No. 292. come none other but himself; not that the Things themfelves are different, but the Manner of doing them. IF you examine each Feature by itself, Aglaura and Calliclea are equally handfome; but take them in the Whole, and you cannot fuffer the Comparifon : The one is full of numberlefs namelefs Graces, the other of as many nameless Faults. THE Comeliness of Perfon, and Decency of Behaviour, add infinite Weight to what is pronounced by any one. 'Tis the Want of this that often makes the Rebukes and Advice of old rigid Perfons of no Effect, and leave a Displeafure in the Minds of those they are directed to: But Youth and Beauty, if accompanied with a graceful and becoming Severity, is of mighty Force to raise, even in the most Profligate, a Senfe of Shame. In Milton, the Devil is never defcribed afhamed but once, and that at the Rebuke of a beauteous Angel. So fpake the Cherub, and his grave Rebuke, And felt how awful Goodness is, and faw Virtue in her own Shape how lovely! faw, and pin'd His Lofs. THE Care of doing nothing unbecoming has accompanied the greatest Minds to their laft Moments. They avoided even an indecent Posture in the very Article of Death. Thus Cæfar gathered his Robe about him, that he might not fall in a Manner unbecoming of himfelf; and the greatest Concern that appeared in the Behaviour of Lucretia, when she stabbed herself, was, that her Body fhould lie in an Attitude worthy the Mind which had inhabited it. Ne non procumbat honeftè Extrema hæc etiam cura cadentis erat. *Twas her laft Thought, How decently to fall. Mr. SPECTATOR, I Am a young Woman without a Fortune; but of a very high Mind: That is, Good Sir, I am to the laft Degree Proud and Vain. I am ever railing at the Rich, for doing Things, which, upon Search into my • Heart, Z Heart, I find I am only angry because I cannot do the fame myself. I wear the hooped Petticoat, and am all in Callicoes when the finest are in Silks. It is a dreadful Thing to be poor and proud; therefore if you please, a Lecture on that Subject for the Satisfaction of Your uneafy humble Servant. JEZEBEL. FFFFFFFFFFFFFRKKKKKKKAK No.293. Tuesday, February 5. Πᾶσιν γὰρ ἐυφρονοῦσε συμμαχει τύχη Frag. Vet. Po. THE famous Gratian, in his little Book wherein he lays down Maxims for a Man's advancing himfelf at Court, advifes his Reader to affociate himself with the Fortunate, and to fhun the Company of the Unfortunate; which, notwithstanding the Bafenefs of the Precept to an honest Mind, may have fomething useful in it for those who push their Interest in the World. It is certain a great Part of what we call good or ill Fortune, arifes out of right or wrong Measures and Schemes of Life. When I hear a Man complain of his being unfortunate in all his Undertakings, I fhrewdly fufpect him for a very weak Man in his affairs. InConformity with thisWay of Thinking, Cardinal Richlieu ufed to fay, that Unfortunate and Imprudent were but two Words for the fame Thing. As the Cardinal himself had a great Share both of Prudence and Good-fortune, his famous Antagonist, the Count d'Olivarez, was difgraced at the Court of Madrid, because it was alledged against him that he had never any Succefs in his Undertakings. This, fays an eminent Author, was indirectly accufing him of Imprudence. CICERO recommended Pompey to the Romans for their General upon three Accounts, as he was a Man of Courage, Conduct, and Good-Fortune. It was perhaps for the Reason above-mentioned namely, that a Series of Good-Fortune fuppofes a prudent Management in the Perfon Person whom it befalls, that not only Sylla the Dictator, but feveral of the Roman Emperors, as is ftill to be seen upon their Medals, among their other Titles, gave themfelves that ofFelix or Fortunate.TheHeathens, indeed, seem to have valued a Man more for his Good-Fortune than for any other Quality, which I think is very natural for those who have not a ftrong Belief of another World. For how can I conceive a Man crowned with many diftinguishing Bleffings, that has not fome extraordinary Fund of Merit and Perfection in him, which lies open to the Supreme Eye,tho' perhaps it is not discovered by my Obfervation ♪ What is the Reason Homer's and Virgil's Heroes do not form a Refolution, or ftrike a Blow, without the Conduct and Direction of fome Deity? Doubtless, because the Poets efteemed it the greateft Honour to be favoured by the Gods, and thought the best Way of praifing a Man was to recount thofe Favours which naturally implied an extraordinary Merit in the Person on whom they defcended. THOSE who believe a future State of Rewards and Punishments act very abfurdly, if they form theirOpinions of a Man's Merit from his Succeffes. But certainly, if F thought the whole Circle of our Being was concluded between our Births and Deaths, I fhould think a Man's GoodFortune the Meafure and Standard of his real Merit, fince Providence would have no Opportunity of rewarding his Virtue and Perfections, but in the prefent Life. A virtuous Unbeliever, who lies under thePreffure of Misfortunes, has Reason to cry out, as they fay Brutus did a little before his Death, O Virtue, I have worshipped thee as a Subftantial Good, but I find thou art an empty Name. BUT to return to our firft Point: Tho" Prudence does undoubtedly in a great Measure produce our good or ill Fortune in the World, it is certain here are many unforefeen Accidents andOccurrences, which very often pervert the finest Schemes that can be laid by Human Wisdom. The Race is not always to the Swift, not the Battle to the ftrong. Nothing less than infinite Wisdom can have an abfolute Command over Fortune; the higheft Degree of it which Man can poffefs, is by no Means equal to fortuitous Events, and to fuch Contingences as may rife in the Profecution of our Affairs. Nay, it very often hap pens, pens, that Prudence, which has always in it a great Mixture of Caution, hinders a Man from being fo fortunate as he might poffibly have been without it. A Perfon who only aims at what is likely to fucceed, and follows clofely the Dictates of human Prudence, never meets with thofe great and unforeseen Succeffes which are of ten the Effect of a fanguine Temper, or a more happy Rashness; and this perhaps may be the Reason, that according to the common Observation, Fortune, like other Females, delights rather in favouring the young than the old. UPON the whole, fince Man is so short-fighted a Creature, and the Accidents which may happen to him fo various, I cannot but be of Dr. Tillotson'sOpinion in another Cafe, that were there any Doubt of a Providence, yet it certainly would be very defirable there should be fuch a Being of infinite Wisdom and Goodness, on whofe Direction we might rely in the Conduct of Human Life. IT is a great Prefumption to afcribe ourSucceffes to our own Management, and not to esteem ourselves upon any Bleffing, rather as it is the Bounty of Heaven, than the Acquifition of our own Prudence. I am very well pleafed with aMedal which was ftruck by Queen Elizabeth, a little after the Defeat of the Invincible Armada, to perpetuate the Memory of that extraordinary Event. It is well known how the King of Spain, and others, who were the Enemies of that great Princefs, to derogate from her Glory, afcribed the Ruin of their Fleet rather to the Violence of Storms and Tempefts, than to the Bravery of the English. Queen Elizabeth, instead of looking upon this as a Diminution of her Honour, valued herself upon fuch a fignal Favour of Providence, and accordingly in the Reverfe of the Medal above-mentioned, has represented a Fleet beaten by a Tempeft, and falling foul upon one another, with that Religious Infcription, Aflavit Deus & diffipantur. He blew with his Wind, and they were Scattered. Ir is remarked of a famous Grecian General, whose Name I cannot at prefent recollect, and who had been a particular Favourite of Fortune, that upon recounting his Victories among his Friends, he added at the End of feveral great Actions, And in this Fortune had no Share. After which it is obferved in Hiftory, that he never profpered in any Thing he undertook. As Arrogance, and a Conceitedness of our own Abilities, are very fhocking and offenfive to Men of Senfe and Virtue, we may be iure they are highly difpleafing to that Being who delights in an humble Mind, and by feveral of his Difpenfations feems purposely to fhew us, that our own Schemes of Prudence have no fhare in our Advancements. SINCE on this Subject I have already admitted several Quotations which have occurred to my Memory upon writing this Paper, I will conclude it with a little Perfian Fable. A Drop of Water fell out of a Cloud into the Sea; and finding itself loft in fuch an Immenfity of fluid Matter, broke out into the following Reflection: Alas! • What an inconfiderable Creature am I in this prodigious Ocean of Waters; my Exiftence is of no Concern to the Universe, I am reduced to a Kind of Nothing, and 6 am lefs than the least of the Works of God.' It fo happened, that an Oyster, which lay in the Neighbourhood of this Drop, chanced to gape and fwallow it up in the midst of this its humble Soliloquy. The Drop, fays the Fable, lay a great while hardning in the Shell, 'till by Degrees it was ripen'd into a Pearl, which falling into the Hands of a Diver, after a long Series of Adventures, is at prefent that famous Pearl which is fixed on the Top of the Perfian Diadem. L 滿滿! ! No.294. Wednesday, February 6. Difficile eft plurimum virtutem revereri qui femper fecum da fortuna fit ufus. Tull. ad Herennium. NSOLENCE is the Crime of all others which eve ry Man is apt to rail at; and yet is there one Refpect in which almost allMen living are guilty of it, and that is in the Cafe of laying a greater Value upon theGifts of Fortune than we ought. It is here in England come into + our |