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accefs) knew little more than that the gentleman came from London to travel and fee fashions, and was, as he heard fay, a free-thinker: What religion that might be, he could not tell; and for his own part, if they had not told him the man was a free-thinker, he fhould have gueffed by his way of talking he was little better than a heathen; excepting only that he had been a good gentleman to him, and made him drunk twice in one day, over and above what they had bargained • for.

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I do not look upon the fimplicity of this, and feveral odd inquiries with which I fhall not trouble you to be wondered at, much less can I think that our youths of fine wit, and enlarged understandings, have any reafon to laugh. There is no neceffity that every Squire in Great Britain 'fhould know what the word Free-thinker stands for; but it were much to be wifhed, that they who value themselves upon that conceited title were a little better inftructed in what it ought to ftand for; and that they would not perfuade 'themselves a man is really and truly a free-thinker in any tolerable fenfe, merely by virtue of his being an atheift, or an infidel of any other diftinction. It may be doubted with good reason, whether there ever was in nature a more abject, flavish, and bigotted generation than the tribe of • Beau Efprits, at prefent fo prevailing in this ifland, Their pretenfion to be free-thinkers, is no other than rakes have to be free-livers, and favages to be free-men; that is, they can think whatever they have a mind to, and give themfelves up to 'whatever conceit the extravagancy of their inclination, or their fancy thall fuggeft; they can. think as wildly as they talk and act, and will not endure that their wit fhould be controlled by 'fuch formal things as decency and common sense: Deduction, coherence, confiftency, and all the

rules

• rules of reason they accordingly difdain, as too precife and mechanical for men of a liberal edu'cation.

This, as far as I could ever learn from their writings, or my own obfervation, is a true account of the Britif free-thinker. Our vifitant here, who gave occafion to this paper, has brought ' with him a new fyftem of common fenfe, the particulars of which I am not yet acquainted with, but will lofe no opportunity of informing myself whether it contain any thing worth Mr. SPEC'TATOR's notice. In the mean time, Sir, I cannot but think it would be for the good of mankind, if you would take this fubject into your confideration, and convince the hopeful youth ' of our nation, that licentiousnefs is not freedom; " ΟΥ, if fuch a paradox will not be understood, that a prejudice towards atheifin is not impartia

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Populares

Vicentem ftrepitus HOR. Ars Poet. ver. 81. Awes the tumultuous noises of the pit.

ROSCOMMON.

THERE is nothing which lies more within the province of a fpectator than publick fhows and diverfions; and as among these there are none which can pretend to vie with thofe elegant entertainments that are exhibited in our theatres, I think it particularly incumbent on me to take notice of

every thing that is remarkable in fuch numerous and refined affemblies.

It is obferved, that of late years there has been a certain perfon in the upper gallery of the playhoufe, who, when he is pleased with any thing that is acted upon the ftage, expreffes his approbation by a loud knock upon the benches or the wainscot, which may be heard over the whole theatre. The perfon is commonly known by the name of the Trunk-maker in the upper gallery. Whether it be that the blow that he gives on thefe occafions refembles that which is often heard in the fhops of fuch artifans, or that he was fuppofed to have been a real trunk-maker, who after the finishing of his day's work used to unbend his mind at these publick diverfions with his hammer in his hand, I cannot certainly tell. There are fome I know who have been foolish enough to imagine it is a fpirit which haunts the upper gallery, and from time to time makes thofe ftrange noifes; and the rather, because he is obferved to be louder than ordinary every time the ghost of Hamlet appears. Others have reported, that it is a dumb man, who has chofen this way of uttering himself when he is transported with any thing he fees or hears. Others will have it to be the playhouse-thunderer, that exerts himself after this manner in the upper gallery when he has nothing to do upon the roof.

But having made it my bufinefs to get the best information I could in a matter of this moment, I find that the trunk-maker, as he is commonly called, is a large black man, whom no body knows. He generally leans forward on a huge oaken plant, with great attention to every thing that paffes upon the stage. He is never feen to fmile; but upon hearing any thing that pleafes him, he takes up his staff with both hands, and lays it upon the next piece of timber that ftands in his way with exceeding vehemence: After which, he composes himself VOL. III. Bb

in

in his former pofture, until fuch time as fomething new fets him again at work.

It has been obferved, his blow is fo well timed, that the moft judicious critick could not except against it. As foon as any fhining thought is expreffed in the poet, or an uncommon grace appears in the actor, he fmites the bench or wainscot. If the audience does not concur with him, he fmites a fecond time, and if the audience is not yet awaked, looks round him with great wrath, and repeats the blow a third time, which never fails to produce the clap. He fometimes lets the audience begin the clap of themselves, and at the conclufion of their applaufe ratifies it with a single thwack.

He is of fo great ufe to the playhouse, that it is faid a former director of it, upon his not being able to pay his attendance by reafon of sickness, kept one in pay to officiate for him until fach time as he recovered; but the perfon fo employed, though he laid about him with incredible violence, did it in fuch wrong places, that the audience foon found out that it was not their old friend the trunkmaker.

It has been remarked, that he has not yet exerted himself with vigour this feafon. He fometimes plies at the opera; and upon Nicolini's firft appearance, was faid to have demolished three benches in the fury of his applaufe. He has broken half a dozen oaken plants upon Dogget, and feldom goes away from a tragedy of Shakespear, without leaving the wainitot extremely fhattered.

The players do not only connive at his obftreperous approbation, but very cheerfully repair at their own coft whatever damages he makes. They had once a thought of erecting a kind of wooden anvil for his use, that fhould be made of a very founding plank, in order to render his strokes more deep and mellow; but as this might not have been dif

tinguished

tinguished from the mufick of a kettle-drum, the project was laid afide.

In the nean while, I cannot but take notice of the great ufe it is to an audience, that a perfon fhould this prefide over their heads like the director of a confort, in order to awaken their attention, and beat time to their applaufes; or, to raife my fimile, I have fometimes fancied the trunk-maker in the upper gallery to-be like Virgil's ruler of the winds, feated upon the top of a mountain, who, when he ftruck his fceptre upon. the fide of it, roufed an hurricane, and fet the whole cavern in an uproar.

It is certain, the trunk-maker has faved many a good play, and brought many a graceful actor into reputation, who would not otherwife have been taken notice of. It is very vifible, as the audience is not a little abalhed, if they find themfelyes betrayed into a clap, when their friend in the upper gallery does not come into it; fo the actors do not value themfelves upon the clap, but regard it as a mere brutum fulmen, or empty noife, when it has not the found of the oaken plant in it. I know it has been given out by thofe who are enemies to the trunk-maker, that he has fometimes been bribed to be in the intereft of a bad poet, or a vicious player; but this is a furmife which has no foundation: His ftrokes are always juft, and his admonitions feafonable; he does not deal about his blows at random, but always hits the right nail upon the head. The inexpreffible force wherewith he lays them on, fufficiently thews the evidence and ftrength of his con• viction. His zeal for a good author is indeed outrageous, and breaks down every fence and partition, every board and plank, that itands within the expreffion of his applaufe.

As I do not care for terminating my thoughts in barren fpeculations, or in reports of pure matter of fact, without drawing fomething from them for the advantage.

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