haviour, and began to make vifits, frequent aflemblies, and lead out ladies from the theatres, with all the other infignificant duties which the profeffed fervants of the fair place themselves in conftant readiness to perform. In a very little time, (having a plentiful fortune) fathers and mothers began to regard me as a good match, and I found cafy admittance into the beft families in town to obferve their daughters; but I, who was born to follow the fair to no purpose, have by the force of my ill fars made my application to three Jilts fucceflively.

Hyena is one of those who form themfelves into a melancholy and indolent air, and endeavour to gain admirers from their inattention to all around them. Hyæna can loll in her coach, with fomething fo fixed in her countenance, that it is impoffible to conceive her meditation is employed only on her drefs and her charms in that pofture. If it were not too coarse a fimile, I fhould fay, Hyena, in the figure the affeas to appear in, is a fpider in the midst of a cobweb, that is fure to deftroy every fly that approaches it. The net Hyæna throws is fo fine, that you are taken in it before you can obferve any part of her work. I attempted her for a long and weary feafon, but I found her paffion went no farther than to be admired; and she is of that unreafonable temper, as not to value the inconftancy of her lovers, provided the çan boaft fhe once had their addreffes,

Biblis was the fecond I aimed at, and her vanity lay in purchafing the adorers of others, and not in rejoicing in their love itself. Biblis is no man's mistress, but every woman's rival. As foon as I found this, I fell in love with Cloe, who is my present pleasure and torment. I have writ to her, danced with her, and fought for her, and have been her man in the fight and expectation of the whole town thefe three years, and thought myfelf near the end of my wishes; when the other day she called me into her clofet and told me, with a very grave face, that she was a woman of honour, and fcorned to deceive a man who loved her with fo much fincerity as the faw I did, and therefore the must inform me that fhe was by nature the most inconftant ereature breathing, and begged of me not to marry her; if I infifted upon it, I fhould; but that fhe was lately fallen in love with another. What to do or fay I know not, but defire you to inform me, and you will infinitely oblige, Sir, your most humble fervant,

CHARLES YELLOW.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Mr. Sly, haberdasher of hats, at the corner of Devereux Court in the Strand, gives notice, that he has prepared very neat hats, rubbers, and brushes for the ufe of young tradefmen in the last year of their apprenticeship, at reasonable rates.

TULL.

T

dered, before you fet a value upon his efteem. The praife of an ignorant man is only good-will, and you should receive his kindnefs as he is a good neighbour in fociety, and not as a good judge of your actions in point of fame and reputation. The fatirift faid very well of popular praise and acclamations

Give the tinkers and coblers their prefents again, and learn to live of your• felf.' It is an argument of a loose and ungoverned mind to be affected with the promifcuous approbation of

the

the generality of mankind; and a man of virtue fhould be too delicate for fo coarse an appetite of fame. Men of honour should endeavour only to please the worthy, and the man of merit should defire to be tried only by his peers. I thought it a noble fentiment which I heard yesterday uttered in converfation —' I know,' faid a gentleman, a way to be greater than any man: if he has worth in him, I can rejoice in his fuperiority to me; and that fatisfaction is a greater act of the foul in me, than any in him which can poffibly appear 'to me.' This thought could not proceed but from a candid and generous fpirit; and the approbation of fuch minds is what may be efteemed true praife: for with the common rate of men there is nothing commendable but what they themselves may hope to be partakers of, and arrive at: but the motive truly glorious is, when the mind is fet rather to do things laudable, than to purchase reputation. Where there is that fincerity as the foundation of a good name, the kind opinion of virtuous men wil be an unfought, but a neceffary confequence. The Lacedæmonians, though a plain people, and no pretenders to politenefs, had a certain delicacy in their fenfe of glory, and facrificed to the mufes when they entered upon any great enterprife. They would have the commemoration of their actions be tranfmitted by the purest and most untainted memorialists. The din which attends victories and public triumphs is by far lefs eligible than the recital of the actions of great men by honest and wife hiftorians. It is a frivolous pleasure to be the admiration of gaping crowds; but to have the approbation of a good man in the cool reflections of his clofet, is a gratification worthy an heroic fpirit. The applaufe of the crowd makes the head giddy, but the atteftation of a reafonable man makes the heart glad.

What makes the love of popular or general praife ftill more ridiculous, is, that it is ufually given for circumstances which are foreign to the perfons admired. Thus, they are the ordinary attendants on power and riches, which may be taken out of one man's hands, and put into another's. The application only, and not the poffeffion, inakes thofe outward things honourable. The vulgar and men of fenfe agree in admiring men for having what they them

felves would rather be poffeffed of; the wife man applauds him whom he thinks moft virtuous, the reft of the world him who is most wealthy.

When a man is in this way of thinking, I do not know what can occur to one more monstrous, than to fee perfons of ingenuity addrefs their fervices and performances to men no way addicted to liberal arts. In thefe cafes, the praise on one hand, and the patronage on the other, are equally the objects of ridicule. Dedications to ignorant men are as abfurd as any of the fpeeches of Bulfinch in the Droll: fuch an address one is apt to tranflate into other words; and when the different parties are thoroughly confidered, the panegyric generally implies no more than if the author fhould fay to the patron My very good Lord, you and I can never understand one another, therefore I humbly defire we may be intimate friends for the future.'

The rich may as well afk to borrow of the poor, as the man of virtue or merit hope for addition to his character from any but fuch as himself. He that commends another, engages so much of his own reputation as he gives to that perfon commended; and he that has nothing laudable in himself is not of ability to be fuch a furety. The wife Phocion was fo fenfible how dangerous it was to be touched with what the multitude approved, that upon a general acclamation made when he was making an oration, he turned to an intelligent friend who ftood near him, and asked in a furprised manner- What flip have I made?'

I fhall conclude this paper with a billet which has fallen into my hands, and was written to a lady from a gentleman' whom he had highly commended. The author of it had formerly been her lover. When all poffibility of commerce between them on the subject of love was cut off, the spoke fo handfomely of him,, as to give occafion for this letter.

MADAM,

I Should be infenfible to a stupidity, if

I could forbear making you my acknowledgments for your late mention of me with fo much applaufe. It is, I think, your fate to give me new fentiments; as you formerly infpired me with the true fenfe of love, fo do you' now with the true fenfe of glory. As defire had the least part in the passion I heretofore

MR. BUCKLEY,

MR

R. Spectator having of late defcanted upon the cruelty of parents to their children, I have been induced (at the request of feveral of Mr. Spectator's admirers) to inclofe this letter, which I affure you is the original from a father to his own fon, notwithstanding the latter gave but little or no provocation. It would be wonderfully obliging to the world, if Mr. Spectator would give his opinion of it in fome of his fpeculations, and particularly to (Mr. Buckley,) your humble fervant.

SIRKAH,

You are a faucy audacious rafcal,

and both fool and mad, and I care not a farthing whether you comply or no; that does not raze out my impreffions of your infolence, going about railing at me, and the next day to follicit my favour: thefe are inconfiftencies, fuch as difcover thy reafon depraved. To be brief, I never defire to fee your face; and, firrah, if you go to the work-houfe, it is no difgrace to me for you to be fupported there; and if you ftarve in the streets, I will never give any thing underhand in your behalf. If I have any more of your fcribbling nonfenfe I will break your head the first time I fet fight on you. You are a ftubborn beaft; is this your gratitude for my giving you money? You rogue, I'll better your judgment, and give you a greater fenfe of your duty to (I regret to say) your father, &c.

T

P. S. It is prudence in you to keep out of my fight; for to reproach me, that Might overcomes Right, on the outfide of your letter, I fhall give you a great knock on the skull for it.

Was there ever fuch an image of paternal tenderness! It was ufual among fome of the Greeks to make their flaves drink to excefs, and then expose them to their children, who by that means conceived an early averfion to a vice which makes men appear fo monftrous and irrational. I have exposed this picture of an unnatural father with the fame intention, that it's deformity may deter others from it's refemblance. If the reader has a mind to fee a father of the fame ftamp reprefented in the moft exquifite ftrokes of humour, he may

meet with it in one of the finest comedies that ever appeared upon the English ftage: I mean the part of Sir Sampson

in Love for Love.

I must not, however, engage myself blindly on the fide of the fon, to whom the fond letter above-written was directed. His father calls him a faucy

and audacious rafcal' in the first line, and I am afraid upon examination he will prove but an ungracious youth.

To go about railing' at his father, and to find no other place but the out

fide of his letter to tell him that 'might overcomes right,' if it does not difcover his reafon to be depraved,' and

that he is either fool or mad,' as the choleric old gentleman tells him, we may at least allow that the father will do very well in endeavouring to better his judgment, and give him a greater fenfe of his duty. But whether this may be brought about by breaking his head, orgiving him a great knock

6

I must here take notice of a letter which I have received from an unknown correfpondent, upon the fubject of my paper, upon which the foregoing letter is likewife founded. The writer of it feems very much concerned left that paper fhould feem to give encouragement to the difobedience of children to.. wards their parents; but if the writer of it will take the pains to read it over again attentively, I dare fay his apprehenfions will vanifh. Pardon and reconciliation are all the penitent daughter requests, and all that I contend for in her behalf; and in this cafe I may use the faying of an eminent wit, who, upon fome great mens preffing him to forgive his daughter who had married against his confent, told them he could refufe nothing to their inftances, but that he would have them remember there was difference between giving and forgiving.

I must confefs, in all controverfies between parents and their children, I am naturally prejudiced in favour of the former. The obligations on that fide can never be acquitted, and I think it is one of the greatest reflections upon human nature that paternal instinct fhould be a stronger motive to love than Elial gratitude; that the receiving of

favours fhould be a lefs inducement to good-will, tenderness, and commiferation, than the conferring of them; and that the taking care of any perfon fhould endear the child or dependent more to the parent or benefactor, than the parent or benefactor to the child or dependent; yet fo it happens, that for one cruel parent we meet with a thousand undutiful children. This is indeed wonderfully contrived (as I have formerly obferved) for the fupport of every living fpecies; but at the fame time that it fhews the wifdom of the Creator, it difcovers the imperfection and degeneracy of the creature.

The obedience of children to their parents is the bafis of all government, and fet forth as the measure of that obedience which we owe to thofe whom Providence hath placed over us.

It is Father Le Compte, if I am not mistaken, who tells us how want of duty in this particular is punished among the Chinese, infomuch that if a fon fhould be known to kill, or fo much as to strike his father, not only the criminal but his whole family would be rooted out, nay the inhabitants, of the place where he lived would be put to the fword, nay the place itfelf would be razed to the ground, and it's foundations fown with falt: for, fay they, there must have been an utter depravation of manners in that clan or fociety of people who could have bred up among them fo horrid an offender. To this I fhall add a paffage out of the first book of Herodotus. That hiftorian, in his account of the Perfian cuftoms and religion, tells us, it is their opinion that no man ever killed his father, or that it is poffible fuch a crime fhould be in nature; but that if any thing like it fhould ever happen, they conclude that the reputed fon must have been illegitimate, fuppofititious, or begotten in adultery. Their opinion in this particular fhews fufficiently what a notion they must have had of undutifulness in general.

L