The Spectator Volume I Part 55

[Footnote 1: Ecclesiasticus vii. 5, 6.]

[Footnote 2: Eccles. vi. 7, and following verses.]

[Footnote 3: Eccles. vi. 15-18.]

[Footnote 4: Eccles. ix. 10.]

[Footnote 5: Eccles. ix, 20-22.]

[Footnote 6: Eccles. xxvii. 16, &c.]

[Footnote 7: Cicero 'de Amicitia', and in the 'De Officiis' he says (Bk. II.),

'difficile dicta est, quantopere conciliet animos hominum comitas, affabilitasque sermonia.']

No. 69. Sat.u.r.day, May 19, 1711. Addison.

'Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae: Arborei foetus alibi, atque injussa viresc.u.n.t Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, India mitt.i.t ebur, molles sua thura Sabaei?

At Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus Castorea, Eliadum palmas Epirus equarum?

Continuo has leges aeternaque foedera certis Imposuit Natura locis ...'

Virg.

There is no Place in the Town which I so much love to frequent as the _Royal-Exchange_. It gives me a secret Satisfaction, and in some measure, gratifies my Vanity, as I am an _Englishman_, to see so rich an a.s.sembly of Countrymen and Foreigners consulting together upon the private Business of Mankind, and making this Metropolis a kind of _Emporium_ for the whole Earth. I must confess I look upon High-Change to be a great Council, in which all considerable Nations have their Representatives. Factors in the Trading World are what Amba.s.sadors are in the Politick World; they negotiate Affairs, conclude Treaties, and maintain a good Correspondence between those wealthy Societies of Men that are divided from one another by Seas and Oceans, or live on the different Extremities of a Continent. I have often been pleased to hear Disputes adjusted between an Inhabitant of _j.a.pan_ and an Alderman of _London_, or to see a Subject of the _Great Mogul_ entering into a League with one of the _Czar of Muscovy_. I am infinitely delighted in mixing with these several Ministers of Commerce, as they are distinguished by their different Walks and different Languages: Sometimes I am justled among a Body of _Armenians_; Sometimes I am lost in a Crowd of _Jews_; and sometimes make one in a Groupe of _Dutchmen_.

I am a _Dane_, _Swede_, or _Frenchman_ at different times; or rather fancy my self like the old Philosopher, who upon being asked what Countryman he was, replied, That he was a Citizen of the World.

Though I very frequently visit this busie Mult.i.tude of People, I am known to no Body there but my Friend, Sir ANDREW, who often smiles upon me as he sees me bustling in the Crowd, but at the same time connives at my Presence without taking any further Notice of me. There is indeed a Merchant of _Egypt_, who just knows me by sight, having formerly remitted me some Mony to _Grand Cairo_; [1] but as I am not versed in the Modern _Coptick_, our Conferences go no further than a Bow and a Grimace.

This grand Scene of Business gives me an infinite Variety of solid and substantial Entertainments. As I am a great Lover of Mankind, my Heart naturally overflows with Pleasure at the sight of a prosperous and happy Mult.i.tude, insomuch that at many publick Solemnities I cannot forbear expressing my Joy with Tears that have stolen down my Cheeks. For this Reason I am wonderfully delighted to see such a Body of Men thriving in their own private Fortunes, and at the same time promoting the Publick Stock; or in other Words, raising Estates for their own Families, by bringing into their Country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it whatever is superfluous.

Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance upon one another, and be united together by their common Interest. Almost every _Degree_ produces something peculiar to it. The Food often grows in one Country, and the Sauce in another. The Fruits of _Portugal_ are corrected by the Products of _Barbadoes:_ The Infusion of a _China_ Plant sweetned with the Pith of an _Indian_ Cane. The _Philippick_ Islands give a Flavour to our _European_ Bowls. The single Dress of a Woman of Quality is often the Product of a hundred Climates. The m.u.f.f and the Fan come together from the different Ends of the Earth. The Scarf is sent from the Torrid Zone, and the Tippet from beneath the Pole. The Brocade Petticoat rises out of the Mines of _Peru_, and the Diamond Necklace out of the Bowels of _Indostan_.

If we consider our own Country in its natural Prospect, without any of the Benefits and Advantages of Commerce, what a barren uncomfortable Spot of Earth falls to our Share! Natural Historians tell us, that no Fruit grows Originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig-Nutts, with other Delicates of the like Nature; That our Climate of itself, and without the a.s.sistances of Art, can make no further Advances towards a Plumb than to a Sloe, and carries an Apple to no greater a Perfection than a Crab: That [our [2]] Melons, our Peaches, our Figs, our Apricots, and Cherries, are Strangers among us, imported in different Ages, and naturalized in our _English_ Gardens; and that they would all degenerate and fall away into the Trash of our own Country, if they were wholly neglected by the Planter, and left to the Mercy of our Sun and Soil. Nor has Traffick more enriched our Vegetable World, than it has improved the whole Face of Nature among us. Our Ships are laden with the Harvest of every Climate: Our Tables are stored with Spices, and Oils, and Wines: Our Rooms are filled with Pyramids of _China_, and adorned with the Workmanship of _j.a.pan_: Our Morning's Draught comes to us from the remotest Corners of the Earth: We repair our Bodies by the Drugs of _America_, and repose ourselves under _Indian_ Canopies. My Friend Sir ANDREW calls the Vineyards of _France_ our Gardens; the Spice-Islands our Hot-beds; the _Persians_ our Silk-Weavers, and the _Chinese_ our Potters. Nature indeed furnishes us with the bare Necessaries of Life, but Traffick gives us greater Variety of what is Useful, and at the same time supplies us with every thing that is Convenient and Ornamental. Nor is it the least Part of this our Happiness, that whilst we enjoy the remotest Products of the North and South, we are free from those Extremities of Weather [which [3]] give them Birth; That our Eyes are refreshed with the green Fields of _Britain_, at the same time that our Palates are feasted with Fruits that rise between the Tropicks.

For these Reasons there are no more useful Members in a Commonwealth than Merchants. They knit Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of good Offices, distribute the Gifts of Nature, find Work for the Poor, add Wealth to the Rich, and Magnificence to the Great. Our _English_ Merchant converts the Tin of his own Country into Gold, and exchanges his Wool for Rubies. The _Mahometans_ are clothed in our _British_ Manufacture, and the Inhabitants of the frozen Zone warmed with the Fleeces of our Sheep.

When I have been upon the _'Change_, I have often fancied one of our old Kings standing in Person, where he is represented in Effigy, and looking down upon the wealthy Concourse of People with which that Place is every Day filled. In this Case, how would he be surprized to hear all the Languages of _Europe_ spoken in this little Spot of his former Dominions, and to see so many private Men, who in his Time would have been the Va.s.sals of some powerful Baron, negotiating like Princes for greater Sums of Mony than were formerly to be met with in the Royal Treasury! Trade, without enlarging the _British_ Territories, has given us a kind of additional Empire: It has multiplied the Number of the Rich, made our Landed Estates infinitely more Valuable than they were formerly, and added to them an Accession of other Estates as Valuable as the Lands themselves.

C.

[Footnote 1: A reference to the Spectator's voyage to Grand Cairo mentioned in No. 1.]

[Footnote 2: "these Fruits, in their present State, as well as our"]

[Footnote 3: that]

No. 70. Monday, May 21, 1711. Addison.

'Interdum vulgus r.e.c.t.u.m videt.'

Hor.

When I travelled, I took a particular Delight in hearing the Songs and Fables that are come from Father to Son, and are most in Vogue among the common People of the Countries through which I pa.s.sed; for it is impossible that any thing should be universally tasted and approved by a Mult.i.tude, tho' they are only the Rabble of a Nation, which hath not in it some peculiar Aptness to please and gratify the Mind of Man. Human Nature is the same in all reasonable Creatures; and whatever falls in with it, will meet with Admirers amongst Readers of all Qualities and Conditions. _Moliere_, as we are told by Monsieur _Boileau_, used to read all his Comedies to [an [1]] old Woman [who [2]] was his Housekeeper, as she sat with him at her Work by the Chimney-Corner; and could foretel the Success of his Play in the Theatre, from the Reception it met at his Fire-side: For he tells us the Audience always followed the old Woman, and never failed to laugh in the same Place. [3]

I know nothing which more shews the essential and inherent Perfection of Simplicity of Thought, above that which I call the Gothick Manner in Writing, than this, that the first pleases all Kinds of Palates, and the latter only such as have formed to themselves a wrong artificial Taste upon little fanciful Authors and Writers of Epigram. _Homer_, _Virgil_, or _Milton_, so far as the Language of their Poems is understood, will please a Reader of plain common Sense, who would neither relish nor comprehend an Epigram of _Martial_, or a Poem of _Cowley_: So, on the contrary, an ordinary Song or Ballad that is the Delight of the common People, cannot fail to please all such Readers as are not unqualified for the Entertainment by their Affectation or Ignorance; and the Reason is plain, because the same Paintings of Nature which recommend it to the most ordinary Reader, will appear Beautiful to the most refined.

The old Song of _Chevey Chase_ is the favourite Ballad of the common People of _England_; and _Ben Johnson_ used to say he had rather have been the Author of it than of all his Works. Sir _Philip Sidney_ in his 'Discourse of Poetry' [4] speaks of it in the following Words;

_I never heard the old Song of_ Piercy _and_ Douglas, _that I found not my Heart more moved than with a Trumpet; and yet it is sung by some blind Crowder with no rougher Voice than rude Stile; which being so evil apparelled in the Dust and Cobweb of that uncivil Age, what would it work trimmed in the gorgeous Eloquence of_ Pindar?

For my own part I am so professed an Admirer of this antiquated Song, that I shall give my Reader a Critick upon it, without any further Apology for so doing.