dissembles his own character, may be known by that of his companions. If the candidate of patriotism endeavours to infuse right opinions into the higher ranks, and by their influence to regulate the lower; if he consorts chiefly with the wise, the temperate, the regular, and the virtuous, his love of the people may be rational and honest. But if his first or principal application be to the indigent, who are always inflammable; to the weak, who are naturally suspicious; to the ignorant, who are easily misled; and to the profligate, who have no hope but from mischief and confusion; let his love of the people be no longer boasted. No man can reasonably be thought a lover of his country, for roasting an ox, or burning a boot, or attending the meeting at Mile-End (1), or registering his name in the LumberTroop (2). He may, among the drunkards, be a hearty fellow, and among sober handicraftsmen, a free-spoken gentleman; but he must have some better distinction before he is a patriot. Difesa del the. con We have already given in our collections one of the letters in which Mr Hanway endeavours to show that the sumption of Tea is injurious to the interest of our country. We shall now endeavour to follow him regularly through all his observations on this modern luxury; but it can hardly be candid not to make a previous declaration that he is to expect little justice from the author of this extract, a hardened and shameless Tea-drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant, whose kettle has scarcely time to cool, who with Tea amuses the evening, with Tea solaces the midnight, and with Tea welcomes the morning... That the diseases commonly (1) Si trova nella parte est di Londra ed è ancora oggi il luogo preferito dagli operai per tenere i loro comizi. (2) Società di cittadini londinesi con un organamento quasi militare. Il presidente della società si chiamava colonnello Fu sciolta l'anno 1859 e aveva un carattere ultrademocratico. called nervous tremors, fits, habitual depression, and all the maladies which proceed from laxity and debility, are more frequent than in any former time is, I believe, true, however deplorable. But this new race of evils will not be expelled by the prohibition of Tea. This general languor is the effect of general luxury, of general idleness. If it be most to be found among Tea-drinkers, the reason is that Tea is one of the stated amusements of the idle and luxurious... Tea, among the greater part of those who use it most, is drunk in no great quantity. As it neither exhilarates the heart nor stimulates the palate, it is commonly an entertainment merely nominal, a pretence for assembling to prattle, for interrupting business or diversifying idleness. They who drink one cup and who drink twenty are equally punctual in preparing or partaking it, and indeed there are few but discover, by their indifference about it, that they are brought together not by the Tea but the Tea-table. Three cups make the common quantity, so slightly impregnated that perhaps they might be tinged with the Athenian cicuta and produce less effects than these letters (1) charge upon tea... I have no desire to appear captious, and shall therefore readily admit that Tea is a liquor not proper for the lower classes of the people, as it supplies no strength to labour or relief to disease, but gratifies the taste without nourishing the body. It is a barren superfluity, to which those who can hardly procure what nature requires cannot prudently habituate themselves. Its proper use is to amuse the idle and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence. That time is lost in this insipid entertainment cannot be denied many trifle away at the Tea-table those moments which would be better spent (2); but that any national de (1) Cioè le lettere di Mr Hanway menzionato al principio di questo articolo. (2) Molti dissipano vanamente intorno alla tavola da the dei momenti che dovrebbero essere, meglio impiegati. triment can be inferred from this waste of time does not evidently appear, because I know not that any work remains undone for want of hands. Relazioni tra Richard Savage e Not only was Mr Savage admitted to Sir Richard Steele's acquaintance, but to his confidence, of which he sometimes related an instance too extraordinary to be omitted, as it affords a very just idea of his patron's character. He was once desired by Sir Richard, with an air of the utmost importance, to come very early to his house the next morning. Mr. Savage came as he had promised, found the chariot at the door. and Sir Richard waiting for him, and ready to go out. What was intended, and whither they were to go, Savage could not conjecture, and was not willing to inquire, but immediately seated himself with Sir Richard. The coachman was ordered to drive, and they hurried with the utmost expedition to Hyde Park Corner, where they stopped at a petty tavern, and retired to a private room. Sir Richard then informed him, that he intended to publish a pamphlet, and that he had desired him to come thither that he might write for him. He soon sat down to work. Sir Richard dictated, and Savage wrote, till the dinner that had been ordered was put upon the table. Savage was surprised at the meanness of the entertainment, and after some hesitation ventured to ask for wine, which Sir Richard, not without reluctance, ordered to be brought. They then finished their dinner. and proceeded in their pamphlet, which they concluded in the afternoon. Mr Savage then imagined his task over, and expected that Sir Richard would call for the reckoning, and return home; but his expectations deceived him, for Sir Richard told him that he was without money, and that the pamphlet must be sold before the dinner could be paid for; and Savage was therefore obliged to go and offer their new production to sale for two guineas, which with some difficulty he obtained. Sir Richard then returned home, having retired that day only to avoid his creditors, and composed the pamphlet only to discharge his reckoning. Mr Savage related another fact equally uncommon. Sir Richard Steele having one day invited to his house a great number of persons of the first quality, they were surprised at the number of liveries which surrounded the table; and after dinner, when wine and mirth had set them free from the observation of a rigid ceremony, one of them inquired of Sir Richard, how such an expensive train of domestics could be consistent with his fortune. Sir Richard very frankly confessed, that they were fellows of whom he would very willingly be rid. And being then asked why he did not discharge them, declared that they were bailiffs (1), who had introduced themselves with an execution, and whom, since he could not send them away, he had thought it convenient to embellish with liveries, that they might do him credit while they stayed. His friends were diverted with the expedient, and by paying the debt, discharged their attendance, having obliged Sir Richard to promise that they should never again find him graced with a retinue of the same kind. Under such a tutor Mr Savage was not likely to learn prudence or frugality; and perhaps many of the misfortunes which the want of those virtues brought upon him in the following parts of his life, might be justly imputed to so unimproving an example. Nor did the kindness of Sir Richard end in common favours. He proposed to have established him in some settled scheme of life, and to have contracted a kind of alliance with him, by marrying him to a natural daughter, on whom he intended to bestow a thousand pounds. But though he was always lavish of future bounties, he conducted his affairs in such a manner, that he was very seldom able to keep his promises, or execute his own intentions: and, as he was never able to raise (2) the sum which he had offered, the marriage was delayed. In the (1) Ufficiali di polizia incaricati di sequestrare i beni dei debitori insolventi o di trarre in arresto questi ultimi e trattenerli nelle cosiddette spunging- o sponging-houses (case dei sbirri) finchè non si presentasse qualcuno a garantire il pagamento della somma dovuta. (2) Mettere insieme, raccogliere. meantime he was officiously (1) informed that Mr Savage had ridiculed him; by which he was so much exasperated, that he withdrew the allowance which he had paid him, and never afterwards admitted him to his house. It is not indeed unlikely that Savage might by his imprudence expose himself to the malice of a tale-bearer (2); for his patron had many follies, which as his discernment easily discovered, his imagination might sometimes incite him to mention too ludicrously. A little knowledge of the world is sufficient to discover that such weakness is very common, and that there are few who do not sometimes, in the wantonness of thoughtless mirth, or the heat of transient resentment, speak of their friends and benefactors with levity and contempt, though in their cooler moments they want neither sense of their kindness, nor reverence for their virtue; the fault therefore of Mr Savage was rather negligence than ingratitude. But Sir Richard must likewise be acquitted of severity, for who is there that can patiently bear contempt from one whom he has relieved and supported, whose establishment he has laboured, and whose interest he has promoted? Il genio di Shakespeare. There is a vigilance of observation and accuracy of distinction which books and precepts cannot confer; from this almost all original and native excellence proceeds. Shakespeare must have looked upon mankind with perspicacity, in the highest degree curious and attentive. Other writers borrow their characters from preceding writers, and diversify them only by the accidental appendages of present manners (3); the dress is a little varied, but the body is the same. Our author had both matter and form to provide; for, except the characters of Chaucer, to whom I think he is not (1) Con inopportuno zelo, con malevola inframmettenza. (2) Un maligno rapportatore. (3) Eli modificano con gli accessori accidentali dei costumi dei nuovi tempi. |