The Spectator Volume Iii Part 74

[Footnote 1: Age.]

No. 550. Monday, December 1, 1712. Addison.

'Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor HIATU?'

Hor.

Since the late Dissolution of the Club whereof I have often declared my self a Member, there are very many Persons who by Letters, Pet.i.tions, and Recommendations, put up for the next Election. At the same time I must complain, that several indirect and underhand Practices have been made use of upon this Occasion. A certain Country Gentleman begun to _tapp_ upon the first Information he received of Sir ROGER'S Death; when he sent me up word, that if I would get him chosen in the Place of the Deceased, he would present me with a Barrel of the best _October_ I had ever drank in my Life. The Ladies are in great Pain to know whom I intend to elect in the Room of WILL. HONEYCOMBE. Some of them indeed are of Opinion that Mr. HONEYCOMBE did not take sufficient care of their Interests in the Club, and are therefore desirous of having in it hereafter a Representative of their own s.e.x. A Citizen who subscribes himself _Y. Z._ tells me that he has one and twenty Shares in the _African_ Company, and offers to bribe me with the odd one in case he may succeed Sir ANDREW FREEPORT, which he thinks would raise the Credit of that Fund. I have several Letters, dated from _Fenny Man's_, by Gentlemen who are Candidates for Capt. SENTRY'S Place, and as many from a Coffee-House in _Paul's_ Church-yard of such who would fill up the Vacancy occasioned by the Death of my worthy Friend the Clergyman, whom I can never mention but with a particular Respect.

Having maturely weighed these several Particulars, with the many Remonstrances that have been made to me on this Subject, and considering how invidious an Office I shall take upon me, if I make the whole Election depend upon my single Voice, and being unwilling to expose my self to those Clamours, which, on such an Occasion, will not fail to be raised against me for Partiality, Injustice, Corruption, and other Qualities which my Nature abhors, I have formed to my self the Project of a Club as follows.

I have thoughts of issuing out Writs to all and every of the Clubs that are established in the Cities of _London_ and _Westminster_, requiring them to chuse out of their respective Bodies a Person of the greatest Merit, and to return his name to me before _Lady-day_, at which time I intend to sit upon Business.

By this means I may have Reason to hope, that the Club over which I shall preside will be the very Flower and Quintescence of all other Clubs. I have communicated this my Project to none but a particular Friend of mine, whom I have celebrated twice or thrice for his Happiness in that kind of Wit which is commonly known by the Name of a Punn. The only Objection he makes to it is, that I shall raise up Enemies to my self if I act with so regal an Air; and that my Detractors, instead of giving me the usual t.i.tle of SPECTATOR, will be apt to call me the _King of Clubs_.

But to proceed on my intended Project: It is very well known that I at first set forth in this Work with the Character of a silent Man; and I think I have so well preserved my Taciturnity, that I do not remember to have violated it with three Sentences in the s.p.a.ce of almost two Years.

As a Monosyllable is my Delight, I have made very few Excursions in the Conversations which I have related beyond a Yes or a No. By this Means my Readers have lost many good things which I have had in my Heart, though I did not care for uttering them.

Now in order to diversify my Character, and to shew the World how well I can talk if I have a Mind, I have Thoughts of being very loquacious in the Club which I have now under Consideration. But that I may proceed the more regularly in this Affair, I design, upon the first Meeting of the said Club, to have _my Mouth opened_ in form; intending to regulate my self in this Particular by a certain Ritual which I have by me, that contains all the Ceremonies which are practised at the opening of the Mouth of a Cardinal. I have likewise examined the forms which were used of old by _Pythagoras_, when any of his Scholars, after an Apprenticeship of Silence, was made free of his Speech. In the mean time, as I have of late found my Name in foreign Gazettes upon less Occasions, I question not but in their next Articles from _Great Britain_, they will inform the World that _the_ SPECTATOR'S _Mouth is to be opened on the twenty-fifth of_ March _next_. [1] I may perhaps publish a very useful Paper at that Time of the Proceedings in that Solemnity, and of the Persons who shall a.s.sist at it. But of this more hereafter.

O.

[Footnote 1: On the twelfth of the following March appeared the first number of Steele's _Guardian_. Addison's attempt to revive the _Spectator_ was not made until June, 1714.]

No. 551. Tuesday, December 2, 1712.

'Sic Honor et Nomen divinis vatibus atque Carminibus venit.'

Hor.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

When Men of worthy and excelling Genius's have obliged the World with beautiful and instructive Writings, it is in the nature of Grat.i.tude that Praise should be returned them, as one proper consequent Reward of their Performances. Nor has Mankind ever been so degenerately sunk, but they have made this Return, and even when they have not been wrought up by the generous Endeavour so as to receive the Advantages designed by it. This Praise, which arises first in the Mouth of particular Persons, spreads and lasts according to the Merit of Authors; and when it thus meets with a full Success changes its Denomination, and is called _Fame_. They who have happily arrived at this, are, even while they live, enflamed by the Acknowledgments of others, and spurred on to new Undertakings for the Benefit of Mankind, notwithstanding the Detraction which some abject Tempers would cast upon them: But when they decease, their Characters being freed from the Shadow which _Envy_ laid them under, begin to shine out with greater Splendour; their Spirits survive in their Works; they are admitted into the highest Companies, and they continue pleasing and instructing Posterity from Age to Age. Some of the best gain a Character, by being able to shew that they are no Strangers to them; and others obtain a new Warmth to labour for the Happiness and Ease of Mankind, from a Reflection upon those Honours which are paid to their Memories.

The Thought of this took me up as I turned over those Epigrams which are the Remains of several of the _Wits_ of _Greece_, and perceived many dedicated to the Fame of those who had excelled in beautiful poetick Performances. Wherefore, in pursuance to my Thought, I concluded to do something along with them to bring their Praises into a new Light and Language, for the Encouragement of those whose modest Tempers may be deterr'd by the Fear of Envy or Detraction from fair Attempts, to which their Parts might render them equal. You will perceive them as they follow to be conceived in the form of Epitaphs, a sort of Writing which is wholly set apart for a short pointed Method of Praise.

On _Orpheus_, written by _Antipater_.

'No longer_, Orpheus, _shall thy sacred Strains Lead Stones, and Trees, and Beasts along the Plains; No longer sooth the boistrous Wind to sleep, Or still the Billows of the raging Deep: For thou art gone, the Muses mourn'd thy Fall In solemn Strains, thy Mother most of all.

Ye Mortals, idly for your Sons ye moan, If thus a G.o.ddess could not save her own.'

Observe here, that if we take the Fable for granted, as it was believed to be in that Age when the Epigram was written, the Turn appears to have Piety to the G.o.ds, and a resigning Spirit in its Application. But if we consider the Point with respect to our present Knowledge, it will be less esteem'd; though the Author himself, because he believ'd it, may still be more valued than any one who should now write with a Point of the same Nature.

On _Homer_, by _Alpheus_ of _Mytilene_.

'Still in our Ears_ Andromache _complains, And still in sight the Fate of_ Troy _remains; Still_ Ajax _fights, still_ Hector's _dragg'd along, Such strange Enchantment dwells in_ Homer's _Song; Whose Birth cou'd more than one poor Realm adorn, For all the World is proud that he was born.'

The Thought in the first part of this is natural, and depending upon the Force of Poesy: In the latter part it looks as if it would aim at the History of seven Towns contending for the Honour of _Homer's_ Birth-place; but when you expect to meet with that common Story, the Poet slides by, and raises the whole _World_ for a kind of _Arbiter_, which is to end the Contention amongst its several Parts.

On _Anacreon_ by _Antipater._

'This Tomb be thine,_ Anacreon; _all around Let Ivy wreath, let Flourets deck the Ground, And from its Earth, enrich'd with such a Prize, Let Wells of Milk and Streams of Wine arise: So will thine Ashes yet a Pleasure know, If any Pleasure reach the Shades below.'

The Poet here written upon, is an easy gay Author, and he who writes upon him has filled his own Head with the Character of his Subject. He seems to love his Theme so much, that he thinks of nothing but pleasing him as if he were still alive, by entering into his Libertine Spirit; so that the Humour is easy and gay, resembling _Anacreon_ in its Air, raised by such Images, and pointed with such a Turn as he might have used. I give it a place here, because the Author may have design'd it for his Honour; and I take an Opportunity from it to advise others, that when they would praise, they cautiously avoid every looser Qualification, and fix only where there is a real Foundation in Merit.

On _Euripides_, by _Ion._

'Divine_ Euripides, _this Tomb we see So fair, is not a Monument for thee, So much as thou for it, since all will own Thy Name and lasting Praise adorns the Stone.'

The Thought here is fine, but its Fault is, that it is general, that it may belong to any great Man, because it points out no particular Character. It would be better, if when we light upon such a Turn, we join it with something that circ.u.mscribes and bounds it to the Qualities of our Subject. He who gives his Praise in gross, will often appear either to have been a Stranger to those he writes upon, or not to have found any thing in them which is Praise-worthy.

On _Sophocles_, by _Simonides_.

'Winde, gentle Ever-green, to form a Shade Around the Tomb where_ Sophocles _is laid; Sweet Ivy winde thy Boughs, and intertwine With blushing Roses and the cl.u.s.tring Vine: Thus will thy lasting Leaves, with Beauties hung, Prove grateful Emblems of the Lays he sung; Whose Soul, exalted like a_ G.o.d _of_ Wit, _Among the_ Muses _and the_ Graces _writ.'

This Epigram I have open'd more than any of the former: The Thought towards the latter End seemed closer couched, so as to require an Explication. I fancied the Poet aimed at the Picture which is generally made of _Apollo_ and the _Muses_, he sitting with his Harp in the Middle, and they around him. This look'd beautiful to my Thought, and because the Image arose before me out of the Words of the Original as I was reading it, I venture to explain them so.