T we should esteem Virtue though in a Foe, and abhor No. 243, Vice though in a Friend. I speak this with an Eye to those cruel Treatments which Men of all sides are apt to give the Characters of those who do not agree with them. How many Persons of undoubted Probity and exemplary Virtue, on either Side, are blackned and defamed: How many Men of Honour exposed to publick Obloquy and Reproach? Those therefore who are either the Instruments or Abettors in such infernal Dealings, ought to be looked upon as Persons who make use of Religion to promote their Cause, not of their Cause to promote Religion. No. 244. [STEELE.] I 'Mr. SPECTATOR, Judex & callidus audis, Hor. Monday, December 10, Covent Garden, Nov. 7. C CANNOT without a double Injustice forbear express ing to you the Satisfaction which a whole Clan of - Virtuosos have received from those Hints which you have lately given the Town on the Cartons of the inimitable Raphael. It should be methinks the Busi ness of a SPECTATOR to improve the Pleasures of Sight, and there cannot be a more immediate Way to it than recommending the Study and Observation of excellent Drawings and Pictures. When I first went to view those of Raphael which you have celebrated, I must confess I was but barely pleas'd; the next Time I liked them better, but at last as I grew better acquainted with them I fell deeply in love with them, like wise Speeches they sunk deep into my Heart; for you know, Mr. SPECTATOR, that a Man of Wit may extreamly affect one for the present, but if he has not Discretion his Merit soon vanishes away, while a wise Man that has not so great a Stock of Wit shall nevertheless give you a far greater and more lasting Satisfaction: Just so it is in a Picture that is smartly touch'd but not well study'd, one may call it a witty Picture, tho' the Painter in the mean time may be in Danger of being called a Fool. On the other Hand a Picture that is thoroughly under stood Saturday Dec. 8, 1711, 1711, No. 244, stood in the Whole, and well performed in the Par Monday, ticulars, that is begun on a Foundation of Geometry, Dec. 10, carry'd on by the Rules of Perspective, Architecture, and Anatomy, and perfected by a good Harmony, a just and natural Colouring, and such Passions and Expressions of the Mind as are almost peculiar to Raphael; this is what you may justly stile a wise Picture, and which seldom fails to strike us dumb, till we can assemble all our Faculties to make but a tolerable Judgment upon it Other Pictures are made for the Eyes only, as Rattles are made for Children's Ears; and certainly that Picture that only pleases the Eye, without representing some well-chosen Part of Nature or other, does but shew what fine Colours are to be sold at the Colour-shop, and mocks the Works of the Creator. If the best Imi tator of Nature is not to be esteemed the best Painter, but he that makes the greatest Show and Glare of Colours; it will necessarily follow, that he who can array himself in the most gaudy Draperies is best Drest, and he that can speak loudest the best Orator. Every Man when he looks on a Picture should examine it according to that Share of Reason he is Master of, or he will be in Danger of making a wrong Judgment If Men as they walk abroad would make more frequent Observations on those Beauties of Nature which every Moment present themselves to their View, they would be better Judges when they saw her well imitated at home: This would help to correct those Errors which most Pretenders fall into, who are over hasty in their Judgments, and will not stay to let Reason come in for a Share in the Decision: 'Tis for want of this that Men mistake in this Case, and in common Life, a wild extravagant Pencil for one that is truly bold and great, an impudent Fellow for a Man of true Courage and Bravery, hasty and unreasonable Actions for Enterprizes of Spirit and Resolution, gaudy Colouring for that which is truly beautiful, a false and insinuating Discourse for simple Truth elegantly recommended. The Parallel will hold through all the Parts of Life and Painting too; and the Virtuosos abovementioned will be glad to see you draw it with your Terms of Art. As the Shadows in Picture Picture represent the serious or melancholy, so the Lights No. 244. do the bright and lively Thoughts; As there should be Monday, Dec, 10, but one forcible Light in a Picture which should catch 1711, the Eye and fall on the Heroe, so there should be but one Object of our Love, even the Author of Nature, These and the like Reflections well improved, might very much contribute to open the Beauty of that Art, and prevent young People from being poisoned by the ill Gusto of any extravagant Workman that should be E impos'd upon us, I am, Sir, 'Mr. SPECTATOR, Your most humble Servant' Though I am a Woman, yet I am one of those who confess themselves highly pleased with a Speculation you obliged the World with some time ago, from an old Greek Poet you called Simonides, in relation_to_the several Natures and Distinctions of our own Sex. I could not but admire how justly the Characters of Women in this Age fall in with the Times of Simon ides, there being no one of those sorts I have not at some time or other of my Life met with a Sample of: But, Sir, the Subject of this present Address, are a Set of Women comprehended, I think, in the Ninth Specie of that Speculation, call'd the Apes; the Description of whom I find to be, "That they are such as are both ugly and ill-natured, who have nothing beautiful them selves, and endeavour to detract from or ridicule every thing that appears so in others." Now, Sir, this Sect, as I have been told, is very frequent in the great Town where you live; but as my Circumstance of Life obliges me to reside altogether in the Country, though not many Miles from London, I can't have met with a great number of 'em, nor indeed is it a desirable Acquaintance, as I have lately found by Experience. You must know, Sir, that at the Beginning of this Summer a Family of these Apes came and settled for the Season not far from the Place where I live: As they were Strangers in the Country they were visited by the Ladies about 'em, of whom I was, with an Humanity II 165 K Dec. 10. 1711. No. 244. Humanity usual in those who pass most of their Time Monday, in Solitude. The Apes lived with us very agreeably our own Way till towards the End of the Summer, when they began to bethink themselves of returning to Town; then it was, Mr. SPECTATOR, that they began to set themselves about the proper and distinguishing Business of their Character; and, as 'tis said of evil Spirits, that they are apt to carry away a Piece of the House they are about to leave, the Apes, without regard to common Mercy, Civility, or Gratitude, thought fit to mimick and fall foul on the Faces, Dress and Behaviour of their innocent Neighbours, bestowing abominable Censures and disgraceful Appellations, commonly call'd Nick-names, on all of 'em; and in short, like true fine Ladies, made their honest Plainness and Sincerity Matter of Ridicule, I could not but acquaint you with these Grievances, as well at the Desire of all the Parties injured, as from mine own Inclination. I hope, Sir, if you can't propose intirely to reform this Evil, you will take such Notice of it in some of your future Speculations, as may put the deserving Part of our Sex on their Guard against these Creatures; and at the same Time the Apes may be sensible, that this sort of Mirth is so far from an innocent Diversion, that it is in the highest Degree that Vice which is said to comprehend all others. I am, Sir, T No. 245, Τ Your humble Servant, Constantia Feild' Tuesday, December 11 Ficta voluptatis causa sínt proxima veris.-Hor. HERE is nothing which one regards_so much with an Eye of Mirth and Pity as Innocence, when it has in it a Dash of Folly, At the same time that one esteems the Virtue, one is tempted to laugh at the Simplicity which accompanies it. When a Man is made up wholly of the Dove, without the least Grain of of the Serpent in his Composition, he becomes ridiculous No. 245, in many Circumstances of Life, and very often discredits Tuesday, Dec. 11, his best Actions. The Cordeliers tell a Story of their 1711. Founder St. Francis, that as he passed the Streets in the Dusk of the Evening, he discovered a young Fellow with a Maid in a Corner; upon which the good Man, say they, lifted up his Hands to Heaven with a Secret Thanksgiving, that there was still so much Christian Charity in the World. The Innocence of the Saint made him mistake the Kiss of a Lover for a Salute of Charity, I am heartily concerned when I see a Virtuous Man without a competent Knowledge of the World; and if there be any use in these my Papers, it is this, that without representing Vice under any false alluring Notions, they give my Reader an Insight into the Ways of Men, and represent Human Nature in all its changeable Colours. The Man who has not been engaged in any of the Follies of the World, or as Shakespear expresses, Hackney'd in the Ways of Men, may here find a Picture of its Follies and Extrava gancies. The Virtuous and the Innocent may know in Speculation what they could never arrive at by Practice, and by this means avoid the Snares of the Crafty, the Corruptions of the Vicious, and the Reasonings of the Prejudiced. Their Minds may be opened without being vitiated. It is with an Eye to my following Correspondent, Mr. Timothy Doodle, who seems a very well meaning Man, that I have written this short Preface, to which I shall subjoin a Letter from the said Mr. Doodle. 'Sir, I could heartily wish that you would let us know your Opinion upon several Innocent Diversions which are in use among us, and which are very proper to pass away a Winter Night for those who do not care to throw away their Time at an Opera, or at the Play-house, I would gladly know in particular what Notion you have of Hot-Cockles; as also whether you think that Questions and Commands, Mottoes, Similies and Cross-Purposes have not more Mirth and Wit in them, than those publick |
