odious than debility. To hear with patience, and to answer with civility, feems to comprehend all the good-breeding of converfation; and in proportion as this is easy, filence and inattention are without excufe, He He who does not practife good-breeding will not find himfelf confidered as the object of good-breeding by others. There is, however, a fpecies of rufticity, which it is not lefs abfurd than injurious to treat with contempt: this fpecies of ill-breeding is become almoft proverbially the characteristic of a fcholar; nor fhould it be expected, that he who is deeply attentive to an abftrufe science, or who employs any of the three great faculties of the foul, the memory, the imagination, or the judgment, in the clofe purfuit of their feveral objects, fhould have ftudied punctilios of form and ceremony, and be equally able to hine at a route and in the fchools. That the bow of a chronologer, and the compliment of an astronomer, fhould be improper or uncouth, cannot be thought trange to those who duly confider the narrowness of our faculties, and the impoffibility of attaining univerfal excellence. Equally excufeable, for the fame reafons, are that abfence of mind, and that forgetfulness of place and perfon, to which scholars are fo frequently fubject. When Lewis XIV. was one day lamenting the death of an old comedian whom he highly extolled-Yes,' replied Boileau, in the prefence of Madam Maintenon, he performed tolerably well in the defpicable pieces of Scarron, which are now defervedly forgotten even in the provinces.' As every condition of life, and every turn of mind, has fome peculiar temptation and propenfity to evil, let not the man of uprightness and honefty be inorofe and furly in his practice of virtue; let not him, whofe delicacy and penetration difcern with difguft thofe imper fections in others from which he himself is not free, indulge perpetual peevishnefs and difcontent; nor let learning and knowledge be pleaded as an excufe for not condefcending to the common offices and duties of civil life: for as no man fhould be Well-bred at the expence of his Virtue, no man fhould practise vir tue fo as to deter others from Imitation. Ꮓ N° LXXXVIII. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1753. —SEMPERQUE RELINQUI SOLA SIBI, SEMPER LONGAM INCOMITATA VIDETUR —SHE SEEMS ALONE, VIRG. TO WANDER IN HER SLEEP, THRO' WAYS UNKNOWN, DRYDEN. NEWTON, whofe power of any appear to han my dodoes not, in fac in- The mind indeed, to have been fuperior to their own, confeffes, that he cannot account for gravity, the first principle of his fyftem, as a property communicable to matter; or conceive the phenomena fuppofed to be the effects of fuch a principle, to be otherwife produced, than by the immediate and perpetual influence of the ALMIGHTY: and, perhaps, thofe who moft attentively confider the phenomena of the moral and natural world, will be moft inclined to admit the agency of invisible beings. In dreams, the mind appears to be wholly paffive; for dreams are fo far from being the effect of a voluntary effort, that we neither know of what we fhall dream, nor whether we shall dream at all. an effect; for the ideas conceived in dreams without the intervention of fen fible objects, are much more perfect and ftrong than can be formed at other times by the utmost effort of the moft lively imagination: and it can scarce be fuppofed, that the mind is more vigorous when we fleep, than when we are awake; efpecially if it be true, as I have before remarked, that in fleep the power of memory is wholly fufpended, and the • understanding is employed only about fuch objects as prefent themfelves, without comparing the paft with the prefent; except we judge of the foul by a maxim which fome deep philofophers have held concerning horfes, that when the tail is cut off, the rest of the members become more strong. |