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002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | IX recital may frequently supply the apparent want of a syllable ; and that even the redun dancy of a syllable does not necessarily de stroy the metre. I cannot indeed suppose that either Shakespeare or Fletcher used to count the syllables in the lines they com posed; they appealed to the ear, the true criterion, and if that was satisfied, the line was admitted without a scrutiny. Were it not for this singularity in Seward's edition, I should prefer it to that of 1778, though the latter was intended as an improvement on it. The only ancient copy in my possession, is the second folio, which I read with more satisfaction than either of the modern, as it has more the ap pearance of originality, which is agreeable to every reader, and is nearly equally correct. b | 17 | 0.804 | 0.156 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 15 Page 60. Melantius Diphilus, Thou com'st as sent. That is, as if you were sent on purpose. Theo bald censures this expression as obscure ; but the word as is frequently used by our Author in the sense of as if. So, in the Elder Brother, Mi ramont says, Tho' I speak no Greek, I love the sound on't; It goes on thundering, as it conjured devils. Page 71. Evadne All the creatures Made for heaven's honours. We should read, Heaven's honour. Page 74. King Reach me a bowl of wine; Melantius, thou ar't sad. Melantius I should be, sir, the merriest here, Sec. We find from Theobald's note on this passage, that in the former editions this last speech was given to Amintor, and the substance of it would apply to him; but as Melantius was the person to whom the King addressed himself, the reply should come from him. Besides, it was the King's intention to sound him, and discover from his behaviour, whether the information of Cal lianax was true; he therefore accuses him of | 35 | 0.807 | 0.161 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 23 Late means lately. So, in the first part of Henry the Sixth, Plantagenet says to Mortimer, Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used, Your nephew, late despised Richard, comes. Page 154. Cleremont And yet he looks like a mortified member, As if he had a fick man's salve in his mouth. Mr. Theobald reads, Sick man's slayer: but Sjcdye is the reading of the second folio, and un doubtedly the true one. For an explanation of this passage I am in debted to Mr. Steevens, whose observations on it I shall transcribe in his own words. The Sick Man's Salve was a devotional tract men tioned in several of the old plays and pamphlets. In Ben Johnson's Epicene, Act 4. Scene 4. Haughty, speaking of the father and mother of her maid Trusty, says that they were both mad when she hired her ; and that one of them (she knew not which) " was cured with the Sick " Man's Salve, and the other with Green's " Groat's-worth of Wit." Again, in Eastward Hoe — And speak you all the Sick Man's Salve without Book ? | 43 | 0.809 | 0.167 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 51 Alluding to the bushes formerly hung out at taverns. Page 53. Jacques What goldly locks. Read, goldy locks, as in Theobald's edition. Page 53. Sulpitia The Rutter too is gone. Theobald supposes that this should be routier, which signifies, as he says, in French, an old weather-beaten soldier--but an old weather-beaten soldier would not have answered Sulpitia's pur pose. Les Ruitres, is the name given by all the French historians of the last age to a species of German infantry, which served in their armies. So that by Rutter, Sulpitia means the German soldier; describing him by his country, as she does the rest of her heroes. But Fletcher probably meant also to allude to his occupation in Sul pitia's service ; and in that sense the word is justly explained by the Editor. So in the first act, Rutilio, speaking of Claudio, says — To any honest well-deserving fellow, An 'twere but a merry cobler, I could sit still now, I love the game so well; but that this puckfoist, This universal Rutter, &c. Page 56. Rutilio I will so frubbish you. The right word is fjorbish, which signifies to rub to brightness. Page 65. Duarte No moisture sooner dies than woman's tears. | 71 | 0.824 | 0.152 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 83 That is, by slights founded on an high opinion of our own deserts. Page 359. Shorthose Away to tables then. That is, to the game of backgammon. Page 360. Fountaine ...How handsomely This title-piece of anger shews upon her. All the editions, except the first, read, Little piece of anger ; which is clearly the better read ing- Page 363. Isabella My end's too glorious in my eyes, and barter'd The goodness I propounded with opinion. I cannot understand these lines as they stand, and should read— My end's too glorious in mi eyes, to barter The goodness I propounded with opinion. That is, to exchange the pleasure of doing good for the reputation of it. Page 364. Francisco To doubt I may be worth your gift, a treason Both to my own good, and understanding. Seward reads, Both to my own good, and your understanding; which appears to me a judicious amendment, though rejected by the last Editors, The passage, however, is sense without it. Page 366. Francisco Oh, 'tis a dragon.*. And such a sprightly way of pleasure ! | 103 | 0.812 | 0.169 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 137 unchaste, in consequence of that ambition, she is free from falseness, and even above disguise. To denominate the play from Photinus, Achillas, or Septimius, would be doing too much honour to those subordinate characters: Besides, the word false, though applied to deceitfulness, incon stancy, and want of truth, is never used to ex press such atrocious villainies as they were en gaged in. Page 82. Achillas. ...They still besiege him. Meaning Pompey, whom Cassar besieged in his camp. Page 85. Achoreus.... A fugitive From Pompey's camp, and now in a danger When he should use his service. There can be no doubt concerning the meaning of this passage, which is justly explained by Seward : but the construction, as it now stands, is so very confused, that it cannot be right ; I should therefore amend it, by leaving out the word and in the second line, and then it will run thus— A fugitive From Pompey's army, now in a danger When he should use his service. Page 92. Photinus And though 'tis noble to a sinking friend To lend a helping hand, while there is hope i | 157 | 0.811 | 0.173 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 151 The second- Be a maid, and take'em. That is, take them, which appears the true read ing. I suppose, though there be no stage-direction for that purpose, that Ardelia offers some jewels to Lucinda, which she presses her to take : the word here confirms the conjecture. Valentinian was neither present, nor had been mentioned in the scene. Page 277. LuciNA If ever any thing were constant in you Except your sins, or common but your curses. Seward and the last Editors agree in this read ing, though unsupported by any of the old copies, but disagree with respect to the explanation of it. Seward supposing that by your curses, is meant the curses entailed on all womankind ; (what those curses are, he has not specified) and the Editors supposing that by your curses, is meant the curses that should attend their sins. The second folio reads-- Or coming but your courses. Which must be wrong, for it is not intelligible; it leads, however, to what I suspect to be the true reading, viz. Or coming but your curtsies. Coming is here used in the sense of becoming; a | 171 | 0.806 | 0.171 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 163 The use of tooth -picks, and of forks also, was first introduced in the time of our poets, by the travelled gentry, and were considered by home bred people as foppish and fantastical. In Massinger's Great Duke of Florence, Ca landrino, when describing the various accom plishments he had acquired since he became a courtier, says — I have all that's requisite to make me up a signor: I have my spruce rufF; My hooded cloak, long stockings, and paned hose; My case of tooth-picks, and my silver fork, To convey an olive neatly to my mouth. Page 400. Sebastian Sirrah, I say still, you have spoil'd your master. Leave your stitches. The Editors suppose that we ought to read speeches, instead of stitches: but stitches is the right reading, and means grimaces, or contortions of the face, to which travellers are frequently addicted. So Frederick says to Lodowick, in the 2d AcV of the Captain— If you talk, Or pull your face into a stitch again, As I love truth, I shall be very angry. One of the senses of the word stitch is a fur- row. | 183 | 0.805 | 0.17 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 179 That is, the authority and influence that a mo ther ought to have, which she considers as les sened and degraded by the humble posture of kneeling. Page 99. SoPHIA And let the last, and worst act of tyrants. The murder of a mother, &c. The old and the better reading is, The worst act of tyrannies, which has been unnecessarily changed to tyrants. Page 100. GRANDPREE....Those desires are of Frail thought This is not sense. The second folio reads— Those desires are off"; Frail thoughts ! Which is clearly right. Page 100. Grandpree The several courtesies of Vour swords and servants, Defer to apter consequence. The old reading is--- to after consequence. Which is rejected by Seward, as a poor tautology. But I see no reason why after consequence should be more a tautology than what may follow here after, which is a common expression. I should therefore reject the amendment. Page 101. LATORcmt Oh ! power of prayerf , and tears dropp'd by a woman ! | 199 | 0.808 | 0.174 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 193 Than either tongue or art of your's, &c. And it should not be changed. The amendment is Sympson's, who says, that the words act and art are frequently confounded in these plays : but he is mistaken ; the words are not confounded, but art is designedly used by the Poets as syno nimous to act ; of which I have already shewn many instances, both in these plays, and those of Shakespeare. We should, therefore, adhere to the old reading, as that of the Authors. Page 214. Rosalura You teach behaviours ? Or touch us for our freedoms ? The Editors wish to read task, instead of touch ; but unnecessarily, as both words have the same meaning. So Lugier says afterwards to Mirabel- It will be dangerous to pursue your old way, To touch at any thing concerns her honour. Page 217. Rosalura„..A1I we did, Or said, or purpos'd, to be spells about us, Spells to provoke — There should be no break at the end of this speech, as the sentence is completed. Page 226. Mirabel And it will curse itself, and eat no meat, lady ; And it will fight. I think Sympson right in reading sigh, instead of fight. Lelia's reply— c c | 213 | 0.803 | 0.172 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 196 There is not such a word as glode; we should read glade instead of it. The Servant compares the space between the pinnacles on her pate to a glade cut in wood, in which it is usual to spread nets for woodcocks. Page 266. Mirabel And yet, perhaps, I know you. There should be no doubt but he then knew him. What Mirabel means to insinuate is, that he knew her before. We must, therefore, ne cessarily read—- And yet, perhaps, I knew you. Mirabel, who piques himself on his wit and sagacity, is unwilling to acknowledge that he has been over-reached, and would rather have it thought that he had discovered the plot, and yielded to it. VOL. v. J WIFE FOR A MONTH. Page 273. Camillo Certain, 'tis some she business This new Loid's employed. Sympson is surely right in reading— This new Lord's employ'd in. The sense requires it. | 216 | 0.815 | 0.152 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 199 Sympson as yet. The Editors retain the old read ing, supposing that a set people may mean formal, precise people. But the amendments are unne cessary, and this explanation erroneous. The line should be pointed thus — A set, people call them honest. In the 347th page, Sorano, describing the same persons, says--- They are such, The foolish people call their country's honours. Page 300. Valerio We'll have a rouse before we go to bed, friends, A lusty one : it will make my blood dance too. CAMiLLO....Ten, if you please. The Editors have discovered in this passage a contemptible pun ; but I doubt whether any such quibble was intended. Camillo may intend merely to say that they would drink ten bumpers, if Va lerio chose it. Page 301. Tony They are no ladies ; there's one bald before 'em : A gent, bald ; they're curtail'd queans in hired cloathes. This passage is nonsense as it stands, though unnoticed by any of the Editors. We should probably read it thus— - They are no ladies; there's one bald before them ; A gentlewoman bald ! they're curtail'd queans. | 219 | 0.804 | 0.183 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 223 In the third Act, Maximian says, speaking of Dioclesian--- All eyes alive in him, yet I am still Maximian. And Delphia afterwards says- Stand still, let me work : so now Maximian. Read Mstximinian in either of these passages, and the metre is destroyed. Yet I must acknow ledge, that there are other passages in which Max iminian would make better verse. Page 111. Niger. ...So your Grace please, Out of your wonted goodness, to give credit, I shall unfold the wonder. Sympson wishes to read give ear to it, instead of credit ; but credit is clearly right. Niger says, but two lines above, that it was the fear of the Emperor's unbelief that prevented his revealing it before. Page 1 1 3. CHARiNus....My brother honour'd him, Made him first captain of his guards; his next friend, Then to my mother (to assure him nearer) He made him husband. The second line should run thus- Made him, first, captain of his guards; his friend next; Then to my mother, &c. Charinus is describing the several gradations of Aper's favour : that his brother made him, first, captain of his guard; then his friend; and, lastly, his step -father. | 243 | 0.806 | 0.152 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 283 speech is evidently Algripe, whose drowsiness and imbecillity the Nurse means to describe. This passage, therefore, must be restored to her as her just property. Toby's next speech, in which he says that he shall have no wine with his consent, proves that they were not speaking of his friend Heartlove. Page 103. Lady Alas ! good gentlemen, give him not much wine. We must read good gentleman, as in Seward's edition. Page 105. Heartlove I will go presently ; now, now, I stay thee. Sympson appears to be right in giving the latter words of this line to Wildbrain : they agree bet ter with his impetuosity than the irresolution of Heartlove, who does not acknowledge that he feels the business, till after another speech from Wildbrain. The passage, therefore, should be arranged thus — Heartlove. ...I will go presently. Wilderain. ...Now, now ; I stay thee. That is, I wait for thee. Sympson's amendment, the reading of I say, instead of I stav thee, is therefore unnecessary. It is almost needless to observe, that the word presently is never used to signify immediately, but by and by, some time hence, which would ill | 303 | 0.815 | 0.16 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 293 We must read— This sounds a gentleman, As in Seward's edition : and the meaning is, This sounds like a gentleman. Page 246. Piniero. ...T am gladder That you made but believe you were cruel. This is ill-expressed ; but the meaning is clear ly this— I am gladder that you did but make me believe you were cruel, and were not so in re ality. Seward's feeble expletives should not be admitted. Page 246. Piniero. ...To kill a man! If you will give me leave to get another, Or any she that play'd the best game at it, And 'fore a woman's anger prefer her fancy: This passage, although unnoticed by any of the Editors, is absolute nonsense as it stands. It is probable that some line is omitted, which I shall not attempt to supply. No change of any of the words only will reduce it to sense. Page 247. Governor You are a princess of that excellence, &c. I am amaz'd, lady. Seward proposes to read—- I am aged, lady, Which would injure the sense of the passage; and is, indeed, a very strange amendment where none was required. | 313 | 0.802 | 0.182 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 377 The Gentleman had told the Soldier, that the person who insulted him was a passionate Mad man, and entreats him to give confidence to that which he had told him; adding, that he was then in his love-fit. Page 336. Cupid Have you remember'd a priest, brother? Brother. ...Yes, sister; and this is the young gentleman. These last words so clearly refer to the Priest, who entered along with him, that I am astonished how Seward could be so puzzled, as to suppose them applied to the Madman. Page 337. Soldier A noise ! a threatening ! did you not hear it, sir ? First Gentleman Without regard, sir ; so would I hear you. We should certainly read- Without regard, sir; so would I have you. And the meaning is, I heard him without re gard to what he said, and I wish you would do the same. It could not be the intention of the Gen tleman to affront the Soldier, by saying that he should pay no regard to what he should say, which the present reading implies. Page 342. First Gentleman.... Alas, poor Cupid! Shall she not shift herself? That is, Shall she not re-assume her own cha racter, and appear like herself ? c c c | 397 | 0.805 | 0.166 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 7 a laughter — Adrian speaks first, so Alonso is the Winner. Sebastian laughs at what Adrian had said, and Alonso immediately acknowledges, that by his laughing he has paid the bet. The old Copy reads you'r paid, which will answer as well, if those words be given to Sebastian instead of Alonso. Act IV.— Sc. 3. Iris Thy banks with pionied and twilled brims Which spungy April at thy^est betrims, To make cold Nymphs, chaste crowns. This trifling passage has produced many con jectures, and some very learned dissertations. Mr. Henley supports the old reading — Mr. Holt reads tilled, I think injudiciously, for ground, when tilled, is not likely to produce flowers — Mr. Stee vens with more ingenuity, reads lillied, and has introduced that word into the text; but I am surprised that he has taken no notice of the con jecture of his friend Johnson, who proposes to read, Thy pionied and tulip' d brims, Which is nearer in the trace of the letters to the old reading, and bids fairest in my opinion, to be the true one. Iris could not have chosen a more fit com panion for the Peony than the Tulip, they are both showy flowers; their Leaves are of a similar texture, are cool to the touch, perfectly inodorous, and fit to make chaste Chaplets for cold Nymphs. | 427 | 0.815 | 0.158 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 31 himself the quarrel of another. Tyrwhit's ex planation is too learned to be just, and was pro bably suggested by his official situation. WINTER'S TALE. Act I. Sc. 2. Camillo If ever fearful To do a thing, where I the issue doubted, Whereof the execution did cry out Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear Which oft infects the wisest. I do not perceive the obscurity of this passage, as Camillo's meaning appears to be this: — If ever, through a cautious apprehension of the issue, I have neglected to do a thing, the subsequent successful execution of which, cried out against my former non-performance, it was a species of fear which often infects the wisest. Mr. Malone considers this as one of the pas sages in which Shakspeare has entangled him self, and says it is clear that he should have written either, Whereof the execution did cry out Against the performance, Or, For the non-performance. | 451 | 0.807 | 0.157 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 49 ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. Act II. — Sc. 1. Pompey Can from the lap of Egypt's widow pluck The ne'er-lust-wearied Antony. Both Mr. Steevens and myself have mistaken the meaning of this passage ; Pompey calls Cle opatra Egypt's widow, because she had been ac tually married to her brother Ptolemy. Act II. — Sc. 2. ENs/barbus Her gentlewomen, like the Nereides, So many mermaids 'tended her in the eyes, And made their bends adornings : at the helm A seeming mermaid steers. I had determined in this publication not to enter into a controversy with the editors on the subject of any of my former comments -, but I cannot resist the impulse I feel, to make a few remarks on the strictures of Mr. Steevens, both on the amendment I proposed in this passage, and my explanation of it; for if I could induce him to accede to my opinion, it would be the highest gratification to me. His objection to the amendment I have proposed, that of reading in the guise instead of in the eyes, is, that the H | 469 | 0.801 | 0.167 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
002414234 | 1798-01-01T00:00:00 | 1798 | Comments on the plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: with an appendix, containing some further observations on Shakespeare, extended to the late editions of Malone and Steevens. L.P | London | false | 53 TIMON OF ATHENS. Act III.— Sc. 6. Timon The rest of your fees, O Gods ! The senators of Athens, &c. We must surely read foes, with Warburton, instead of fees, I find no sense in the present reading. Act IV.— Sc. 3. Timon To such as may the passive drugs of it Freely command. Though all the modern editors agree in this reading, it appears to me corrupt; the epithet passive is seldom applied, except in a metapho rical sense, to inanimate objects; and I cannot well conceive what Timon can mean by the passive drugs of the world, unlefs he means every thing that the world affords. But in the first folio the words are not passive drugs, but passive drugges; this leads us to the true reading drudges, which improves the sense, and is nearer to the old reading in the trace of the letters. Dr. Johnson says in his dictionary that a drug means a drudge, and cites this passage as an instance of it-, but he is surely mistaken; and I | 473 | 0.825 | 0.147 | Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable | Steevens, George [person] ; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 [person] ; Mason, John Monck, Right Honourable [person] ; Beaumont, Francis, 1584-1616 [person] ; Fletcher, John, dramatist [person] ; Malone, Edmond, 1741-1812 [person] | null | England | England | null | English | null | null | null | false |
004002479 | 1790-01-01T00:00:00 | 1790 | Innocence: an allegorical poem | London | false | 17 | 29 | 1 | null | Young, afterwards Sewell, Mary | Young, afterwards Sewell, Mary [person] | J. Evans | England | England | ii, 16 pages (4°) | English | null | null | null | false |
004074512 | 1737-01-01T00:00:00 | 1737 | An essay on happiness. In an epistle to ... the Earl of Chesterfield [By Robert C. Nugent.] | London | false | 14 Blest is the Man, as far as Earth can bless, Whose meafur'd Passions reach no wild Excess ; Who, urg'd by Nature's Voice, her Gifts enjoys, Nor other Means, than Nature's Force, employs : While warm with Youth the sprightly Current flows, Each vivid Sense with vig'rous Rapture glows ,• And when he droops beneath the Hand of Age, No vicious Habit stings with fruitless Rage ; Gradual, his Strength, and gay Sensations cease, While Joys tumultuous sink in silent Peace. Far other is his Lot, who, not content With what the bounteous Care of Nature meant, With labour'd Skil would all her Joys dilate, Sublime their Sense, and lengthen out their Date ; Add, blend, compose, each various Mixture try, And wind up Appetite to Luxury : Thus guilty Art unknown Desires implants, And viler Arts must satisfy their Wants ; When, to Corruption by himself betray 'd, Gold binds the Slave, that Luxury has made. The | 16 | 0.809 | 0.165 | Nugent, Robert Craggs, Earl Nugent | Nugent, Robert Craggs, Earl Nugent [person] | J. Walthoe | England | England | 19 pages (folio) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. II. n desirous to believed it. I observe too, that, while the story lasted, they were most of them trying the experiment upon their own ears, but without any visible effect that I could perceive. Soon afterwards, the company broke up ; and I went home, where I could not help reflecting, with some de gree of wonder, at the wonder of the rest, because I could see nothing extraordinary in the power, which the ear exercised in China, when I considered the extensive influence of that important organ in Europe. Here, as in China, it is the source of both pleasure and power ; the manner of applying to it is only different. Here the titillation is vocal, there it is manual, but the effects are the fame ; and, by the bye, European ears are not always unacquainted neither with manual application. To make out the analogy I hinted at, between the Chinese and ourselves, in this particular, I will offer to my readers, some instances of the sensibility and pre valency of the ears of Great Britain. The British ears seem to be as greedy and sensible of titillation as the Chinese can possibly be ; nor is the pro fession of an ear-tickler here any way inferior, or less lu crative. There are of three sorts, the private tickler, the public tickler, and the self-tickler. Flattery is, of all methods, the surest to produce that vibration of the air, which affects the auditory nerves with the most exquisite titillation : and according to the thinner or thicker texture of those organs, the flattery must be more or less strong. This is the immediate pro vince of the private tickler, and his great skill consists in tuning his flattery to the ear of his patient: it were end less to give instances of the influence and advantages of those artists, who excel in this way. The business of a public tickler is, to modulate his voice, dispose his matter, and enforce his arguments in such a manner, as to excite a pleasing sensation in the ears of a number or assembly of people : this is the most difficult branch of the profession, and that in which the fewest excel ; but to the few who do it, is the most lu crative, and the most considerable. The bar has at pre sent but few proficients of this sort, the pulpit none, the ladder alone seems not to decline. I must | 23 | 0.805 | 0.163 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 14 Having thus demonstrated, by many instances, that the ear is the most material part in the whole mechanism of our structure, and that it is both the seat and source of honor, power, pleasure, and pain, I cannot conclude without an earnest exhortation to all my country-folks, of whatsoever rank or sex, to take the utmost care of their ears. Guard your ears, O ye princes, for your pow er is lodged in your ears. Guard your ears, ye nobles, for your honor lies in your ears. Guard your ears, ye fair, if you would guard your virtue. And guard your ears, all my fellow subjects, if you would guard your liberties and properties. III. F O G'S JOUR N A L. Saturday, April io, 1736. N° 388. AX A V ING in a former paper set forth the valuable privileges and prerogatives of the ear, I soould be very much wanting to another material part of our composi tion, if I did not do justice to the eyes, and Ihew the in fluence they either have, or ought to have, in Great Bri tain. While the eyes of my countrymen are in a great mea sure the part that directed, the whole people saw for themselves ; seeing was called believing, and was a sense so much trusted to, that the eyes of the body and those of the mind were, in speaking, indifferently made use of for one another. But I am sorry to say that the case is now greatly altered -, and I observe with concern an epi demical blindness, or, at least, a general weakness and distrust of the eyes scattered over this whole kingdom, from which we may justly apprehend the worst conse quences. This | 26 | 0.813 | 0.175 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 18 On the other hand, soould future parliaments, by arts of a designing minister, with the help of a corrupted glass-grinder, have delusive and perversive glasses slipped upon them, what might they see ? or what might they not see r nobody can tell. I am fore every body ought to fear they might possibly behold a numerous standing army in time of peace, as an inoffensive and pleasing object, nay, as a security to our liberties and properties. They might see our riches increase by new debts, and our trade by high duties ; and they might look upon the corrupt surrender of their own power to the crown, as the best protection of the rights of the people. Should this ever happen to be the case, we may be sore it must be by the interposition of some strange medium, since these objects were never viewed in this light by the naked and unassisted eyes of our ancestors. In this general consideration, there is a particular one that affects me more than all the rest, as the consequence of it would be the worst. There is a body of men, who, by the wisdom and for the happiness of our con stitution, make a considerable part of our parliament : all, or at least most of, these venerable persons, are, by great age, long study, or a low mortified way of living, reduced to have recourse to glasses. Now soould their media be abused, and political translative ones be slipped upon them, what scandal would their innocent, but mis guided, conduct bring upon religion, and what joy would it give, at this time particularly, to the dissenters ? Such as, I am sore, no true member of our church can think of without horror ! I am the more apprehensive of this, from the late revival of an act that flourisoed with idolatry, and that had expired with it, I mean the stain ing of glass. That medium, which throws strange and various colours upon all objects, was formerly sacred to our churches, and consequently may, for aught I know, in the intended revival of our true church discipline, be thought a candidate worthy of our favour and reception, and so a stained medium be established as the true, ortho dox, and canonical one. I have found it much easier to point out the mis chiefs I apprehend, than the means of obviatino- or re medying them, though I have turned it every °way in my thoughts. To | 30 | 0.806 | 0.158 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. III. 19 To have a certain number of persons appointed to ex- amine and license all the glasses, that soould be used in this kingdom, would be lodging so great a trust in those persons, that the temptations to betray it would be ex- ceedingly great too ; and it is to be feared that people of quality would not take the trouble of it, so that, §uis cltstodiat ipfos custodes ? (By whom will these keepers be kept ?) I once thought of proposing, that a committee of both houses of parliament soould be vested with that power : but I immediately laid that aside, for reasons which I am not obliged to communicate to the public. At last, despairing to find out any legal method that soould prove effectual, I resolved to content myself with an earnest exhortation to all my country-folks, of what- soever rank or sex, to see with their own eyes, or not see at all h blindness being preferable to error. See then with your own eyes, ye princes, though weak or dim : they will still give you a fairer and truer representation of objects, than you will ever have by the interposition of any medium whatsoever. Your subjects are placed in their proper point of view for your natural sight : viewing them in that point, you will see that your happiness consists in theirs, your greatness in their riches, and your poWer in their affections. See likewise with your own eyes, ye people, and reject all proffered media .' view even your princes with your natural sight ; the true rays of majesty are friendly to the weakest eye, or, if they dazzle and scorch, it is owing to the interposition of burning-glasses. Destroy those perni cious media, and you will be pleased with the sight of one another. In soort,let the natural eyes retrieve their credit, and re sume their power : we soall then see things as they really are, which must end in the confusion of those, whose hopes and interests are founded upon misrepresentations and deceit. C 2 IV. COM- | 31 | 0.81 | 0.155 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. IV. 21 These considerations determined me to make this first paper serve as an introduction to my future labours, though I am sensible that a weekly author is in a very dif ferent situation from an author in the lump. — If a whole sale dealer can, by an insinuating preface, prevail with people to buy the whole piece, his business is done, and it is too late for the deluded purchaser to repent, be the goods ever so flimsy ; but a weekly retailer is constantly bound to his good behaviour. He, like some otherSi holds both his honors and profits only durante bene placito; and whatever may be the success of his first endeavours, as soon as he flags in his painful hebdomadal course, he is rigorously struck off at once from his two-penny esta blisoment. Another difficulty, that occurred to me, was the present great number of my weekly brethren, with whom all people, except the stationers and the Stamp-office, think themselves already over-stocked ; but this difficulty upon farther consideration lessened. As for the London Journal, it cannot possibly interfere with me, as appears from the very title of my paper ; moreover I was informed, that paper of the fame size and goodness as the London Journal, being to be had much cheaper unprintedand unstamped, and yet as useful to all intents and purposes, was now universally preferred. Fog's Journal, by a natural progression from Mist to Fog, is now condensed into a cloud, and only used by way of wet brown paper, in case of falls and con tusions. The Craftsman was the only rival that gave me any concern ; that being the only one, I thought there was world enough for us both, and persuaded myself that, wiser than Cæsar and Pompey, we soould content our selves with dividing it between us : besides that, I never observed Mr. D'Anvers to be an enemy to common sense. Being a man of great learning, I have, in chusing the name of my paper, had before my eyes that excellent precept of Horace to authors, to . begin modestly, and not to promise more than they are able to perform, and keep up to the last. — I have therefore only entitled it Common Sense, which is all I pretend to myself, and no more than what, I dare say, the humblest of my readers pretends to likewise. But, | 33 | 0.821 | 0.167 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. VI. 35 compleatly ridiculous. I have often observed septua genary great-grandmothers adorned, as they thought, with all the colours of the rainbow, while in reality they looked more like the decayed worms in the midst of their own silks. Nay, I have seen them proudly dis play withered necks, shriveled and decayed like their marriage-settlements, and which no hand, but the cold hand of time, had visited these forty years. The utmost indulgence I can allow here, is extreme cleanliness, that they may not offend more fenses than the sight ; but for the dress, it must be confined to the elegy and the triftibus. What has been said with relation to the fair sex, holds true with relation to the other, only with still greater re strictions, as such irregularities are less pardonable in men than in ladies. A reasonable compliance with the fasoion is no disparagement to the best understanding, and an affected singularity would ; but an excess, beyond what age, rank, and character will justify, is one of the worst signs the body can hang out, and will never tempt peo ple to call in. I see with indulgence the youth of our na tion finely bound, and gilt on the back, and wiso they were lettered into the bargain. I forgive them the unna tural scantiness of their w;gs, and the immoderate dimen sions of their bags, in consideration that the fasoion has prevailed, and that the opposition of a few to it would be the greater affectation of the two. Though, by the way, I very much doubt whether they are all of them gainers by soewing their ears ; for it is said that Midas, after a cer tain accident, was the judicious inventer of long wigs. But then these luxuriancies of fancy must subside, when age and rankc all upon judgment to check its excrescences and irregularities. I cannot conclude this paper, without an animadversi on upon one prevailing folly, of which both sexes are equally guilty, and which is attended with real ill conse quences to the nation ; I mean that rage of foreign foppe ries, by which so considerable a sum of ready money is annually exported out of the kingdom, for things which ought not to be suffered to be imported even gratis. In order therefore to prevent, as far as I am able, this ab surd and mischievous practice, I hereby signify, that I will (hew a greater indulgence than ordinary to those, who only expose themselves in the manufactures of their own D 2 country; | 47 | 0.804 | 0.168 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 40 " My Dear, " X HAVE just now received yours, and am very " sorry for the uneasiness your husoand's behaviour has " given you of late ; though I cannot be of your opinion, "' that he suspects our connexion. We have been bred up " together from children, and have lived in the strictest " friendsoip ever since; so that I dare fay he would as soon " suspect me of a design to murder, as wrong him this " way. And you know it is to that confidence and se " curity of his, that I owe the happiness that I enjoy. " However, in all events, be convinced that you are in " the hands of a man of honor, who will not suffer you " to be ill used ; and soould my friend proceed to any " disagreeable extremities with you, depend upon it, I " will cut the cuckold's throat for him. *' Yours most tenderly." The fourth and last letter is to a friend, who had, pro bably, as high notions of honor as himself, by the nature of the affair, in which he requires his assistance ; " Dear Charles, " JL RYTHEE come to me immediately, to serve me " in an affair of honor. You must know, I told a damnr " ed lye last night in a mixed company, and a formal odd " dog, in a manner, insinuated that I did so : upo*^ " which, I whispered him to be in Hyde Park this morn " ing, and to bring a friend with him, if he had such a " thing in the world. The booby was hardly worth my " resentment ; but you know my delicacy, where honor *' is concerned. " Yours, " B E L V I L L E." It appears from these authentic pieces, that Mr. Bel ville, filled with the noblest sentiments of honor, paid all debts but his just ones-; kept his word scrupulously in the | 52 | 0.807 | 0.187 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. VIII. 43 consequently of the rat kind. But as he does not indeed fay, that he was the first, or sole minister, I am inclined to think that he was only one of those, who have the name and salary of ministers, without any of the power, and who are often glad to give a slap by the bye, to the first minister, though they have not courage enough openly to attack him. After this soort remark, I return to the allegory itself, which I cannot say is so apt as I expected, from a people so much versed in that manner of instruction. The pa rallel drawn between the emperor, and a wooden statue is so disrespectful and uncourtly, that I could have wisoed our author had informed us, how his Chinese majesty had relished the similitude, that is, in case he took all the force of it ; for in reality, it was making no difference between an anointed head and a wooden one. A rat may very well eat his way into a statue unseen, unfelt, and unsmelt : but can a minister, especially such a one as is here described, without virtue or merit, nibble himself into a prince's favour, and the prince not smell a rat ? It is impossible ; and the bare supposition of it was highly in jurious to his royal wisdom and penetration. I will admit, in favour of Koan Tchong, that the eastern monarchs have not that degree of sagacity, which so eminently distinguisoes and adorns the European ones, and I will al low, that they are more likely to be surprized and im posed upon by the artifices of a designing minister ; their indolent and retired way of life, soaking in the arms of their imperial consorts, or wantoning in the embraces of their concubines, not giving them the fame opportunity of seeing, or being informed. But still, when this ge neral rule is universally seen and lamented, as Koan Tchong expresses it, the unanimous voice, the just com plaints, the groans, and the desolation, of a ruined and oppressed people, must reach, must affect, and must rouze his majesty, if he be but ever so little above a sta tue. If not, if such an impossibility could be sup posed, I must then confess, that the allegory of the painted wood is so far just, as that the king's head would properly be but the sign of government. The conclusion Koan Tchong draws from this alle gory is no less false and absurd •, for, says he, when the fat is got into the statue, one does not know how to get him | 55 | 0.832 | 0.146 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. IX. X. 51 honor and bisoops, who soall act in joint commission in this important affair ; since the first are the best judges of wit and modesty, the latter of morality and religion, in this kingdom. Yours, A. Z. X. COMMON SENSE. Saturday, July 16, 1737. N° 25. AT is the complaint of most men, who have lived anyr time in the world, that the present age is much degene rated in its morals within the memory of man. I am afraid this complaint is not altogether without foundation. That there has been a gradual decay of public spirit for some years, cannot be denied ; and which owes its ori ginal, if I am not very much mistaken, to our party di visions. There is a particular maxim among parties, which alone is sufficient to corrupt a whole nation ; which is, to countenance and protect the most infamous fellows, who happen to herd amongst; them. There is nomaiij let his private character be ever so scandalous, that can be of some use to serve a turn, but immediately grows to be a man of consequence with his party. It is something soocking to common sense, to see the man of honor and the knave, the man of parts and the blockhead, put upon an equal foot ; which is often the case amongst parties. In the struggles that happen about elections, when some candidate of a fair character has been set up on one side, how often have y~ou seen the most abandoned knave of the other party put up to oppose him, and both supported with equal zeal ! Parties will al- ways find something or other, in the worst of men, to reconcile them to the obnoxious parts of their characters. He that has sense enough to distinguiso right from wrong, can make a noise ; nay, the less sense, the more obsti- nacy, especially in a bad cause, and the greater knave, the more obedient to his leaders, especially when they are playing the rogue. These are the best tools, and E 2 such | 63 | 0.806 | 0.173 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. X. 53 shift sides, and go over to the strongest, just before they have resolved to strike some bold stroke, wisely securing a good retreat before they enter upon action ; so that I have often thought, that a strong party is the fame thing to a cheat, that a strong island in the West-Indies is to a pirate, a place of safety to lay up all he has stolen. As I have intitled my paper, Common Sense, the pub lic may depend upon it, that I soall not write the sense of a party, because common sense must be free from all pre judice, and party sense is observed to be rarely so. I will farther add, that I take common sense and common ho nesty to be so near akin, that, whenever I see a man turn knave, I shall not stick to pronounce him a fool. I have the experience of the times in which I have lived, to jus tify me in this opinion. I never knew a man, that set out with good principles, and afterwards became a pros titute to men in power, but some creature of a little, nar row, mean understanding. A piece of ribbon, or a word added to a name, soall reconcile a fool to the most destructive measures, that the most corrupt minister or ministers can enter upon : but common sense has some modesty •, it has a sense of soame, and cannot act in di rect opposition to truth and honor. But I am farther of opinion, that, isa writer soould at this time expect to make his way in the world, and to be come popular, by running violently into all the prejudices of a party, he would meet with a reception from the public, very different from what he expected. Party pre judice is not the fame thing it was. The malignity of the distemper is worn out ; and it must be a singular pleasure to a man who loves his country, to find that those two odious distinctions of Whig and Tory, with which we formerly reproached one another, are used no more. All men unplaced, and unpensioned, talk and think alike ; and we see gentlemen, who were bred up in opposite principles, and, though in other respects men of honor, had imbibed all the prejudices of their respec tive parties, now meet and soake hands, and, upon com paring notes, wonder that they had ever differed, and what makes it more extraordinary, is that all this soould hap pen without being reproached, either by their country, or their particular friends, of changing their principles; which soews there is something in an honest and an up- right | 65 | 0.831 | 0.164 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. X. 55 looks as if Providence had infatuated their cunning, with a kind intention of putting us upon our guard, and of rouzing that antient spirit of our people, which has pre- served this nation, when any encroachments have been made upon its liberties. But though there may be no dangerous designs at pre- sent, and the whole body of the people may entertain the same opinion of the good intentions and of the great abilities of our present set of ministers as they really me- rit, yet it is not amiss to have our eyes about us. Poli- tical jealousy is inseparable from the minds of good pa- triots ; it is their duty to be watchful for the public, and suspicious of the designs of men in power. A certain degree of this jealousy is absolutely necessary to be kept up at all times, for the preservation of liberty. This jea- lousy, I say, is our great security ; and it cannot decay till public spirit decays. The individuals of that great body called the people are so taken up with their several avocations, that they are not always at leisure to examine well the designs of men in power, and to see through those disguises, which they endeavour to throw over bad measures ; therefore it is the duty of every private man to give the alarm whenever he perceives any thing doing, which must have a tenden- cy to alter and impair that plan of government, under which we and our ancestors have lived free. — And this we propose soall be partly the business of this paper. The adversaries, that in all probability will oppose us in this design, are not much to be feared. That paper, which is looked upon as the work of the greatest wits, and most profound politicians of the faction, for they are not to be called a party, might be excelled by the lowest productions in Grub-street ; yet here you see all the good sense that is amongst them, and it would be reason enough for making the people uneasy, if they soould have a notion that the public affairs were to be managed by such hands as publish the most idle, the most inconsistent, and most flaviso schemes of politics, that the world ever saw. I cannot help thinking, that they have taken up a nor tion, that the only qualification of a political writer is a hardy and intrepid manner of asserting what is not, and of denying what is. As to their profligate manner of endeavouring to turn public spirit into ridicule, they have done | 67 | 0.813 | 0.154 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 56 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S done it with so little wit, that they have not been able to gain the very laughers on their side. Thanks be to their dulness, it rises against their opposition : he that laughs with them, must laugh without a jest, and therefore, as of ten as I saw my predecessors employ their wit against those who never used that weapon against them, I own I did not look upon it as very generous in them ; methinks, if I were master of that weapon called wit, I soould be as much asoamed of drawing it against an Osoorne, or a Walsingham, as I soould of drawing a sword against a naked man. Upon the whole, though I have promised never to be dull with design, yet I would not have the public expect much from me at such times as I soall be drawn into a dis pute with that paper, which has a mob of Swiss writers to support it ; it is a Briareus with an hundred hands, but not one head : and as there is neither conduct, nor order, nor discipline, nor honor amongst them, they will be as easily defeated as any other rabble. XI. COMMON SENSE. Saturday, August 20, 1737. N° 3a. _L HOUGH the separation of the parliament generally suspends the vigor of political altercations, I doubt it creates domestic ones, not less soarp and acrimonious • and, possibly, the individuals of both houses may find as warm debates at home, as any they have met with dur ing the course of the session. Their motion for adjourning into the country, is I be lieve, seldom seconded by their wives and daughters ; and if at last they carry it, it is more by the exertion of their authority, than by the cogency of their reasoning. This | 68 | 0.809 | 0.183 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XI. 57 This act of power so strenuously withstood at first, and so unwillingly submitted to at last, lays but an indifferent foundation of domestic harmony during their retirement ; and I am surprized that the throne, which never fails, at the end of the session, to recommend to both houses cer tain wholesome and general rules for their behaviour and conduct, when scattered in their respective counties, soould hitherto have taken no notice of their ladies,nor have made them the least excuse for the disagreeable consequences, which result to them from the recess. Nay even in the female reigns of queen Elizabeth and queen Anne, I can not discover that any advice, or application of this nature, has ever been directed to the fair sex ; as if their uneasi ness and dissatisfaction were matters of no concern to the peace and good order of the kingdom in general. For my own part, I see this affair in a very different light, and I think I soall do both my country and the mi nistry good service, if by any advice and consolation I can offer to my fair countrywomen, in this their dread ful time of trouble and trial, I can alleviate their misfor tunes, and mitigate the horrors of their retirement ; since it is obvious, that the people in the country, who see things but at a distance, will never believe that matters go right, when they observe a general discontent in every one but the master of the family, whose particular tran quillity they may, possibly, ascribe to particular reasons, and not to the happy state of the public. Besides that, my real concern and regard for the fair sex, excites my compassion for them ; and I sympathize with them in that scene of grief and despair, which the prospect of their six months exile presents to them. I own I have been so sensibly touched, as I have gone along the streets, to see, at the one pair of stairs windows, so many fine eyes bathed in tears, and dismally fixed upon the fatal waggons loading at their doors,that I resolv ed, my endeavours soould not be wanting to administer to them whatever amusement or comfort I could think of, under their present calamity. The antient philosophers have left us most excellent rules for our conduct, under the various afflictions to which we are liable. They bid us not be grieved at mis fortunes, nor pleased with prosperity ; and undeniably prove, | 69 | 0.802 | 0.163 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XI. 59 melancholy, and a sullen despair, like captive princesses in a tragedy. I wiso I could procure them a six months sleep or anni hilation ; but, as that is not in my power, the best advice I can give them, is to carry down a provision of the ten derest books, which will at once improve their style, nouriso all the delicacy of their sentiments, and keep imagination awake. The most voluminous romances are the most service able, and wear the best in the country, since four or five of them will very near hold out the season. Besides that, the pleasing descriptions of the flowery vales, where the ten der heroines so often bewailed the absence of their much loved heroes, may, by the help of a little imagination and an elegant sympathy, render the solitary prospect of 'the neighbouring fields a little more supportable. This serious study may sometimes be diversified by soort and practical novels, of which the French language furnisoes great abundance. Here the catastrophe comes sooner, and nature has its soare, as well as sentiments ; so that a lady may exactly fit the humour soe happens to be in. If a gentle languor only inspires tender sentiments, soe may find, in the clearest light, whatever can be said upon le cœur £5? l'esprit, (the heart and the mind), to indulge those thoughts; or, if intruding nature breaks in with warmer images, soe will likewise find in those excellent manuals, suitable and corresponding passages. The pleasing tu mult of the senses, the soft annihilation, and the expir ing sighs of the dissolving happy pair, may, agreeably recal the memory of certain transactions in the foregoing winter, or anticipate the expected joys of the ensuing one. Some time too may be employed in epistolatory corre spondence with distressed, sympathizing, friends in the fame situation, pathetically describing all 'the disagreeable circumstances of the country -, with this Just exception only, " that one could bear with it well enough for " two or three months in the summer, with the company " one liked, and without the company one disliked." As for the more secret and tender letters, which are to go under two or three directions, and as many covers, the uppermost to be directed by trusty Betty, and by her given | 71 | 0.804 | 0.158 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 60 given into the postman's own hand, they of course fur niso out the most pleasing moments of the confinement ; and I dare fay, I need neither recommend them, nor the attentive and frequent perusal of the answers returned to them. But, as these occupations will necessarily meet with some interruption, and as there will be intervals in the day, when thoughts will claim their soare, as at dinner with my lord or his neighbours, or on Sundays at church, I ad vise that they soould be turned as much as possible from the many disagreeable, to the few agreeable prospects, which the country affords. Let them reflect, that these absences, however painful for the time, revive and animate passions, which, without some little cessation, might decay and grow languid. Let them consider, how propitious the chapter of accidents is to them in the country, and what charming events they may reasonably flatter themselves with, from the effusion of strong beer and port, and tlie friendly interposition of hedges, ditches, and five-barred gates : not to mention anosoer possible contingency, of their husoands meeting wiso Actæon's fate from their own hounds, which, whe ther probable or not, they know best. With these prospects, and these dissipations, I soould hope they may pass, or rather kill, the tedious time of their banishment, without very great anxiety ; but, if that cannot be, there is but one expedient more which occurs to me, and which I have often known practised with suc cess, that is, the colic, and pains of the stomach, to such a degree, as absolutely to require the assistance of the Bath. The colic, in the stomach I mean, is a clean gen teel distemper, and by no means below women of the first condition, and they should always keep it by them, to be used as occasion requires ; for as its diagnostics are neither visible nor certain, it is pleadable against husband, neighbours, and relations without any possibility of being traversed. As for those ladies, who move but in a second sphere in town, their case is far from being so compassionate, their fall from London to the country being by no means io considerable ; nay, in some particulars, I am not sure if they are not gainers by it. For they are indisputably in | 72 | 0.807 | 0.157 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 62 XII. COMMON SENSE. Saturday, Sept. 3, 1737. N" 32. IV! O N S I E U R de la Rochefoucault very justly ob serves, that people are never ridiculous from their real, but from their affected, characters ; they cannot help be ing what they are, but they can help attempting to appear what they are not. A hump-back is by no means ridi culous, unless it be under a fine coat ; nor a weak under standing, unless it assumes the lustre and ornaments of a bright one. Good-nature conceals and pities the inevita ble defects of body or mind, but is not obliged to treat acquired ones with the least indulgence. Those who would pass upon the world talents which they have not, are as guilty in the common course of society, as those who, in the way of trade, would put off false money, knowing it to be such ; and it is as much the business of ridicule to expose the former, as of the law to puniso the latter. I do not here mean to consider the affectation of moral virtues, which comes more properly under the definition of hypocrisy, and justly excites our indignation and ab horrence, as a criminal deceit ; but I soall confine myself now to the affectation of those lesser talents and accom plisoments, without any of which a man may be a very worthy valuable man, and only becomes a very ridicu lous one by pretending to them. Those people are the proper, and, it may be, the only proper objects of ridi cule ; sor they are above fools, who are below it, and below wise men, who are above it. They are the cox combs lord Rochester describes as self-created, and of whom he fays, that God never made one worth a groat. Besides, as they are rebels and traitors to common sense, whose natural-born subjects they are, I am justified in treating them with the utmost rigor. I cannot be of the general opinion, that these cox combs have first imposed upon themselves, and really think | 74 | 0.816 | 0.164 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XII. 65 Baviufe, ballasted with all the lead os a German, will rise into poetry, without either ear or invention : he re cites, what he calls his verses, to his female relations, and his city acquaintance, but never mentions them to Pope. Perplexus insists upon being a man of business, and, though formed, at best, for a letter-carrier, will be a let ter-writer ; but conscious that he can neither be necessary nor useful, endeavours to be tolerated by an implicit con formity to men and times. In sooft, there are as many species of coxcombs, as there are desirable qualifications and accomplisoments in life ; and it would be endless to give instances of every particular vanity and affectation, by which men either make themselves ridiculous, or, at least, depreciate the other qualities they really possess. Every one's observa tion will furniso him with examples enough of this kind. But I will now endeavour to point out the means of avoid ing these errors ; though, indeed, they are so obvious in themselves, that one soould think it unnecessary, if one did not daily experience the contrary. It is very certain, that no man is fit for every thing ; but it is almost as certain too, that there is scarce any one man, who is not fit for something, which something na ture plainly points out to him, by giving him a tendency and propensity to it. I look upon common sense to be to the mind, what conscience is to the heart, the faithful and constant monitor of what is right or wrong. And I am convinced that no man commits either a crime or a folly, but against the manifest and sensible representations of the one or the other. Every man finds in himself, either from nature or education, for they are hard to distinguiso, a peculiar bent and disposition to some particular character ; and his struggling against it is the'fruitless and endless la bor of Sisyphus. Let him follow and cultivate that voca tion, he will succeed in it, and be considerable in one way at least: whereas, if he departs front it, he will at best be inconsiderable, probably ridiculous. Mankind, in general, have not the indulgence and good-nature to save a whole city for the sake of five righteous, but are more inclined to condemn many righteous for the fake of a few guilty. And a man may easily sink many virtues by the weight of one folly, but will hardly be able to protect many follies by the force of one virtue. The players, Vol. II. F who | 77 | 0.82 | 0.151 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 66 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S who get their parts by heart, and are to simulate but for three hours, have a regard, in choosing those parts, to the natural bent of their genius. Penkethman never acted Cato, nor Booth Scrub ; their invincible unfitness for those characters would inevitably have broke out, in the soort time of their representation. How then soall a man hope to act with success all his life long a borrowed and ill-suited character r In my mind, Pinkey got more credit by acting Scrub well, than he would have got by acting Cato ill ; and I would much rather be an excellent sooe maker, than a ridiculous and inept minister of state. I greatly admire our industrious neighbours, the Germans, for many things, but for nothing more, than their steady adherence to the voice of nature : they indefatigably pur sue the way soe has chalked out to them, and never de viate into any irregularities of character. Thus many of the first rank, if happily turned to mechanics, have em ployed their whole lives in the incatenation of fleas, or the curious sculpture of cherry-stones ; while others, whose thirst of knowledge leads them to investigate the secrets of nature, spend y ears in their elaboratory, in pursuit of the philosopher's stone : but none, that I have heard of, ever deviated into an attempt at wit. Nay, even due care is taken in the education of their princes, that they may be fit for something, for they are always instructed in some other trade besides that of government ; so that, if their genius does not led them to be able princes, it is ten to one but they are excellent turners. I will conclude my remonstrance to the coxcombs of Great Britain with this admonition and engagement, that " they disoand their affectations, and common sense soall be their friend." Otherwise I soall proceed to further ex tremities, and single out, from time to time, the most daring offenders. I must observe, that the word coxcomb is of the com mon gender, both masculine and feminine, and that the male coxcombs are equalled in number by the female ones, who soall be the subject of my next paper. COM- | 78 | 0.817 | 0.158 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XIII. 67 XIII. COMMON SENSE. Saturday, Sept. io, 1737. N° 33. JL A A V I N G, in my former paper, censured, with freedom, the affectations and follies of my own sex, I flatter myself, that I soall meet with the indulgence of the ladies, while I consider, with the fame impartiality, those weaknesses and vanities, to which their sex is as liable as ours, and, if I dare fay so, rather more, as their sphere of action is more bounded and circumscribed. Man's province is universal, and comprehends every thing, from the culture of the earth, to the government of it ; men only become coxcombs, by assuming particu lar characters, for which they are particularly unfit, though others may soine in those very characters. But the case of the fair sex is quite different ; for there are many characters, which are not of the feminine gender, and consequently, there may be two kinds of women coxcombs ; those who affect what does not fall within their department, and those who go out of their own na tural characters, though they keep within the female province. I soould be very sorry to offend, where I only mean to advise and reform •, I therefore hope the fair sex will par don me, when I give ours this preference. Let them re flect, that each sex has its distinguisoing characteristic : and if they can with justice, as certainly they may, brand a man with the name of a cott-quean, if he invades a certain female detail, which is unquestionably their pre rogative, may not we, with equaljustice, retort upon them, when, laying aside their natural characters, they assume those which are appropriated to us ? The delicacy of their texture, and the strength of ours, the beauty of their form, and the coarseness of ours, sufficiently indi cate the respective vocations. Was Hercules ridiculous and contemptible with his distaff ? Omphale would not have been less so at a review or a council-board. Women are not formed for great cares themselves, but to sooth F 2 and | 79 | 0.828 | 0.166 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 68 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S and soften ours : their tenderness is the proper reward for soe toils we undergo for their preservation, and the ease and chearfulness of their conversation, our desirable re treat from the labors of study and business. They are confined within the narrow limits of domestic offices; and when they stray beyond them, they move excentrically, and consequently without grace. Agrippina, born with an understanding and dispositi ons, which could, at best, have qualified her for the sor did help-mate of a pawn-broker or usurer, pretends to all the accomplisoments that ever adorned man or woman, without the possession, or even the true knowledge, of any one of them. She would appear learned, and has just enough of al! things, without comprehending any one, to make her talk absurdly upon every thing. She looks upon the art of pleasing as her master-piece, but mistakes the means so much, that her flattery is too gross for self-love to swallow, and her lies too palpable to de ceive for a moment ; so that soe soocks those soe would gain. Mean tricks, soallow cunning, and breach of faith, constitute her mistaken system of politics. She endea vours to appear generous at the expence of trifles, while an indiscreet and unguarded rapaciousness discovers her natural and insatiable avidity. Thus mistaking the per fections she would seem to possess, and the means of ac quiring even them, soe becomes the most ridiculous, in stead of the most complete, of her sex. Eudosia, the most frivolous woman in the world, con demns her own sex for being too trifling. She despises the agreeable levity and chearfulness of a mixed company; soe will be serious, that she will, and emphatically inti mates, that soe thinks reason and good sense very valua ble things. She never mixes in the general conversation, but singles out some one man, whom soe thinks worthy of her good sense, and in a half voice, or sotto voce, dis cusses her solid trifles in his ear, dwells particularly upon the most trifling circumstances of the main trifle, which 'soe enforces with the proper inclinations of head and bo dy, and with the most expressive gesticulations cf the fan, modestly confessing every now and then, by way of pa renthesis, that possibly it may be thought presumption in a woman | 80 | 0.817 | 0.155 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XIII. 69 woman to talk at all upon those matters. In the mean time, her unhappy hearer stifles a thousand gapes, assents universally to whatever soe says, in hopes of soortening the conversation, and carefully watches the first favour able opportunity, which any motion in the company gives him, of making his escape from this excellent solid un derstanding. Thus deserted, but not discouraged, soe takes the whole company in their turns, and has, for every one, a whisper of equal importance. If Eudosia would content herself with her natural talents, play at cards, make tea and visits, talk to her dog often, and to her company but sometimes, soe would not be ridiculous, but bear a very tolerable part in the polite world. Sydaria had beauty enough to have excused, while young, her want of common sense. But soe scorned the fortuitous and precarious triumphs of beauty. She would only conquer by the charms of her mind. A union of hearts, a delicacy of sentiments, a mental adoration, or a sort of tender quietism, were what soe long sought for, and never found. Thus nature struggled with sentiment till soe was five and forty, but then got the better of it to such a degree, that she made very advantageous pro posals to an Irish ensign of one and twenty : equally ri diculous in her age and in her youth. Canidia, withered by age, and soattered by infirmities, totters under the load of her misplaced ornaments, and her dress varies according to the fresoest advices fromParis, in stead of conforming itself, as it ought, to the directions of her undertaker. Her mind, as weak as her body, is absurdly adorned : soe talks politics and metaphysics, mangles the terms of each, and, if there be sense in either, most infallibly puzzles it -, adding intricacy to politics, and darkness to mysteries, equally ridiculous in this world and the next. I soall not now enter into an examination of the lesser affectations ; (most of them are pardonable, and many of them are pretty, if their owners are so); but confine my present animadversions to the affectations of ill-suited characters, for I would by no means deprive my fair countrywomen of their genteel little terrors, antipathies, and affections. The.alternate panicks of thieves, spiders, ghosts, and thunder, are allowable to youth and beauty, provided they do not survive them. But, what I mean is, | 81 | 0.827 | 0.136 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 70 is, to prevail with them to act their own natural parts, and not other peoples ; and to convince them, that even their own imperfections will become them better than the borrowed perfections of others. Should some lady of spirit, unjustly offended at these restrictions, ask what province I leave to their sex ? I an swer, that I leave them whatever has not been peculiarly assigned by nature to ours. I leave them a mighty em pire, Love. There they reign absolute, and by unques tioned right, while beauty supports their throne. They have all the talents requisite for that soft empire, and the ablest of our sex cannot contend with them in the pro found knowledge and conduct of those arcana. But then, those who are deposed by years or accidents, or those, who by nature were never qualified to reign, soould con tent themselves with the private care and œconomy of their families, and the diligent discharge of domestic duties. I take the fabulous birth of Minerva, the goddess of arms, wisdom, arts, and sciences, to have been an alle gory of the antients, calculated to (hew, that women of natural and usual births must not aim at those accompliso ments. She sprang armed out of Jupiter's head, without the co-operation of his consort Juno ; and, as such only, had those great provinces assigned her. I confess, one has read of ladies, such as Semiramis, Thalestris, and others, who have made very considerable figures in the most heroic and manly parts of life ; but, considering the great antiquity of those histories, and how much they are mixed up with fables, one is at liber ty to question either the facts, or the sex. Besides that, the most ingenious and erudite Conrad Wolfang Laborio fos Nugatorius, of Hall in Saxony, has proved to a de monstration, in the 14th volume, page 2981, of his learn ed treatise De Hermaphroditis , that all the reputed female heroes of antiquity were of this Epicene species, though, out of regard to the fair and modest part of my readers, I dare not quote the several facts and reasonings with which he supports this assertion ; and as for the heroines of modern date, we have more than suspicions of their being at least of the epicene gender. The greatest mo narch that ever filled . the British throne, till very lately, ivas queen Elizabeth, of whose sex we have abundant rea- son | 82 | 0.818 | 0.15 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XIII. 71 son to doubt, history furnisoing us with many instances of the manhood of that princess, without leaving us one single symptom or indication of the woman ; and thus much is certain, that soe thought it improper for her to marry a man. The great Christina, queen of Sweden, was allowed by every body to be above her sex, and the masculine was so predominant in her composition, that soe even conformed, at last, to its dress, and ended her days in Italy. I therefore require that those women, who insist upon going beyond the bounds allotted to their sex, soould previously declare themselves in form hermaphro dites, and be registered as such in their several parisoes ; till when, I soall not suffer them to confound politics, perplex metaphysics, and darken mysteries. flow amiable may a woman be, what a comfort and delight to her acquaintance, her friends, her relations, her lover, or her husoand, in keeping strictly within her character ! She adorns all female virtues with native fe male softness. Women, while untainted by affectation, have a natural chearfulness of mind, tenderness and be nignity of heart, which justly endears them to us, either to animate our joys, or sooth our sorrows; but how are they changed, and how shocking do they become, when the rage of ambition, or the pride of learning, agitates and swells those breasts, where only love, friendsoip and tender care, soould dwell ! Let Flavia be their model, who, though soe could sup port any character, assumes none, never misled by fancy or vanity, but guided singly by reason : whatever soe says or does, is the manifest result of a happy nature, and a good understanding, though soe knows whatever women ought, and, it may be, more than they are required to know. She conceals the superiority soe has, with as much care, as others take to display the superiority they have not; soe conforms herself to the turn of the company soe is in, but in a way of rather avoiding to be distanced, than desiring to take the lead. Are they merry, soe is chearful ; are they grave, soe is serious •, are they absurd, soe is silent. Though soe thinks and speaks as a man would do, soe effeminates, if I may use the expression, whatever soe fays, and gives all the graces of her own sex to the strength of ours ; soe is well-bred without the trouble some ceremonies and frivolous forms of those who only affect | 83 | 0.819 | 0.166 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 7a . LORD CHESTERFIELD'S affect to be so. As her good breeding proceeds jointly from good nature and good sense, the former inclines her to oblige, and the latter soews her the easiest and best way of doing it. Woman's beauty, like men's wit, is o-enerally fatal to the owners, unless directed by a judg ment, which seldom accompanies a great degree of either : her beauty seems but the proper and decent lodging for such a mind ; soe knows the true value of it, and far from thinking that it authorizes impertinence and coque try, it redoubles her care to avoid those errors, that are its usual attendants. Thus soe not only unites in herself all the advantages of body and mind, but even reconciles contradictions in others ; for soe is loved and esteemed, though envied, by all. XIV COMMON SENSE. Saturday, October 8, 1737. N° 37. IJOMEBODY" told the late regent of France*, that a very silly pariso priest had abused him most groily in the pulpit, to which the regent, who was much above resenting the insults of fools, answered very coolly, " Why does the blockhead meddle with me ? I am not of his pariso." In this manner I reply to all the anger and indignation, which the grave Mr. Osoorne, and the facetious Sir A. B. C. have been pleased to express against me. Can not they let me alone ? I am sure they have nothing to do with common sense. Nay, I even return them good for evil, and do for them, what I believe nobody in the kingdom does but myself, for I take in their papers at my own expence. It is true I find my account in it, for the Gazetteer makes me laugh, and the London Journal makes me sleep. I take the former in the morning, and the latter at night. Sir A. B. C. and his associates have such an absurd pertness, and so inimitable an alacrity in sinking, that it is impossible not to laugh at first, though, I confess they are below it, and that it isa little ill-natured into * The duke of Orleans, who was regent during the minority of Lewi? XV. | 84 | 0.806 | 0.181 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XIV. 73 into the bargain. But one can no more help it, than one can help laughing at an aukward fellow, who, going to sit down, misses his chair, and falls ridiculously upon his breech ; though, to be sore, there is no joke in it, and very probably the poor man has hurt himself too. Mr. Osoorne has quite a different effect upon me ; his solid uniform dulness is the surest soporific I have met with, and every Saturday night, as soon as I am in bed, my man constantly asks me, " Does your honor take your " London Journal to-night ?•' I never refuse his offer, and, to do him justice, he reads with a flow monotony, so excellently adapted to the performance, that one would think he was the author of it himself. Thus, after taking these two authors regularly, night and morning, they are carefully laid by in a little closet, where I ultimately take them, as they happen to lie next my hand. I have lately heard, with concern, that I soall soon be deprived of these benefits, and that my two favourite authors will withdraw their weekly and daily labors from the public, in order to exhibit themselves in other soapes. Mr. Osoorne, I am told, has engaged himself to supply the stage with tragedies, and sir A. B. C. with comedies ; that it may not be said, that the late act of parliament has prevented the production of excellent dramatic per formances, as some of the malecontents pretended it would. Though this will disturb the present regular course of my present laughter, which I must afterwards take by the lump, and in twelve-penny doses, yet I must acknowledge them to be the properest authors to answer the true meaning and intendment of the bill : for I will defy the most inveterate and ingenious malice, even that of the Craftsman, to apply any thing out of their writ ings. With what impatience do I long to see the tragic scenes of our laureat disgraced and eclipsed by Osoorne's solid drama ! Yes, Osoorne soall snatch the poppies from Cibber's brow, and plant them on his own. I cannot help suggesting, as a friend, to this hopeful young tragic poet, that there is in the Rehearsal both a sleeping scene, and a yawning one, incomparably well written, which I would advise him to have before his eyes, while he can keep them open. I condole | 85 | 0.804 | 0.16 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XIV. 75 of advice I will give him,whenever he can get another au thor of that kind to write for him, not to transtatehim too soon. < This certainly never happened in any reign, or under any administration, before ; for, excepting a late imita tion of Horace, by Mr. Pope who but seldom meddles with public matters, I challenge the ministerial advocates to produce one line of sense, or Engliso, written on the fame side of the question for these last seven years. Has there been an essay in verse or prole, has there been even a distich, or an advertisement, fit to be read on the side of the administration ? But on the other side, what num bers of dissertations, essays, treatises, compositions of all kinds in verse and prose, have been written, with all that strength of reasoning, quickness of wit, and elegance of expression, which no former period of time can equal ? Has not every body got by heart satires, lampoons, bal lads and sarcasms against the administration ? and can any body recollect, or repeat, one line for it ? What can be the cause of this ? It cannot be, that those who are able to serve the honorable person despair of being re warded by him, since the known instances of his libe rality to the worst of writers are sure pledges of his pro fusion to the best. Is it then the rigid virtue, the inflex ible honor of the brightest geniuses of this age, that hin ders them from engaging in that cause, for which they would be so amply recompensed ? If so, 1 congratulate the present times, for that was not usually the character istic of wit, and they were formerly accused of flattery, at least, if not of prostitution, to ministerial favour and rewards. In all former reigns, the wits were of the side of the mi nisters • the Osoornes and the A. B. C's against them. And how would the Godolphins, the Somers's, the Hali fax's, and the Dorscts, have blusoed, to have been the Mæcenas of such wretched scribblers ? But they were not reduced to such an ignominious necessity. They found the best writers as proud to engage in their cause, as able to support it. Even the infamous and pernicious measures of King Charles the second's reign, as they are now call ed, were palliated, varnisoed, or justified by the ablest pens. By what uncommon fatality then is this adminis tration destitute of all literary support ? One | 87 | 0.802 | 0.17 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 78 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S man's transactions, it is then that their effects are most to be dreaded. The Spectator's next supposition is, " that the gay " prospect of the fields and the meadows, with the court " soip of the birds on every tree, naturally unbend the *' mind, and soften it to pleasure." What effect this ru ral scene may have upon a milkmaid, I cannot fay, but I can never imagine that women of fasoion and delicacy can be affected by such objects. The fields and the mea dows are their aversion, and the periodical anniversary loves of the birds their contempt. It is the gay London scene, where successive pleasures raise the spirits and warm the imagination, which prepares the fairest breasts to re ceive the tenderest impressions. The last conjecture is, " that a woman is prompted " by a kind of instinct to throw herself upon a bed of " flowers, and not to let those beautiful couches, which ** nature has provided, lye useless." This again evident ly relates to the ruddy milkmaid ; for, not to mention the danger of catching cold upon one of these beds, to any body above a milkmaid, surely the privacy, convenien cy, and security, of a good damask bed, or couch, are much stronger temptations to a woman of fasoion, to re cline a little, than all the daizies and cowslips in a mea dow. Having thus briefly answered the arguments of my predecessor, or at least shewn, that his care and concern were only calculated for the inferior part of the sex, I soall, now, humbly lay before those of superior rank, the many " difficulties and dangers," to which the win ter exposes them. I believe I may take it for granted, that every fine wo man, who comes to town in January, comes heartily tired both of the country and of her husoand. The happy pair have yawned at one another at least ever since Michaelmas, and the two indivisible halves, of man and wife, have been exceedingly burthensome to each other. The lady, who has had full leisure most minutely to con sider her other moiety, has either positively or compara tively found out, that he is by no means a pretty man, and meditates indemnification to herself, either by her re turn to the pretty man, or by enlisting one for the current service of the year. In these dispositions soe opens the winter, | 90 | 0.822 | 0.153 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 80 is looked upon to be over. Short and fallacious securi ty ! for, this point once gained, the besieger, if I may borrow some military metaphors, is most advantageously posted, is in a situation to parley with the garrison, and stands fair for the horn-work. Here he can argue the case fully, soew the negligence, the injustice, or the oppres sion, of the present governor, offer terms of honor, safe ty, and better usage, and, by persuasions, either bring about a willing surrender, or at least so far abate the vi gor of the resistance, as with a little force to make him self master of the place. Having thus represented the danger, I will now point out the best preservatives, I can think of, against it ; for in this case prevention alone can be used, remedy comes too late. I therefore recommend to my countrywomen, to be particularly upon their guard, against the very man whose conquest they most wiso for, and to be assured that the reasons which determine their choice are so many instances of their danger. Let them begin to reflect, as soon as ever they begin to find a particular pleasure in his con versation, and let them tremble when they first make him a graver curtesy than they do to other people. But if, when he approaches them, they pull up their gloves, adjust their tucker, and count the sticks of their fan, let them despair, for they are further gone than they imagine. And though they may, for a time, deceive themselves with the notion that it is his understanding only that en gages their attention, they will find at last that man, like the serpent, when he has once got his head in, the rest will soon follow. Friendsoip and esteem are the bearded arrows of love, that enter with ease, but, when torn out, leave the wound greater. A constant dissipation, and hurry of various trifles, is of great use in this case, and does not give leisure to the mind to receive lasting impressions ; but beware of select coteries, where, without an engagement, a lady passes but for " an odd body." '_ A course of visiting-days is also an excellent preserva tive against an attachment. The rigorous sentences of those tremendous tribunals, fulminated by the old and ugly, upon the young and fair, and where, as in the inquisition, the slightest suspicions amount to proofs, must | 92 | 0.814 | 0.169 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XV. 83 " soould not we ?" She tenderly replies, " I believe we " soould." Can one refuse to give credit to the so re cent testimonies and experience of two ladies of such agreeable characters ? And the belief of a pleasure, natu rally invites to the pursuit of it. It would be endless to specify the particular plays which I must totally prohibit ; but I believe the best, and soortest general rule, that I can give my countrywomen, is absolutely to abstain from all those, which they like best. There are certain books too, of a most stimulating and inflammatory nature, a few doses of which may throw the reader into such a fever, that all the cooling and so porific volumes of our modern divines may not be able to abate, and which can only be cured by strong sodorifics. The catalogue of these books would be endless : but my fair readers will pretty well guess at them, when I tell them, that I mean those, which are generally kept under lock and key, and which, when any body comes in, are immediately clapt under the cusoion. I have but one caution more to add ; but that is, it may be, the most material one of all ; to beware of morning visits. Breakfast-time is a critical period ; the spirits are freso and active, and, if the watchful lover comes in soon after the drowsy husoand is gone out, it presents to the lady a contrast too favourable to the former. The inter posing tea-table is but a weak barrier against impatient love. Opportunity invites, resentment provokes, nature at least approves ; and, in such a violent situation, " She, who alone her lover can withstand, " I« more than woman, or he less than man." XVI. COM G 2 | 95 | 0.809 | 0.189 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 86 what? The critical examination of compound dishes: and if any two or three people happen to start some use ful or agreeable subject of conversation, they are soon in terrupted, and overpowered by the extatic interjections of, excellent ! exquisite ! delicious ! Pray taste this, you never eat a better thing in your life. Is that good ? Is it tender ? Is it seasoned enough ? Would it have been bet ter so ? Of such wretched stuff as this does the pre sent table-talk wholly consist, in open defiance of all con versation and common sense. I could heartily wiso that a collection of it were to be publisoed for the honor and glory of the performers ; but for want of that, I shall give my readers a soort specimen of the most ingenious table-talk, I have lately heard carried on with most wit and spirit. My lord, having tasted and duly considered the Becha mele, soook his head, and then offered as his opinion to the company, that the garlic was not enough concealed, but earnestly desired to know their sentiments, and beg ged they would taste it with attention. The company, after proper deliberation, replied, that they were of his lordsoip's opinion, and that the garlic did indeed distinguiso itself too much ■ but the maitre dbbtel interposing represented, that they were now stronger than ever in garlic at Paris ; upon which the company one and all said, that altered the case. My lord, having sagacioufly smelt at the breech of a rabbit, wiped his nose, gave a sorug of some dissatisfac tion, and then informed the company, that it was not ab solutely a bad one, but that he heartily wisoed it had been kept a day longer. Ay, said Sir Thomas, with an emphasis, a rabbit must be kept. And with the guts in too, added the colonel, or the devil could not eat it. Here the maitre d'hotel again interposed, and said that they eat their rabbits much sooner now than they used to do at Paris. Are you fore of that ? said my lord, with some vivacity. Yes, replied the maitre d hotel, the cook had a letter about it last night. I am not sorry for that, re joined my lord ; for, to tell you the* truth, I naturally love to eat my meat before it stinks. The rest of the com pany, and even the colonel himself, confessed the same. This ingenious and edifying kind of conversation con tinued, without the least interruption from common sense, through | 98 | 0.803 | 0.171 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XVIII. 97 still retains power enough over men's passions, to make it worth our care : and I heard some persons, equally skilled in music and politics, assert, that king James was fung and fiddled out of this kingdom by the protestant tune of Lillybullero, and that somebody else would have been fiddled into it again, if a certain treasonable Jacobite tune had not been timely silenced by the unwearied pains and diligence of the administration. The bag-pipe, I am credibly informed, has been known to have a wonderful effect upon our countrymen the North Britons, and to influence whole clans ; which I am soe more inclined to believe, because I have really seen it do strange things here. The Swiss, who are not a people of the quickest sen sations, have at this time a tune, which, when played upon their fifes, inspires them with such a love of their country, that they run home as fast as they can : which tune, is therefore, under severe penalties, forbid to be played, when their regiments are on service, because they would instantly desert. Could such a tune be composed here, it would then be worth the nation's while to pay the piper, and one could easily suggest the proper places for the performance of it ; for instance, it might be of great use, at the opening of certain assemblies, where prayers have already proved ineffectual, and the serjeant at arms and the gentleman usoer of the black-rod soould be in structed to play it in perfection. The band of court mu sic would of course execute it incomparably, where it would doubtless have all the effect which could be expect ed.- I would therefore most earnestly recommend it to the learned doctor Green, to turn his thoughts that way. It is not from the least distrust of Mr. Handel's ability that I address myself preferably to doctor Green : but Mr. Handel, having the advantage to be by birth a German, might probably, even without intending it, mix some modulations in his composition, which might give a Ger man tendency to the mind, and therefore greatly lessen the national benefit I propose by it. How far the polite part of the world is affected by the cessation of operas, I am no judge myself; but I asked a young gentleman of wit and pleasure about town, whe ther he did not apprehend that he soould be a sufferer by it in his way of business, for that I presumed those soft Vol. II. H and | 109 | 0.843 | 0.148 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XX. 105 As the best account of this great action is in the Daily Gazetteer of the 25th of December last, which nobody reads, I will, for the satisfaction of the curious, transcribe it from thence. " Hanover, December the 1 2th, O. S. On the 4th " instant a detachment of Hanoverians, consisting of five " hundred men, with two field-pieces, marched to take *' possession of the territory of Steinhorst, which belongs to " the privy counsellor Wedderkop, wherein were posted *' thirty dragoons in the service of the king of Denmark. " The colonel who commanded the detachment no " sooner arrived, but he sent a lieutenant to the Daniso " captain in the castle to acquaint him, that he was come " with orders to take possession of it, and, if he refused, " to turn him out by force. The Daniso captain having " answered the lieutenant, that he was commanded to ' ' repel force by force, the two officers had such high " words, that they drew their swords and fought a duel, " in which the Daniso captain was killed on the spot, " and the lieutenant mortally wounded. The Hanove- " rian colonel having advanced with his troops in the in- " tenm, to begin the attack, a very smart skirmiso en- " sued, wherein several soldiers were killed on both sides. " The Danes then drew up their draw-bridges, and re- " tired into the castle, where they defended themselves a " while ; but the Hanoverians having, by the means of " great hooks, plucked down the bridges, they entered " the castle and took postession of it, by virtue of an in- " strument drawn up by a lawyer, and a scrivener, whom *' they had sent for from Hamburg, for that purpose." This action is, in my mind, as great an instance of prudence, generosity, magnanimity, and moderation, as any we read of in antiquity. Considering the strength of the castle and the number of the garrison, it was cer- tainly prudent to send no less than five hundred men to attack it. The colonel lhews his generosity, in the first place, by sending a very civil message to the commanding officer, to let him know he was come to take possession of the castle, and to turn him out by force, and then the ar dor of his courage, by not staying for an answer, but be ginning the attack in the interim. After he had possessed himself | 117 | 0.815 | 0.172 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 106 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S himself of the fortress by his hooks, and other warlike in struments, he declines the right of conquest, which he might undoubtedly have insisted upon, but quiets the pos session, by virtue of an instrument prepared by a lawyer and scrivener, whom he had sent for from Hamburg for that purpose. This important fortress, together with the estate about it, I am assured, is worth, as to the dominium utile, no less than a thousand pounds a year, and inestimable, as to the dominium supremum, as it is a check to the northern pow ers : but the title being pretty intricate and doubtful, his majesty bought it a pennyworth of the duke of Hol ftein, the last time he visited his German dominions, pay ing, I think, no more than thirty thousand pounds for it. I have met with some timorous people, who appre hend ill consequences from this affair. The king of Den mark, fay they, incensed at this treatment, will certainly throw himself into the arms of France, which has, for some time, been endeavouring to engage him, as well as other northern powers, provisionally in her interests, to facilitate her future schemes of power and greatness. Nay, more, fay they, the king of Denmark may proba bly resent this upon Hanover itself, and march a consider able body of troops there ; in which case, Hanover will cry out murther, call upon England for help, and we may be obliged to send more fleets to the Baltic, and be en gaged in a war upon account of a disputed possession, too inconsiderable even for a law-suit. But those; who talk in this way, are but soallow politicians, and have not an ade quate notion of the strength and importance of our foreign dominions, or of the goodness of those troops. On the contrary, it seems evident to me, that the king of Den mark will think twice before he engages in meafores.dis agreeable to that state, whose strength, courage, and con duct, he has of late so sensibly experienced -, but, soould he take any raso and inconsiderate step, Hanover alone is more than a match for him, and England neither can nor will be engaged in that quarrel ; and especially at a time that our expences and fleets are employed, in ob taining ample reparation for our merchants, and future security for our trade, which, it may be, is not quite yet accomplisoed. Upon | 118 | 0.806 | 0.144 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXI. 109 their own persons : but as I am of opinion, that it is more proper for a writer to endeavour to recommend his bu siness than his person to the public, I shall inform my reader of the one, and leave him to indulge the pleasure of conjecture as to the other. We are told by critics, that definitions ought to be conceived in as plain, concise terms as possible. The world naturally expect that a public writer soould, at his outset, acquaint them with his principles, views, and motives of writing ; therefore I intend, in compliance with this expectation, to acquaint my reader in very plain terms with those several particulars. This is fair ; if he likes the definition of each, he will be curious to know the several propositions deduced from them, and perhaps be prevailed on to encourage the doctrine arising upon the whole : if, on the other hand, he soould dis like them, there is but little harm done, he knows what he is to expect, and will hereafter save both himself and me the mortification of any farther interviews with one another. All experience convinces me, that 90 men out of 100, when they talk of forming principles, mean no more than embracing parties, and when they talk of supporting their party, mean serving their friends, and the service of their friends implies no more than consulting self-interest. By this gradation, principles are fitted to party, party degene rates into faction, and faction is reduced to self. For this reason, I openly declare that I think no honest man will implicitly embrace any party, so as to attach himself to the persons of those who form it. I am firmly of opinion, that both in the last and present age, this nation might have been equally well served either by whigs or tories ; and if soe was not, it was not because their principles were contrary to her interest, but because their conduct was in-: consistent with their principles. To extend this view a little farther, I am entirely per suaded that in the words, our present happy establishment, the happiness mentioned there is that of the subjects ; and that, if the establisoment soould make the prince happy and the subjects otherwise, it would be very justly termed our present unhappy establisoment. I apprehend the nati on did not think king James unworthy of the crown, merely / that | 121 | 0.817 | 0.163 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXI. 111 particular propositions to be deduced from these princi ples, they will be the subject of after disquisition. I am next to account for the views of my writing. I had always observed, of the late very wicked ministers, that, though they did many infamous scandalous things, and put up with many gross affronts, in fjlvor of foreign considerations, yet, 1 will do them the justice to fay it, the odium arising from their measures always fell upon their own persons-, and whatever the secret springs of their conduct might have been, yet we never saw the safety and profit of Hanoverian dominions, made in parliament itself, the immediate, open, and avowed cause of sacrificing the nearest and the dearest interests of this nation. Questions indeed were carried for Hessian troops, for extravagant subsidies, for inconsistent treaties and the like but they never had the impudence, the insolence, or the wickedness, to bring Hanover and Great Britain, as two parties, before the bar of their own corruption, and then to pass a verdict, by which the latter was rendered a province to the former. It is against such, as can be found wicked enough to do this, that this paper is undertaken ; it is undertaken against those, who have found the secret of acquiring more in famy in ten months, than their predecessors, with all the pains they took, could acquire in twenty years. It is intended to vindicate the honor of the crown of Great Britain, and to assert the interest of her people against all foreign considerations ; to keep up the spirit of vir- tuous opposition to wicked people ; to point out the means of completing the great end of the revolution ; and, in soort, to give the alarm upon any future attacks that may be made, either open or secret, of the govern- ment upon the constitution. I am now to speak of the motives for an undertaking of this kind ; these are many, but some of them per- haps not quite so proper to be committed to the public. We have seen the noble fruits of a twenty years opposi- tion blasted by the connivance and treachery of a few, who by all ties of gratitude and honor, ought to have cherisoed and preserved them to the people : but this disappointment ought to be so far from discouraging, that it soould lend spirit and life to, a new opposition. The late one labored their point for a much longer term of | 123 | 0.817 | 0.16 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 112 of years, and against many greater difficulties than any opposition at present can be under any apprehensions of encountering. They became a majority, from a minori ty of not above eighty-seven or eighty-eight in all ; they fought against an experienced general and a national purse, and the questions they opposed were more plausible in their nature, and less dangerous in their consequences, than any that have yet fallen within the system of their blundering successors. At present, the friends of their country, who have already declared themselves, have advantages which their predecessors could never compass, even after twenty years hard labor. I know, that the conduct of thole, who sneaked, and abandoned their principles, upon the late change of mini stry, is sometimes made use of as an argument why all op position must be fruitless, since all mankind, fay they, employ it only as a means of their preferment, or the in strument of their revenge. This argument is in point of fact absolutely false, and in point of reasoning extreme ly inconclusive. To prove it false in fact, I need but ap peal to an understanding reader's own memory ; let him recollect the characters of those, who betrayed their party upon the late change, the light in which they stood with the public, and the estimation they held with their friends. Whoever shall take the pains to do this will own, that the part they acted could be no surprize, upon the discerning part of mankind. In all parties and bodies of men, even less numerous than those who formed the late opposition, there have always been found, and it has been always un derstood there are,men, whose virtue is too weak to stand the first soock either of temptation or danger : when such men give way, they leave a party stronger, because its rottenness is removed. They, who fell off upon the late turn, are of two sorts ; such as were never suspected of having virtue to resist temptation, and such as were never thought of consequence enough to deserve it. The surprize, therefore, is not that some fell, but that so many stood ■ but then how me lancholy is the consideration, when we reflect, that there is a possibility, that the great concerns of the nation both at home and abroad may, by such an alteration of affairs, fall into the hands of those, who were either tlie re proach or scum of their party ? What a prospect must this nation | 124 | 0.807 | 0.164 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXI. 113 nation have, if in the most decisive conjuncture, as to the liberties of Europe, the management of foreign concerns should fall into the hands of a person of the following character. A man, who, when in the opposition, even his since- rity could never beget confidence, nor his abilities esteem ; whose learning is unrewarded with knowledge, and his experience with wisdom ; discovering a haughtiness of demeanour, without any dignity of character ; and pos- sessing the lust of avarice, without knowing the rigfit use of power and riches. His understanding blinded by his passions, his passions directed by his prejudices, and his prejudices ever hurrying into presumption ; impatient even of an equal, yet ever requiring the correction of a superior. Right as to general maxims, but wrong in the application ; and therefore always so intoxicated by the prospect of success, that he never is cool enough to con- cert the proper measures to attain it. Should a man, I fay, of such a character as this, ever come to be at the head of foreign affairs, the nation must be in a greater danger than it was, in any time of the late administration, because her ruin will be more swift, dis- graceful, and irretrievable. One might easily form a contrast to this character, and yet not deviate from a liv- ing resemblance. I could point out a person, without ony other merit but the lowest species of prostitution, en joying a considerable post, got by betray ing his own par- ty, without having abilities to be of use to any other : one, who had that plodding mechanical turn, which, with an opinion of his steadiness, was of service to the opposition, but can be of none to a ministry : one, whose talents were so low, that nothing but servile application could preserve him from universal contempt, and who, if he had perse- vered all his life in the interests of his country, might have had a chance of being remembered hereafter as a useful man. If there are such characters as those now existing, it is at least of some consolation to men of sense and vir- tue, that, if their inclinations lead them to views destruc- tive of the interests and constitution of Great Britain, yet their abilities and reputation with all mankind are too mean for them to continue so long in power, as to be able to copy the late minister in procuring a safe retreat for his crimes. Vol. II. I Having | 125 | 0.812 | 0.161 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXIII. 121 The absurdity of the proposal struck me at first ; and I foresaw a thousand inconveniencies in it, though not half so many as I have since felt. However, knowing that direct contradiction, though supported by the best argu ments, was not the likeliest method to convert a female disputant, I seemed a little to doubt, and contented my self with saying, " that I was not, at first sight, at least, " sensible of the many advantages which they had enu " merated, but that, on the contrary, I apprehended a " great deal of trouble in the journey, and many incon 1' veniencies in consequence of it ; that I had not observ " ed many men of my age considerably improved by " their travels, but that I had lately seen many women " of hers, become very ridiculous by theirs; and that " for my daughter, as soe had not a fine fortune, I saw fl no necessity of her being a fine lady." Here the girl interrupted me, with saying, " For that very reason, " papa, I soould be a fine lady. Being in fasoion is of " ten as good as being a fortune ; and I have known air, " dress, and accomplisoments, stand many a woman in f' stead of a fortune." " Nay, to be fore," added my wife, " the girl is in the right in that ; and if with her *' figure soe gets a certain air and manner, I cannot see *' why soe may not reasonably hope to be as advan " tageoufiy married, as lady Betty Townly, or the two " miss Bellairs, who had none of them such good for *' tunes." I found by all this, that the attack upon me was a concerted one, and that both my wife and daughter were strongly infected with that migrating distemper, which has of late been so epidemical in this kingdom, and which annually carries such numbers of our private families to Paris, to expose themselves there as Engliso, and here, after their return, as French ; insomuch that I am assured that the French call those swarms of Engliso, which now, in a manner, over-run France, a second in cursion of the Goths and Vandals. I endeavoured, as well as I could, to avert this im pending folly, by delays and gentle persuasions, but in vain ; the attacks upon me were daily repeated, and sometimes enforced by tears. At last I yielded, from mere good-nature, to the joint importunities of a wife and daughter whom I loved ; not to mention the love of ease and domestic quiet, which is, much oftener than we care | 133 | 0.809 | 0.17 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXIII. 125 kept up the conversation to herself, till the long-wisoed for moment of the opera came, which separated us, and left me time to reflect upon the extravagances, which I had already seen, and upon the still greater, which I had but too much reason to dread. From this period, to the time of our return to England, every day produced some new and soining folly, and some improper expence. Would to God that they had ended as they began, with our journey ! but unfortu nately we have imported them all. I no longer under stand, or am understood, in my family. I hear of no thing but le bon ton. A French valet de chambre, who I am told is an excellent servant and fit for every thing, is brought over to curl my wife and my daughter's hair, to mount a dessert, as they call it, and occasionally to announce visits. A very slatternly, dirty, but at the same time a very genteel French maid, is appropriated to the use of my daughter. My meat too is as much disguised in the dres sing by a French cook, as my wife and daughter are by their red, their pompoons, their scraps of dirty gauze, flimsy sattins, and black callicoes ; not to mention their affected broken Engliso, and mangled French, which jumbled together compose their present language. My French and Engliso servants quarrel daily, and fight, for want of words to abuse one another. My wife is become ridiculous, by being translated into French ; and the ver sion of my daughter will, I dare fay, hinder many a wor thy English gentleman from attempting to read her. My expence, and consequently my debt, increases ; and I am made more unhappy by follies, than most other people are by crimes. Should you think fit to publiso this my case, together with some observations of your own upon it, I hope it may prove a useful Pharos, to deter private English fa- milies from the coasts of France. I am, S 1 r, Your very humble servant, R. D. My | 137 | 0.822 | 0.161 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXIV. 129 Our laborious neighbours and kinsmen, the Germans, are not without their inventions and happy discoveries in the art of medicine ; for they laugh at a wound through the heart, if they can but apply their powder of sympathy •—not to the wound itself, but to the sword or bullet that made it. Having now, at least in my own opinion, fully proved the superiority of the moderns over the antients in the art of healing, I shall proceed to some other particulars, in which my cotemporaries will as justly claim, and I hope be allowed, the preference. The ingenious Mr. Warburton, in his divine legation of Moses, very justly observes, that hieroglyphics were the be ginning of letters, but at the fame time he very candidly allows, that it was a very troublesome and uncertain me thod of communicating one's ideas ; as it depended in a great measure on the writer's skill in drawing, an art little known in those days, and as a stroke too much or too lit tle, too high or too low, might be of the most dangerous consequence, in religion, business, or love. Cadmus re moved this difficulty by his invention of unequivocal let ters, but then he removed it too much ; for these letters or marks, being the fame throughout, and fixed alphabe tically, soon became generally known, and prevented that secrecy, which in many cases was to be. wisoed for. This inconvenience suggested to the antients the invention of cryptography and steganography, or a mysterious and un intelligible way of writing, by the help of which none but corresponding parties, who had the key, could decy pher the matter. But human industry soon refined upon this too; the art of decyphering was discovered, and the skill of the decypherer baffled all the labor of the cy pherer. The secrecy of all literary correspondence be came precarious, and neither business nor love could any longer be safely trusted to paper. Such for a considerable time was the unhappy state ofletters,till the beau monde, an inventive race of people, found out a new kind of cryp tography, or steganography, unknown to the antients, and free from some of their inconveniencies. Lovers in general made use of it, controversial writers commonly, and ministers of state sometimes, in the most important dispatches. It was writing in such an unintelligible man ner, and with such obscurity, that soe corresponding parties Vol. II. K themselves | 141 | 0.817 | 0.171 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 130 themselves neisoer understood, nor even guessed at,, each other's meaning; which was a most effectual security against all the accidents, to which letters are liable by be ing either mislaid or intercepted. But this method too, though long pursued, was also attended with some in conveniencies. It frequently produced mistakes, by scat tering false lights upon that friendly darkness, so propi tious to business and love. But our inventive neighbours, the French, have very lately removed all these inconve niencies, by a happy discovery of a new kind of paper, as pleasing to the eye, and as conducive to the dispatch, the clearness, and at the fame time the secrecy, of all li terary correspondence. My worthy friend Mr. Dodsley lately brought me a sample of it, upon which, if I mis take not, he will make very considerable improvements, as my countrymen often do upon the inventions of other nations. This soeet of paper I conjectured to be the ground-work and principal material of a tender and pas sionate letter from a fine gentleman to a fine lady ; though in truth it might very well be the whole letter itself. At the top of the first page, was delineated a lady, with very red cheeks and a very large hoop, in the fashionable atti tude of knotting, and of making a very genteel French curtefy. This evidently appears to stand for madam, and saves the time and trouble of writing it. At the bottom of the third page, was painted a very fine well dressed gentleman, with his hat under his left arm, and his right hand upon his heart, bowing most respectfully low ; which single figure, by an admirable piece of brachygraphy or soort-hand, plainly conveys this deep sense, and stands instead of these many words, " I have " the honor to be, with the tenderest and warmest senti '* ments, madam, your most inviolably attached, faith " ful humble servant." The margin of the paper, which was about half an inch broad, was very properly decorat ed with all the emblems of triumphant beauty and tender suffering passions. Groups of sillies, roles, pearls, co rals, funs, and stars, were intermixed with chains, beard ed (hafts, and bleeding hearts. Such a soeet of paper, I confess, seems to me to be a compleat letter ; and I would advise all fine gentlemen, whose time I know is precious, to avail themselves of this admirable invention: it will save them a great deal of time, and perhaps some | 142 | 0.813 | 0.158 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXIV. 131 some thought, and I cannot help thinking, that, were they even to take the trouble of filling up the paper with the tenderest sentiments of their hearts, or the most soin ing flights of their fancy, they would add no energy or delicacy to those types and symbols of the lady's conquest, and their own captivity and sufferings. These blank letters, if I may call them so, when they convey so much, will mock the jealous curiosity of husoands and fathers, who will in vain hold them to the fire to elicit the supposed juice of lemon, and upon whom they may afterwards pass for a piece, of innocent plea santry. The dullest of my readers must, I am fore, by this time be aware, that the utility of this invention extends, mutatis mutandis, to whatever can be the subject of letters, and with much less trouble, and much more secrecy, pro priety and elegancy, than the old way of writing. A painter of but modern skill and fancy may, in a very soort time, have reams of ready-painted paper by him, to supply the demands of the statesman, the divine, and the lover. And I think it my duty to inform the public, that my good friend Mr. Dodsley, who has long complained of the decay of trade, and who loves, with a prudent re gard to his own interest, to encourage every useful in vention, is at this time learning to paint with most un wearied diligence and application : and I make no doubt, but that, in a very little time, he will be able to furniso all sorts of persons with the very best ready-made goods of that kind. I warned him indeed against providing any for the two learned professions of the law and physic, which I apprehend would lie upon his hands : one of them being already in possession, to speak in their own style, of a more brachygraphical, cryptographical, and steganographical secret, in writing their warrants ; and the other not willingly admitting brevity in any soape. Otherwise, what innumerable skins of parchment and lines of writing might be saved in a marriage-settlement, for instance, if the first fourteen or fifteen sons, the supposed future issue, lawfully to be begotten of that happy marriage, and upon whom the settlement is successively made, were to be painted every one a size less than the other upon one skin of parchment, instead of being enu merated upon one hundred, according to priroity K 2 of | 143 | 0.842 | 0.148 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 132 of birth and seniority of age ; and moreover the elder, by an happy pleonasmus, always to take before, and be preferred to, the younger ! but this useful alteration is more to be wisoed than expected, for reasons which I do not at present think proper to mention. I am sensible that the government may possibly object, that I am suggesting to its enemies a method of carrying on their treasonable correspondences, with much more se crecy than formerly. But, as my intentions are honest, I soould be very sorry to have my loyalty suspected ; and when I consider the zeal, and at the same time the inge nuity, of the Jacobites, I am convinced that their letters in this new method will be so charged with groves of oaken boughs, white roses and thistles interwoven, that their meaning will not be obscure, and consequently no danger will arise to the government from this new and ex cellent invention. XXV. THE WORLD. Thursday, June 21, 1753. N" 25. L HAVE the pleasure of informing my fair correspond ent, that her petition contained in the following letter is granted. I wiso I could as easily restore to her what soe has lost. But to a mind like hers, so elevated ! so har monized ! time and the consciousness of so much purity of intention will bring relief. It must always afford her matter of the most pleasing reflection, that her soul had no participation with her material part in that particular act, which she appears to mention with so tender re gret. But it is not my intention to anticipate her story, by endeavouring to console her. Her letter, I hope, will caution all young ladies of equal virtue with herself against that | 144 | 0.829 | 0.169 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXV. 133 that excess of complaisance, with which they are some times too willing to entertain their lovers. " To Mr. Fitz-Ad am. S I R, 1 HAVE not the least ill-will to your friend Mr. Dod sley, whom I never saw in my life ; but I address myself to your equity and good-nature, for a small soare only of your favour and recommendation in that new and valu able branch of trade, to which you have informed the pub lic he is now applying himself, and which I hope you will not think it reasonable that he soould monopolize. I mean that admirable short and secret method of communicat ing one's ideas, by ingenious emblems and representations of the pencil, instead of the vulgar and old method of letters by the pen. Give me leave, sir, to state my case and my qualifications to you : I am sore you will decide with justice. I am the daughter of a clergyman, who, having had a very good living, gave me a good education, and left me no fortune. I had naturally a turn to reading and draw ing : my father encouraged and assisted me in the one, allowed me a master to instruct me in the other, and I made an uncommon progress in them both. My heart was tender, and my sentiments were delicate ; perhaps too much so for my rank in life. This disposition led me to study chiefly those treasures of divine honor, spotless virtue, and refined sentiment, the voluminous romances of the last century : sentiments, from which, I thank hea ven, I have never deviated. From a sympathizing soft ness of soul, how often have I wept over those affecting distresses ! how have I soared the pangs of the chaste and lovely Mariamne upon the death of the tender, the faith ful Tiridates ! and how has my indignation been excited, at the unfaithful and ungenerous historical misrepresent ations of the gallant first Brutus, who was undoubtedly the tenderest lover soat ever lived ! My drawings took the fame elegant turn with my reading. I painted all the most | 145 | 0.815 | 0.164 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 134 most moving and tender stories of charming Ovid's Me tamorphoses ; not without sometimes mingling my tears with my colors. I presented some fans of my own paints ing to some ladies in the neighbourhood, who were pleas ed to commend both the execution and the designs. The latter I always took care soould be moving, and at the fame time irreproachably pure ; and I found means even to represent, with unblemished delicacy, the unhappy passion of the unfortunate Pasiphae. With this turn of mind, this softness of soul, it will be supposed that I loved. I did so, sir; tenderly and truly I loved. Why soould I disown a passion, which, when clarified as mine was from the impure dregs of sensuality, is the noblest and most generous sentiment of the human breast ? O ! that the false heart of the dear deceiver, whose perfidious vows betrayed mine, had been but as pure ! The traitor was quartered with his troop of dragoons in the town where I lived. His person was a happy compound of the manly strength of a hero, and all the softer graces of a lover ; and I thought that I discovered in him, at first sight, all the courage and all the tenderness of Oroondates. My figure, which was not bad, it seems, pleased him as much. He sought and obtained my acquaintance. Soon by his eyes, and soon after by his words, he declared his passion to me. My blusoes, my confusion, and my si lence, too plainly spoke mine. Good gods ! how tender were his words ! how languisoingly soft his eyes ! with what ardor did he press my hand ; a trifling liberty, which one cannot decently refuse, and for which refusal there is no precedent ! Sometimes he addressed me in the mov ing words of Varanes, sometimes in the tender accents of Castalio, and sometimes in the warmer language of Juba-, for he was a very good scholar. In soort, sir, a month was not past before he pressed for what he called a proof of my passion. I trembled at the very thought, and reproached him with the indelicacy of it. He per sisted, and I, in compliance with custom only, hinted previous marriage : he urged love, and I was not vulgar enough to refuse to the man I tenderly loved, the proof he required of my passion. I yielded, it is true ; but it was to sentiment, not to desire. A few months gave me reason to suspect that his passion was not quite so pure : and within the year, the perfidious wretch convinced me that | 146 | 0.836 | 0.162 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 136 sympathize, I have tender willows drooping over mur muring brooks, and gloomy walks of mournful cypress and solemn yew. In soort, sir, I either have by me, or will forthwith provide, whatever can convey the most perfect ideas of elegant friendsoip, or pure, refined, and sentimental passion. But I think it necessary to give no tice, that if any ladies would express any indelicate ideas of love, or require any types or emblems of sensual joy, they must not apply to, S I R, Your most obedient humble servant, Partheniss a." XXVI. THE WORLD. Saturday, July 19, 1753. N°29- S I R, X TROUBLED you some time ago with an account of my distress, arising from the female part of my family. I told you that, by an unfortunate trip to Paris, my wife and daughter had run stark French, and I wiso I could tell you now that they were perfectly recovered : but all I can fay is, that the violence of the symptoms seems to abate, in proportion as the cloaths that inflamed them wear out. My present misfortune flows from a direct contrary cause, and affects me much more sensibly. The little whims, affectations, and delicacies of ladies may be both ridiculous and disagreeable, especially to those who are obliged to be at once the witnesses and the martyrs of them ; but they are not evils to be compared with the obstinate wrong-headedness, the idle and illiberal turn, of an only son, which is unfortunately my case. I acquainted | 148 | 0.823 | 0.162 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXVI. 137 I acquainted you, that in the education of my son I had conformed to the common custom of this country, perhaps I conformed to it too much and too soon ; and that I carried him to Paris, from whence, after six months stay, he was to go upon his travels, and take the usual tour of Italy and Germany. I thought it very necessary for a young man, though not for a young lady, to be well acquainted with the languages, the manners, the characters, and the constitutions, of other countries ; the want of which I experienced and lamented in myself. In order to enable him to keep good company, I allowed him more than I could conveniently afford ; and I trust ed him to the care of a Swiss governor, a gentleman of some learning, good-sense, good-nature, and good manners. But how cruelly I am disappointed in all these hopes, what follows will inform you. During his stay at Paris, he only frequented the worst Engliso company there, with whom he was unhappily en gaged in two or three scrapes, which the credit and the good-nature of the Engliso ambassador helped him out of. He hired a low Irish wench, whom he drove about in a hired chaise, to the great honor of himself, his family, and his country. He did not learn one word of French, and never spoke to Frenchman or Frenchwoman, except ing some vulgar and injurious epithets, which he bestow ed upon them in very plain Engliso. His governor very honestly informed me of this conduct, which he tried in vain to reform, and advised their removal to Italy, which accordingly I immediately ordered. His behaviour there will appear in the truest light to you, by his own and his governor's last letters to me, of which I here give you faithful copies. " Rome, May the 3d, 1753. "Sir, " In the six weeks that I passed at Florence, and the " week I stayed at Genoa, I never had time to write to " you, being wholly taken up with seeing things, of ** which the most remarkable is the steeple of Pisa : it is " the oddest thing I ever saw in my life, it stands all •* awry ; I wonder it does not tumble down. I met • with a great many of my countrywomen, and we live " together | 149 | 0.807 | 0.16 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 140 " does not desire to keep such company. I advised him " to take an Italian master ; which he flatly refused, say " i ig that he soould have time enough to learn Italian, «* wl en he went back to England. But he has taken, of v' hii sself, a music master to teach him to play upon the *' G :rman flute, upon which he throws away two or three " he irs every day. We spend a great deal of money, " wil.iout doing you or ourselves any honor by it ; though " your son, like the generality of his countrymen, va " lues himself upon the expence, and looks upon all " foreigners, who are not able to mase so considerable " a one, as a parcel of beggars and scoundrels, speaks " of them, and, if he spoke to them, would treat them " as such. " If I might presume to advise you, sir, it soould be to " order us home forthwith. I can assure you that your " son's morals and manners will be in much less " danger under your own inspection at home, than they ** can be under mine abroad ; and I defy him to keep " worse Engliso company in England than he now keeps " here. But, whatever you may think fit to determine " concerning him, I must humbly insist upon my own " dismission, and upon leave to assure you in person of " the respect, with which I have the honor to be, "Sir, " Your, &c." I have complied with my son's request, in consequence of his governor's advice, and have ordered him to come home immediately. But what shall I do with him here, where he is but too likely to be encouraged and counte nanced in these illiberal and ungentleman-like manners ? My case is surely most singularly unfortunate ; to be pla gued on one side by the polite and elegant foreign follies of my wife and daughter, and on the other by the uncon forming obstinacy, the low vulgar excesses, and the por ter-like manners, of my son. Perhaps my fortune may suggest to you some thoughts upon the methods of education in general, which, con- veyed | 152 | 0.807 | 0.17 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PI E CE S. XXVI. 141 veyed to the public through your paper, may prove of public use. It is in that view singly that you have had this second trouble from, S 1 r, Your most humble servant and constant reader, R. D. I allow the case of my worthy correspondent to be compassionate, but I cannot possibly allow it to be singu lar. The public places daily prove the contrary too plain ly. I confess I oftener pity than blame the errors of youth, when I reflect upon the fundamental errors gene rally committed by their parents in their education. Many totally neglect, and many mistake it. The an tients began the education of their children, by forming their hearts and their manners. They taught them the duty of men and of citizens, we teach them the languages of the antients, and leave their morals and manners to shift for themselves. As for the modern species of human bucks, I impute their brutality to the negligence or the fondness of their parents. It is observed in parks, among their betters, the real bucks, that the most troublesome and mischievous are those who were bred up tame, fondled, and fed out of the hand, when fawns. They abuse, when grown up, the indulgence they met with in their youth ; and their familiarity grows troublesome and dangerous with their horns. THE | 153 | 0.831 | 0.165 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXVII. 143 independently of that interested consideration, that it is rather better to be still alive, than only to have lived. This my benevolence to my countrymen and cotem poraries ought to be esteemed still the more meritorious in me, when I shall make it appear that no man's merit has been less attended to ot rewarded than mine : and nothing produces ill-humor, rancour, and malevolence so much, as neglected and unrewarded merit. The utility of my weekly labors is evident, and their effects, wherever they are read, prodigious. They are equally calculated, I may fay it without vanity, to form the heart, improve the understanding, and please the fancy. Notwithstanding all which, the ungrateful public does not take above three thousand of them a week, though, according to Mr. Maitland's calculation of the number of inhabitants in this great metropolis, they ought to take two hundred thousand of them, supposing only five persons, and one paper to each family ; and allow ing seven millions of souls in the rest of the king dom, I may modestly fay, that one million more of them ought to be taken and circulated in the country. The profit arising from the sale of twelve hundred thousand papers, would be some encouragement to me to continue these my labors, for the benefit of mankind. I have not yet had the least intimation from the ministers, that they have any thoughts of calling me to their assist ance, and giving me some considerable employment of honor and profit ; and, having had no such intimati ons, I am justly apprehensive that they have no such in tentions : such intimations being always long previous to the performance, often to the intentions. Nor have I been invited, as I confess I expected to be, by any considerable borough or county, to represent them in the next parliament, and to defend their liber ties, and the Christian religion, against the ministers and the Jews. But I think I can account for this seeming slight, without mortification to my vanity and self-love ; my name being a pentateuch name, which, in these sus picious and doubtful times, savours too strongly of Ju daism ; though, upon the faith of a Christian, I have not the least tendency to it ; and I must do Mrs. Fitz-Adam, who I own has some influence over me, the justice to fay, | 155 | 0.813 | 0.151 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 144 say, that soe has the utmost horror for those sanguinary rites and ceremonies. Notwithstanding all this ill usage, for every man may be said to be ill uted, who is not rewarded according to his own estimation of his own merit, which I feel and lament, I cannot however call the present age names, and brand it with degeneracy ; nature, as I have already ob served, being always the fame, modes only varying. With modes, the signification of words also varies, and in the course of those variations, convey ideas very diffe rent from those, which they were originally intended to express. I could give numberless instances of this kind, but at present I shall content myself with this single one. The word honor, in its proper signification, doubt less implies the united sentiments of virtue, truth, and justice, carried by a generous mind beyond those mean moral obligations, which the laws require, or can puniso the violation of. A true man of honor will not content himself with the literal discharge of the duties of a man and a citizen ; he raises and dignifies them into magnani mity. He gives where he may with justice refuse, he for gives where he may with justice resent, and his whole conduct is directed by the noble sentiments of his own unvitiated heart ; sorer and more scrupulous guides than the laws of the land, which, being calculated for the ge nerality of mankind, must necessarily be more a restraint upon vices in general, than an invitation and reward of particular virtues. But these extensive and compound notions of honor have been long contracted, and re duced to the single one of personal courage. Among the Romans, honor meant no more than contempt of dan gers and death in the service, whether just or unjust, of their country. Their successors and conquerors, the Goths and Vandals, who did not deal much in complex ideas, simplified those of honor, and reduced them to this plain and single one, of fighting for fighting's fake, upon any, or all, no matter what, occasions. Our present mode of honor is something more com pounded, as will appear by the true character vsoich I soallnow give of a fasoionable man of honor. A Gen- | 156 | 0.81 | 0.148 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 154 and attested heaven and earth, that the wine was the very fame which they had all approved of the day before, and, as he had a soul to be saved, was true Chateau Margoux. " Chateau devil!" said the colonel with warmth, " it is your d— d rough chaos * wine." Will Sitfast, who thought himself obliged to articulate upon this occasion, said, he was not fore it was a mixed wine, but that indeed it drank down. " If that is all," inter rupted the doctor, " let us even drink it up then ; or, if " that will not do, since we cannot have the true Faler " num, let us take up for once with the vile Sabinum. " What fay you, gentlemen, to good honest port, which *' I am convinced isa much wholesomer stomach wine ?" My friend, who in his heart loves port better than any other wine in the world, willingly seconded the doctor's motion, and spoke very favourably of your Portingal wines in general, if neat. Upon this, some was imme diately brought up, which I observed my friend and the doctor stuck to the whole evening. I could not help asking the doctor, if he really preferred port to lighter wines? To which he answered, " You know, Mr. Fitz " Adam, that use is second nature, and port is in a man " ner mother's milk to me ; for it is what my Alma Ma *' ter suckles all her numerous progeny with." I silently assented to the doctor's account, which I was con vinced was a true one, and then attended to the judicious ani madversions of the other gentlemen upon the claret, which were still continued, though at the fame time they con tinued to drink it. I hinted my surprize at this to sir Tunbelly, who gravely answered me, and in a moving way, " Why what can we do ?" " Not drink it," re plied I, " since it is not good." " But what will you " have us do ? and how shall we pass the evening ?"' rejoined the baronet. " One cannot go home at five " o'clock." " That depends upon a great deal of use," said I. " It may be so, to a certain degree," said the doctor. " But give me leave to ask you, Mr. Fitz " Adam, you, who drink nothing but water, and live " much at home, how do you keep up your spirits ?" " Why dcctor," said I, " as I never lowered my spirits " by strong liquors, I do not want to raise them." Here we were interrupted by the colonel's raising his voice and indignation • Cahors. | 166 | 0.81 | 0.167 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 156 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S no one of his subjects wisoed it more heartily than I did; that hitherto it had not appeared to me, that there could be the least relation between the wine I drank, and the king's state of health, and that, till I was convinced that impairing my own health would improve his Majesty's^ I was resolved to preserve the use of my faculties and my limbs, to employ both in his service if he could ever have occasion for them. I had foreseen the consequences of this refusal, and, though my friend had answered for my principles, I easily discovered an air of suspicion in the countenances of the company, and I overheard the colo nel whisper to lord Feeble, " This author is a very odd " dog !" My friend was asoamed of me ; but however, to help me off as well as he could, he said to me aloud, " Mr. " Fitz- Adam, this is one of those singularities, which you " have contracted by living so much alone." From this moment, the company gave me up to my oddnesses, and took no farther notice of me. I leaned silently upon the table, waiting for, though, to fay the truth, without expecting, some of that festal gaiety, that urbanity, and that elegant mirth, of which my friend had promised so large a soare ; instead of all which, the conversation ran chiefly into narrative, and grew duller and duller with every bottle. Lord Feeble recounted his former at chievements in love and wine, the colonel complained, though with dignity, of hardsoips and injustice, sir George hinted at some important discoveries, which he had made that day at court, but cautiously avoided nam ing names, sir Tunbelly slept between glass and glass, the doctor and my friend talked over college matters, and quoted Latin, and our worthy president applied himself wholly to business, never speaking but to order j as, " Sir, the bottle stands with you, sir, you are to " name a toast, that has been drunk already, here, more " claret !" &c. In the height of all this convivial plea santry, which I plainly saw Was come to its zenith, I stole away at about nine o'clock, and went home ; where re flections upon the entertainment of the day crowded into my mind, and may perhaps be the subject of some future paper. XXX. | 168 | 0.815 | 0.166 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS P IECE S. XXX. 157 XXX. THE WORLD. Saturday, Oct. 3, 1754. N° 92. X HE entertainment, I do not fay the diversion, which I mentioned in my last paper, tumbled my ima gination to such a degree, and suggested such a variety of indistinct ideas to my mind, that, notwithstanding all the pains I took to sort and digest, I could not reduce, them to method. I shall therefore throw them out in this pa per without order, and just as they occured to me. When I considered that, perhaps, two millions of my sellow-sobjects passed two parts in three of their lives in the very fame manner, in which the worthy members of my friend's club pals theirs, I was at a loss to discover that at tractive, irresistible, and invisible charm, for I confess I saw none, to which they so deliberately and assiduously sacrificed their time, their health, and their reason ; till, dipping accidentally into monsieur Pascal, I read, upon the subject of hunting, the following passage. " What, " unless to drown thought," fays that excellent writer, '* can make men throw away so much time upon a silly " animal, which they may buy much cheaper in the mar " ket ? It hinders us from looking into ourselves, which " is a view we cannot bear." That this is often one mo tive, and sometimes the only one, of hunting, I can easi ly believe. But then it must be allowed too, that if the jolly sportsman, who thus vigorously runs away from himself, does not break his neck in his flight, he improves his health, at least, by his exercise. But what other mo tive can possibly be assigned for the soaker's daily and se riously swallowing his own destruction, except that of " drowning thought, and hindering him from looking " into himself, which isa view he cannot bear?" Unhappy the man who cannot willingly and frequently converse with himself ; but miserable in the highest degree is the man who dares not ! In one of these predicaments must | 169 | 0.809 | 0.166 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXXI. 165 or execution. I have even known these their social virtues lay their protectors and protectresses under great difficulties, how to reward such distinguisoed merit. But benefit-nights luckily came in to their assistance, and gave them an op portunity of insinuating, with all due regard, into the hands of the performer, in lieu of a ticket, a considerable bank bill, a gold snuff-box, a diamond-ring, or some such trifle. It is to be hoped, that the illustrious signior Farinelli has not yet forgot the many instances he experienced of Bri tissi munificence : for it is certain that many private fami lies still remember them. All this is very well; and I greatly approve of it, as I am of tolerating and naturalizing principles. But however, as the best things may admit of improvement by certain modifications, I so all now suggest two ; the one of a pub- lic, the other of a private, nature. I would by all means welcome these respectable guests, but I would by no means part with them, as is too soon and too often the case. Some of them, when they have got ten or fifteen thou- sand pounds here, unkindly withdraw themselves, and purchase estates in land in their own countries ; and others are seduced from us, by the pressing invitations of some great potentate to come over to superintend his pleasures, and to take a soare in his counsels. This is not only a great loss to their particular friends, the nobility and gen- try, but to the nation in general, by turning the balance of our musical commerce considerably against us. I would therefore humbly propose, that immediately upon the ar- rival of these valuable strangers, a writ of ne exeat regnum soould be issued to keep them here. The other modifica- tion, which I beg leave to hint at only, it being of a pri- vate nature, is that no virtuoso, whose voice is below a contralto, shall be taken to the country scat of any fami- ly whatsoever ; much less any strapping fiddler, bassoon, or base viol, who does not even pretend to sing, or, if he does, sings a rough tenor, or a tremendous bass. The consequences may be serious, but at least the appearances are not edifying. XXXII | 177 | 0.805 | 0.162 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | i68 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S ciple, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post. And I hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the Eng liso language, as a free-born British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his dictatorsoip. Nay more ; I will not only obey him, like an old Roman, as my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him as my pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair ; but no longer. More than this he can not well require ; for I presume that obedience can never be expected, when there is neither terror to enforce, nor interest to invite it. I confess that I have so much honest Engliso pride, or perhaps prejudice, about me, as to think myself more con siderable for whatever contributes to the honor, the ad vantage, or the ornament, of my native country. I have therefore a sensible pleasure in reflecting upon the rapid progress, which our language has lately made, and still continues to make, all over Europe. It is frequently spo ken, and almost universally understood, in Holland ; it is kindly entertained as a relation in the most civilized parts of Germany ; and it is studied as a learned language, tho' yet little spoke, by all those in France and Italy, who either have, or pretend to have, any learning. The spreading the French language over most parts of Europe, to the degree of making it almost an universal one, was always reckoned among the glories of the reign of Lewis the fourteenth. But be it remembered, that the success of his arms first opened the way to it ; though at the fame time it must be owned, that a great number of most excellent authors, who flouriso ed in his time, added strength and velocity to its progress. Whereas our language has made its way singly by its own weight and merit, under the con duct of those leaders, Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Locke, Newton, Swift, Pope, Addison, &c. A nobler sort of conquest, and a far more glorious triumph, since graced by none but willing captives ! These authors, though for the most part but indiffe rently translated into foreign languages, gave other nations a sample of the British genius. The copies, imperfect as they | 180 | 0.808 | 0.156 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXXII. 169 they were, pleased and excited a general desire of seeing the originals ; and both our authors and our language soon became classical. But a grammar, a dictionary, and a history of our lan guage, through its several stages, were still wanting at home, and importunately called for from abroad. Mr. Johnson's labors will now, and, I dare fay, very fully, supply that want, and greatly contribute to the farther spreading of our language in other countries. Learners were discouraged by finding no standard to resort to, and consequently thought it incapable of any. They will be undeceived and encouraged. There are many hints and considerations relative to our language, which I soould have taken the liberty of suggesting to Mr. Johnson, had I not been convinced that they have equally occurred to him : but there is one, and a very material one it is, to which perhaps he may not have given all the necessary attention. I mean the genteeler part of our language, which owes both its rise and progress to my fair countrywomen, whose natural turn is more to the copiousness, than to the correctness of diction. I would not advise him to be raso enough to proscribe any of those happy redundancies, and luxuri ancies of expression, with which they have enriched our lan guage. They willingly inflict fetters, but very unwilling ly submit to wear them. In this case the task will be so difficult, that I design, as a common friend, to propose in some future paper, the means which appear to me the most likely to reconcile matters. P. S. I hope that none of my courteous readers will upon this occasion be so uncourteous, as to suspect me of being a hired and interested puff of this work; for I most solemnly protest, that neither Mr. Johnson, nor any person employed by him, nor any bookseller or booksellers con cerned in the success of it, have ever offered me the usual compliment of a pair of gloves or a bottle of wine : nor has even Mr. Dodsley, though my publisoer, and, as I am informed, deeply interested in the sale of this dictionary, so much as invited me to take a bit of mutton with him. XXXIII. | 181 | 0.827 | 0.147 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXXIII. 171 wanting, which indeed happens but seldom, indignation instantly makes new ones ; and I have often known four or five syllables that never met one another before, hastily and fortuitously jumbled into some word of mighty im port. Nor is the tender part of our language less obliged to that soft and amiable sex ; their love being at least as productive as their indignation. Should they lament in an involun tary retirement the absence of the adored object, they give new murmurs to the brook, new sounds to the echo, and new notes to the plaintive Philomela. But when this happy copiousness flows, as it often does, into gentle num bers,good gods ! how is the poetical diction enriched, and the poetical licence extended ! Even in common conversation, I never see a pretty mouth opening to speak, but I expect, and am seldom disappointed, some new improvement of our language. I remember many expressive words coined in that fair mint. I assisted at the birth of that most signi ficant word flirtation, which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world, and which has since receiv ed the sanction os our most accurate Laureat in one of his comedies. Some inattentive and undiscerning people have, I know, taken it to be a term synonymous with coquetry ; but I lay hold of this opportunity to undeceive them, and eventually to inform Mr. Johnson, that flirtation is soort of coquetry, and intimates only the first hints of approxima tion, which subsequent coquetry may reduce to those preli minary articles, that commonly end in a definitive treaty. I was also a witness to the rise and progress of that most important verb, to fuzz ; which, if not of legitimate birth, is at least of fair extraction. As I am not sore that it has yet made its way into Mr. Johnson's literary retire ment, I think myself obliged to inform him that it is at present the most useful and the most used word in our lan guage ; since it means no less than dealing twice together with the fame pack of cards, for luck's fake, at whist. Not contented with enriching our language by words ab- solutely new, my fair countrywomen have gone still far ther, and improved it by the application and extension of old ones to various and very different significations. They take a word and change it, like a guinea into soillingsfor pocket money, to be employed in the several occasional purposes of the day. For instance, the adjective vast and its | 183 | 0.81 | 0.163 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 182 In the city, for my paper has made its way to that end of the town, upon the supposition of its being a fasoionable one in this, I am received and considered in a different light. All my general reflexions upon the vices or the fol lies of the age are, by the ladies, supposed to be levelled at particular persons, or at least discovered to be very ap plicable to such and such of the qu a l i t y . They are also thought to be very pat to several of their own neighbours and acquaintance ; and sorewd hints of the kind greatly embelliso the conversation of the evening. The graver and more frugal part of that opulent metropolis, who do not themselves buy, but borrow my paper of those who do, complain that, though there is generally room suffi cient at the end of the last page, I never insert the price of stocks nor of goods at Bear key. And they are every one of them astonisoed how certain transactions of the court of aldermen on one hand, and of the common-council on the other, can possibly escape my animadversion, since it is impossible that they can have escaped my knowledge. Such are the censures and difficulties, to which a poor weekly author is exposed. However, I have the pleasure, and something more than the pleasure, of finding that two thousand of my papers are circulated weekly. This num ber exceeds the largest that was ever printed even of the Spectators, which in no other respect do I pretend to equal; Such extraordinary success would be sufficient to flatter the vanity of a good author, and to turn the head of a bad one. But I prudently check and stifle those growing sentiments in my own breast, by reflecting upon the other circum stances that tend to my humiliation. I must confess that the present fasoion of curling the hair has proved exceed ingly favourable to me : and perhaps the quality of my paper, as it happens to be peculiarly adapted to that pur pose, may contribute, more than its merit, to the sale of it. A head that has taken a right French turn, requires, as I am assured, fourscore curls in distinct papers, and those curls must be renewed as often as the head is combed, which is perhaps once a month. Four of my papers are sufficient for that purpose, and amount only to eight pence, which is very little more than what the fame quantity of plain paper would cost. Taking it therefore all together, it | 194 | 0.814 | 0.166 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 186 than two Frenchmen of equal strength and size with him self, I soould however be very unwilling to undeceive him of that useful and sanguine error, which certainly made his countrymen triumph in the fields of Poictiers and Crecy. But there are prejudices of a very different nature from these; prejudices not only founded on original error, but that gave birth and sanction to the most absurd, extrava gant, impious, and immoral customs. Honor, that sacred name, which ought to mean the spi rit, the supererogation of virtue, is, by custom, profaned, reduced, and sorunk to mean only a readiness to fight a duel upon either a real or an imaginary affront, and not to cheat at play. No vices nor immoralities whatsoever blast this fasoionable character, but rather, on the contra ry, dignify and adorn it : and what soould baniso a man from all society, recommends him in general to the best. He may, with great honor, starve the tradesmen, who by their industry, supply not only his wants, but his luxury ; he may debauch his friend's wife, daughter, or sister; he may, in soort, unboundedly gratify every appetite, passion, and interest, and scatter desolation round him, if he be but ready for single combat, and a scrupulous ob server of all the moral obligations of a gamester. These are the prejudices for wit to ridicule, for satire to laso, for the rigor of soe Law to puniso, and, (which would be the most effectual of all) for fasoion to discoun tenance and proscribe. And these shall in their turns be the subjects of some future papers. XXXVII. THE WORLD. Saturday, Feb. 27. 1755. No. 113. THE custom of duelling is most evidently " the result of the passions of the many, and of the de signs of a few ;" but here the definition stops ; since far fiom being " the ape of reason," it prevails in open defi- ance | 198 | 0.822 | 0.148 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXXVII. 187 ance of it. It is the manifest offspring of barbarity and folly, a monstrous birth, and distinguisoed by the most soocking and ridiculous marks of both its parents. I would not willingly give offence to the politer part of my readers, whom I acknowledge to be my best customers, and therefore I will not so much as hint at the impiety of this practice •, nor will I labor to soew how repugnant it is to instinct, reason, and every moral and social obligation, even to the fasoionable fitness of things. Viewed on the criminal side, it excites horror ; on the absurd side, it is an inexhaustible fund of ridicule. The guilt has been considered and exposed by abler pens than mine, and in deed ought to be censured with more dignity than a fugi tive weekly paper can pretend to : I shall therefore content myself with ridiculing the folly of it. The antients most certainly have had very imperfect noti ons of honor, for they had none of duelling. One reads, it is true, of murders committed every now and then among the Greeks and Romans, prompted only by interest or re venge, and performed without the least Attic politeness, or Roman urbanity. No letters of gentle invitation were sent to any man to come and have his throat cut the next morning , and we may observe that Milo had not the common decency to give Clodius, the most profligate of men, the most dangerous of citizens, and his own inve terate enemy, an equal chance of destroying him. This delicacy of sentiment, this refinement of manners, was reserved for the politer Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, &c. to introduce, cultivate, and establiso. I must confess that they have generally been considered as barbarous nations ; and to be fore there are some cir cumstances which seem to favour that opinion. They made open war upon learning, and gave no quarter even to the monuments of arts and sciences. But then it must be owned, on. the other hand, that upon those ruins, they establisoed the honorable and noble science of homicide, dignified, exalted, and ascertained true honor, wor soipped it as their deity, and sacrificed to it hecatombs of human victims. In those happy days, honor, that is, single combat, was the great and unerring test of civil rights, moral ac tions, and sound doctrines. It was sanctified by the church, | 199 | 0.805 | 0.149 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XXXVIII. 191 " we severally endeavour by all possible means, you " to fatten, and I to i^aste, till we can meet at the " medium of eighteen stone. I will lose no time on my " part, being impatient to prove to you that I am not " quite unworthy of the good opinion which you are pleas " ed to express of, si R, " Your very humble servant " P. S. I believe it may not be amiss for us to com- " municate to each other, from time to time, our " gradations of increase or decrease, towards the de- " sired medium, in which, I presume, two or three " pounds more or less, on either side, ought not to " be considered." This, among many more cases that I could mention, sufficiently proves, not only the expediency, but the ne cessity, of restoring, revising, and perhaps adding to, the practice, rules and statutes, of single combat, as it flou risoed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I grant that it would probably make the common law useless ; but lit tle, trifling, and private interests ought not to stand in the way of great, public, and national advantages. XXXVIII. THE WORLD. Thursday, March 6, 1755. N° 114. THE notion of birth, as it is commonly called and establisoed by custom, is also the manifest result of the prejudices of the many, and of the designs of a few. It is the child of Pride and Folly, coupled together by that industrious pandar Self-love. It is surely the strong est instance, and the weakest prop, of human vanity. If it means any thing, it means a long lineal descent from a foun- der, | 203 | 0.807 | 0.154 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XL. aot ter whether they are paid or not ; some how or other those people will shift for themselves, or, at worst, fall ulti mately upon the husoand. I will also advise those fine women, who, by an unfor tunate concurrence of odious circumstances, have been obliged to begin an acquaintance with their husoands and children in the country, not to break it off intirely in town, but on the contrary, to allow a few minutes every day to the keeping it up ; since a time may come, when perhaps they may sike their company rather better than none at all. As my fair fellow-subjects were always famous for their public spirit and love of their country, I hope they will, Upon the present emergency of the war with France, dis tinguish themselves by unequivocal proofs of patriotism. I flatter myself that they will, at their first appearance in town, publicly renounce those French fasoions, which of late years have brought their principles, both with regard to religion and government, a little in question. And therefore I exhort them to disoand their curls, comb their heads, wear white linen, and clean pocket-handkerchiefs, in open defiance of all the power of France. But, above all, I insist upon their laying aside that soameful piratical practice of hoisting false colors upon their top gallant, in the mistaken notion of captivating and enslaving their coun trymen. This they may the more easily do at first, since it is to be presumed that, during their retirement, their faces have enjoyed uninterrupted rest. Mercury and ver million have made no depredation these six months ; good air and good hours may perhaps have restored, to a cer tain degree at least, their natural carnation : but at worst I will venture to assure them, that such of their lovers, who may know them again in that state of native artless beauty, will rejoice to find the communication opened again, and all the barriers of plaster and stucco removed. Be it known to them, that there is not a man in England, who does not infinitely prefer the brownest natural, to the whitest artificial, soin ; and I have received numberless letters from men of the first fasoion, not only requesting, but requiring me to proclaim this truth, with leave to publiso their names, which however I declined ; but, if I thought it | 213 | 0.801 | 0.157 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 216 I cannot omit observing, that this decorum extends to the little trifling offices of common life ; such as seeming to take a tender and affectionate part, in the health or for- tune of your acquaintance, and a readiness and alacrity to serve them, in things of little consequence to them, and of none at all to you. These attentions bring in good interest ; the weak and the ignorant mistake them for the real senti- ments of your heart, and give you their esteem and friendsoip in return. The wise, indeed, pay you in your own coin, or by a truck of commodities of equal value, upon which, however, there is no loss ; so that, upon the whole, this commerce, skilfully carried on, is a very lucrative one. In all my schemes for the general good of mankind, I have always a particular attention to the utility that may arise from them to my fair fellow-subjects, for whom I have the tenderest and most unfeigned concern ; and I lay hold of this opportunity, most earnestly to recommend to them the strictest observance of this decorum. I will admit that a fine woman of a certain rank cannot have too many real vices ; but, at the fame time, I do insist upon it, that it is essentially her interest, not to have the appearance of any one. This decorum, I confess, will conceal her con- quests, and prevent her triumphs ; but, on the other hand, if soe will be pleased to reflect that those conquests are known, sooner or later, always to end in her total defeat, soe will not upon an average find herself a loser. There are indeed some husoands of such humane and hospitable dispositions, that they seem determined to soare all their happiness with their friends and acquaintance ; so that, with regard to such husoands, singly, this decorum were useless : but the far greater number are of a churliso and uncommunicative disposition, troublesome upon bare sus- picions, and brutal upon proofs. These are capable of inflicting upon the fair delinquent the pains and penalties of exile and imprisonment at the dreadful mansion-seat, notwithstanding the most solemn protestations and oaths, backed with the most moving tears, that nothing really criminal has passed. But it must be owned that, of all negatives, that is much the hardest to be proved. Though deep play be a very innocent and even com mendable amusement in itself, it is however, as things are yet constituted, a great breach, nay perhaps the highest violation | 228 | 0.803 | 0.162 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLIII. 217 violation possible, of the decorum in the fair sex. If gene rally fortunate, it induces some suspicion of dexterity; if unfortunate, of debt ; and in this latter case, the ways and means for raising the supplies necessary for the current year, are sometimes supposed to be unwarrantable. But what is still much more important, is, that the agonies of an ill run will disfigure the finest face in the world, and cause most ungraceful emotions. I have known a bad game, suddenly produced upon a good game, for a deep stake at bragg or commerce, almost make the vermillion turn pale, and elicit from lips, where the sweets of Flybla dwelt, and where the loves and graces played, some mur mured oaths, which, though minced and mitigated a little in their terminations, seemed to me, upon the whole, to be rather unbecoming. Another singular advantage, which will arise to my fair countrywomen of distinction from the observance of this decorum, is, that they will never want some creditable led captain to attend them at a minute's warning to operas, plays, Ranelagh, and Vauxhall ; whereas I have known some women of extreme condition, who, by neglecting the decorum, had slatterned away their characters to such a degree, as to be obliged upon those emergencies to take up with mere toad-eaters of very equivocal rank and cha racter, who by no means graced their entry into public places. To the young unmarried ladies, I beg leave to represent, that this decorum will make a difference of at least five-and twenty if not fifty per cent, in their fortunes. The pretty men, who have commonly the honor of attending them, are not in general the marrying kind of men ; -they love them too much, or too little, know them too well, or not well enough, to think of marrying them. The husoand like men are a set of aukward fellows with good estates, and who, not having got the better of vulgar prejudices, lay some stress upon the characters of their wives, and the legitimacy of the heirs to their estates and titles. These are to be caught only by les moeurs ; the hook must be baited with the decorum ; the naked one will not do. , I must own that it seems too severe to deny young la dies the innocent amusements of the present times, but I beg of them to recollect that I mean only with regard to outward appearances; and I soould presume that tete-a- tetcs | 229 | 0.802 | 0.172 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLIV. 219 never to relapse. The moment they felt their choler ris ing, they would enjoin themselves an absolute silence and inaction, and by that sudden check rather expose themselves to a momentary ridicule, which, by the way, would be followed by universal applause, than run the least risk of being irreparably mischievous. I know it is said in their behalf, that this impulse to wrath is constitutionally so sudden and so strong, that they cannot stifle it, even in its birth : but experience soews us, that this allegation is notoriously false ; for we daily ob serve that these stormy persons both can and do lay those gusts of passion, when awed by respect, restrained by in terest, or intimidated by fear. The most outrageous fu rioso does not give a loose to his anger in presence of his sovereign, or his mistress ; nor the expectant heir in pre sence of the peeviso dotard from whom he hopes for an inheritance. The soliciting courtier, though perhaps un der the strongest provocations from unjust delays and broken promises, calmly swallows his unavailing wrath, disguises it even under smiles, and gently waits for more favourable moments : nor does the crimsoal fly in a passion at his judge or jury. There is then but one solid excuse to be alledged in fa vour of these people; and, if they will frankly urge it, I will candidly admit it, because it points out its own re medy. I mean, let them fairly confess themselves mad, as they most unquestionably are : for what plea can those that are frantic ten times a day, bring against soaving, bleeding, and a dark room, when so many much more harmless madmen are confined in their cells at Bedlam, for being mad only once in a moon ? Nay, I have been assured by the late ingenious doctor Monro, that such of his patients who are really of a good-natured disposition, and who, in their lucid intervals, were allowed the liberty of walking about the hospital, would frequently, when they found the previous symptoms of their returning mad ness, voluntarily apply for confinement, conscious of the mischief which they might possibly do if at liberty. If those who pretend not to be mad, but who really are so, had the same fund of good-nature, they would make the same application to their friends, if they have any. There | 231 | 0.806 | 0.148 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 220 There is in the Menagiana a very pretty story of one of these angry gentlemen, which sets their extravagancy in a very ridiculous light. Two gentlemen were riding together, one of whom, who was a choleric one, happened to be mounted on a high-mettled horse. The horse grew a little troublesome, at which the rider grew very angry, and whipped and spurred him with great fury ; to which the horse, almost as wrongheaded as his master, replied with kicking and plunging. The companion, concerned for the danger, and asoamed of the folly of his friend, said to him coolly, " Be quiet, be quiet, and (hew yourself the wiser of the " two." This sort of madness, for I will call it by no other name, flows from various causes, of which I shall now enumerate the most general. Light unballasted heads are very apt to be overset by every gust, or even breeze, of passion ; they appretiate things wrong, and think every thing of importance, but what really is so : hence those frequent and sudden transi- tions from silly joy to sillier anger, according as the pre- sent silly humour is gratified or thwarted. This is the ne- ver-failing characteristic of the uneducated vulgar, who of- ten in the fame half-hour fight with fury, and soake hands with affection. Such heads give themselves no time to reason ; and, if you attempt to reason with them, they think you rally them, and resent the affront. They are, in soort, overgrown children, and continue so in the most advanced age. Far be it from me to insinuate, what some ill-bred authors have bluntly asserted, that this is in gene- ral the case of the fairest part of our species, whose great vivacity does not always allow them time to reason conse- quentially, but hurries them into testiness upon the least opposition to their will. But, at the same time, with all the partiality which I have for them, and nobody can have more than I have, I must confess that, in all their debates, I have much more admired the copiousness of their rheto- ric, than the conclusivenefs of their logic. People of strong animal spirits, warm constitutions, and a cold genius, a most unfortunate and ridiculous though common compound, are most irascible animals, and very dangerous in their wrath. They are active, puzzling, blundering, | 232 | 0.828 | 0.143 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLIV. 221 blundering, and petulantly enterprizing and persevering. They are impatient of the least contradiction, having nei ther arguments nor words to reply with -, and the animal part of their composition bursts out into furious explosions, which have often mischievous consequences. Nothing is too outrageous or criminal for them to fay or do in these fits : but, as the beginning of their frenzy is easily discoverable, by their glaring eyes, inflamed countenances, and rapid motions, the company, as conservators of the peace, which by the way, every man is till the authority of a magistrate can be procured, soould forcibly seize these madmen, and confine them in the mean time, in some daik closet, vault, or coal-hole. Men of nice honor, without one grain cf common ho nesty, for such there are, are wonderfully combustible. The honorable is to support and protect the disoonest part of their character. The consciousness of their guilt makes them both sore and jealous. There is another and very irascible sort of human ani mals, whose madness proceeds from pride. These are ge nerally the people, who, having just fortunes sufficient to live idle, and useless to society, create themselves gentle men, and are scrupulously tender of the rank and dignity which they have not. They require the more respect, from being conscious that they have no right to any. They construe every thing into a slight; ask explanations with heat, and misunderstand them with fury. " Who " are you ? What are you ? Do you know who you speak " to ? I will teach you to be silent to a gentleman," are their daily idioms of speech, which frequently end in as sault and battery, to the great emolument of the Round house and Crown-office. I have known many young fellows, who, at their first setting out into the world, or in the army, have simulated a passion which they did not feel, merely as an indication of spirit, which word is falsely looked upon as synonymous with courage. They dress and look fierce, swear enor- mously, and rage furiously, seduced by that popular word, spirit. But I beg leave to inform these mistaken young gentlemen, whose error I compassionate, that the true spirit of a rational being consists in cool and steady reso- lution, which can only be the result of reflection and vir- tue. I am | 233 | 0.803 | 0.159 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 222 I am very sorry to be obliged to own, that there is not a more irritable part of the species, than my brother au thors. Criticism, censure, or even the slightest disappro bation of their immortal works, excite their most furious indignation. It is true, indeed, that they express their resentment in a manner less dangerous both to others and to themselves. Like incensed porcupines, they dart their quills at the objects of their wrath. The wounds given by these soafts are not mortal, and only painful in propor tion to the distance from whence they fly. Those which are discharged, as by much the greatest numbers are, from great heights, such as garrets or four-pair-of-stair rooms, are puffed away by the wind, and never hit the mark; but those which are let off from a first or second floor, are apt to occasion a little smarting, and sometimes festering, especially if the party wounded be unsound. Our great creator has wisely given us passions, to rouze us into action, and to engage our gratitude to him by the pleasures they procure us ; but, at the fame time, he has kindly given us reason sufficient, if we will but give that reason fair play, to controul those passions ; and has dele gated authority to fay to them, as he said to the waters, '* thus far shall ye go, and no farther." The angry man is his own severest tormentor ; his breast knows no peace, while his raging passions are restrained by no sense of either religious or moral duties. What would be his case, if his unforgiving example, if I may use such an expression, were followed by his all merciful Maker, whose forgiveness he can only hope for, in proportion as he him self forgives and loves his fellow-creatures ! XLV. | 234 | 0.82 | 0.155 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLV. 223 XLV. THE WORLD. Thursday, Oct. 7, 1757. N° 197. IF we give credit to the vulgar opinion, or even to the assertions of some reputable authors, both antient and modern, poor human nature was not originally formed for keeping : every age has degenerated ; and, from the fall of the first man, my unfortunate ancestor, our species has been tumbling on, century by century, from bad to worse, for about six thousand years. Considering this progressive state of deterioration, it is a very great mercy that things are no worse with us at pre sent; since, geometrically speaking, the human ought by this time to have funk infinitely below the brute and the ve getable species, which are neither of them supposed to have dwindled or degenerated considerably, except in a very few instances : for it must be owned that our modern oaks are inferior to those of Dodona, our breed of horses to that of the Centaurs, and our breed of fowls to that of the Phœnixes. But is this really the case ? Certainly not. It is only one of those many errors which are artfully scattered by the de- signs of a few, and blindly adopted by the ignorance and folly of the many. The moving exclamations of — < these sad times .' this degenerate age ! the affecting lamentations over declining virtue and triumphant vice, and the tender and final farewell bidden every day to unrewarded and discouraged public spirit, arts, and sciences, are the com- mon-place topics of the pride, the envy, and the maligni- ty, of the human heart, that can more easily forgive, and even commend, antiquated and remote, than bear cotem- porary and contiguous, merit. Men of these mean senti- ments have always been the satirists of their own, and the panegyrists of former times. They give this tone, which fools, like birds in the dark, catch by air, and whistle all day long. As | 235 | 0.812 | 0.158 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 232 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S But, my lords, suppose it true, that the laws now in being are not sufficient for putting a check to, or prevent ing, the licentiousness of the stage ; suppose it absolutely necessary some new law soould be made for that purpose : yet it must be granted, that such a law ought to be ma turely considered, and every clause, every sentence, nay every word of it, well weighed and examined, lest, under some of those methods presumed or pretended to be neces sary for restraining licentiousness, a power soould lie con cealed, which might be afterwards made use of for giving a dangerous wound to liberty. Such a law ought not to be introduced at the close of a session, nor ought we, in the passing of such a law, to depart from any of the forms prescribed by our ancestors for preventing deceit and sur prize. There is such a connection between licentiousness and liberty, that it is not easy to correct the one, without dangerously wounding the other; it is extremely hard to distinguiso the true limit between them : like a changeable silk, we can easily see there are two different colors, but we cannot easily discover where the one ends, or where the other begins. There, can be no great and immediate danger from the licentiousness of the stage : I hope it will not be pretended, that our government may, before next winter, be overturned by such licentiousness, even though our stage were at present under no sort of controul. Why then may we not delay till next session passing any law against the licentiousness of the stage ? Neither our govern ment can be altered, nor our constitution overturned, by such a delay ; but by passing a law rasoly and unadvisedly, our constitution may at once be destroyed, and our go vernment rendered arbitrary. Can we then put a small, a soort-lived inconvenience in the balance with perpetual slavery ? Can it be supposed, that a parliament of Great Britain will so much as risk the latter, for the sake of avoiding the former ? Surely, my lords, this is not to be expected, were the licentiousness of the stage much greater than it is, were the insufficiency of our laws more obvious than can be pre tended ; but when we complain of the licentiousness of the stage, and the insufficiency of our laws, I fear we have more reason to complain of bad measures in our polity, and a general decay of virtue and morality among the people. In | 244 | 0.808 | 0.17 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLVI. 233 In public as well as private life, the only way to prevent being ridiculed or censured, is to avoid all ridiculous or wicked measures, and to pursue such only as are virtuous and worthy. The people never endeavour to ridicule those they love and esteem, nor will they suffer them to be ridiculed : if any one attempts it, the ridicule returns up on the author ; he makes himself only the object of public hatred and contempt. The actions or behaviour of a pri vate man may pass unobserved, and consequently unap plauded, uncensured ; but the actions of those in high stations can neither pass without notice, nor without cen sure or applause ; and therefore an administration, without esteem, without authority among the people, let their power be ever so great, let their power be ever so ar bitrary, will be ridiculed : the severest edicts, the most terrible punisoments, cannot prevent it. If any man therefore thinks he has been censured, if any man thinks he has been ridiculed, upon any of our public theatres, let him examine his actions, he will find the cause ; let him alter his conduct, he will find a remedy. As no man is perfect, as no man is infallible, the greatest may err, the most circumspect may be guilty of some piece of ridi culous behaviour. It is not licentiousness, it is an useful liberty always indulged the stage in a free country, that some great men may there meet with a just reproof, which none of their friends will be free enough, or rather faithful enough, to give them. Of this we have a famous instance in the Roman history. The great Pompey, after the ma ny victories he had obtained, and the great conquests he had made, had certainly a good title to the esteem of the peo ple of Rome : yet that great man, by some error in his conduct, became an object of general dislike ; and there fore in the representation of an old play, when Diphilus, the actor, came to repeat these words, Nostra miseria tu es Magnus, the audience immediately applied them to Pompey, who at that time was as well known by the name Magnus, as by the name Pompey, and were so highly pleased with the satire, that, as Cicero fays, they made him repeat the words a hundred times over. An account of this was immediately sent to Pompey, who, instead of resenting it as an injury, was so wise as to take it for a just reproof; he examined his conduct, he altered his measures, he regained by degrees the esteem of the people, | 245 | 0.844 | 0.145 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | 234 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S people, and therefore neither feared the wit, nor felt the satire, of the stage. This is an example which ought to be followed by great men in all countries. Such accidents will often happen in every free country, and ma ny such would probably have afterwards happened at Rome, if they had continued to enjoy their liberty : but this sort of liberty on the stage came soon after, I suppose, to be called licentiousness ; for we are told that Augustus, after having establisoed his empire, restored order in Rome by restraining licentiousness. God forbid ! we soould in this country have order restored, or licentiousness restrain ed, at so dear a rate as the people of Rome paid for it to Augustus. In the case I have mentioned, my lords, it was not the poet that wrote, for it was an old play ; nor the players that acted, for they only repeated the words of the play, it was the people who pointed the satire ; and the case will always be the fame. When a man has the misfortune to incur the hatred or contempt of the people, when public measures are despised, the audience will apply what never was, what could not be, designed as a satire on the present times, nay, even though the people soould not apply, those who are conscious of the wickedness or weakness of their conduct will take to themselves what the author never designed. A public thief is as apt to take the satire, as he is apt to take the money, which was never designed for him. We have an instance of this in the case of a fa- mous comedian of the last age; a comedian who was not only a good poet, but an honest man, and a quiet and good subject. The famous Moliere, when he wrote his Tartuffe, which is certainly an excellent and a good mo- ral comedy, did not design to satyrize any great man of that age, yet a great man in France at that time took it to fiimself, and fancied the author had taken him as a model for one of the principal, and one of the worst, characters in that comedy : by good luck he was not the licenser, otherwise soe kingdom of France had never had the pleasure, the happiness I may fay, of seeing that play- acted ; but, when the players first purposed to act it at Paris, he had interest enough to get it forbid. Moliere, who knew himself innocent of what was laid to his charge, complained to his patron the prince of Conti, that as his play was designed only to expose hypocrisy, and a false pretence | 246 | 0.803 | 0.159 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 236 fuse your assent to a law to prevent its being printed and publisoed? I soould really, my lords, be glad to hear, what excuse, what reason one could give for being against the latter, after having agreed to the former ■ for, I pro test, I cannot suggest to myself the least soadow of an ex cuse. If we agree to the bill now before us, we must, perhaps, next session, agree to a bill for preventing any plays being printed without a licence. Then satires will be wrote by way of novels, secret histories, dialogues, or under some such title; and thereupon we shall be told, What! will you allow an infamous libel to be printed and dispersed, only because it does not bear the title of a play ? Thus, my lords, from the precedent now before us, we sliall be induced, nay we can find no reason for refusing, to lay the press under a general licence, and then we may bid adieu to the liberties of Great Britain. But suppose, my lords, it were necessary to make a new law for restraining the licentiousness of the stage, which I am very far from granting, yet I shall never be for esta blisoing such a power as is proposed by this bill. If poets and players are to be restrained, let them be restrained as other subjects are, by the known laws of their country : if they offend, let them be tried, as every Englisoman ought to be, by God and their country ; do not let us subject them to the arbitrary will and pleasure of any one man. A power lodged in the hands of one single man, to judge and determine, without any limitation, without any con troul or appeal, is a sort of power unknown to our laws, inconsistent with our constitution. It is a higher, a more absolute power than we trust even to the king himself, and therefore I must think, we ought not to vest any such power in his majesty's lord chamberlain. When I fay this, I am fore, I do not mean to give the least, the most dis tant, offence to the noble duke * who now fills the post of lord chamberlain; his natural candor and love of justice would not, I know, permit him to exercise any power, but with the strictest regard to the rules of justice and hu manity. Were we sore his successors in that high office would always be persons of such distinguisoed merit, even the power established by this bill could give no further alarm, than lest it soould be made a precedent for intro- * The duke of Grafton. ducing | 248 | 0.825 | 0.159 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLVI. 237 ducing other new powers of the fame nature. This, indeed, is an alarm which cannot be avoided, which cannot be pre vented by any hope, by any consideration ; it is an alarm which I think every man must take, who has a due re gard to the constitution and liberties of his country. I shall admit, my lords, that the stage ought not, upon any occasion, to meddle with politics, and for this very rea son among the rest, I am against the bill now before us. This bill will be so far from preventing the stage's meddling with politics, that, I fear,it will be the occasion of its meddling with nothing else; but then it will be a political stage exparte. It will be made subservient to the politics and the schemes of the court only ; the licentiousness of the stage will be encouraged instead of being restrained, but like court journalists, it will be licentious only against the patrons of liberty, and the protectors of the people : whatever man, whatever party, opposes the court in any of their most de structive schemes, will, upon the stage, be represented in the most ridiculous light the hirelings of a court can con trive. True patriotism, and love of public good, will be represented as madness or as a cloak for envy, disappoint ment, and malice ; while the most flagitious crimes, the most extravagant vices and follies, if they are fasoionable at court, will be disguised and dressed up in the habit of the most amiable virtues. This has formerly been the case in king Charles the second's days : the play-house was under a licence, what was the consequence ? The playhouse retailed nothing but the politics, the vices and the follies of the court : not to expose them, no, but to recommend them, though it must be granted their politics were often as bad as their vices, and much more pernicious than their other follies. It is true the court had at that time a great deal of wit, it was then indeed full of men of true wit and great humor ; but it was the more dangerous, for the courtiers did then, as thorough-paced courtiers always will do, they sacrificed their honor by making their wit and their humor subservient to the court only ; and what made it still more dangerous, no man could appear upon the stage against them. We know that Dryden, tlie poet laureat of that reign, always represents the cavaliers as ho nest, brave, merry fellows, and fine gentlemen ; indeed his fine gentleman, ashe generally draws him, is an athe istical, lewd, abandoned fellow, which was at that time, it | 249 | 0.805 | 0.165 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 240 with, a purchaser ; yet, before he can propose to seek for a purchaser, he must patiently submit to have his goods rummaged at this new excise -office, where they may be detained for fourteen days, and even then he may find them returned as prohibited goods, by which his chief and best market will be for ever sout against him ; and that without any cause, without the least soadow of reason, either from the laws of his country, or the laws of the stage. These hardsoips, this hazard, which every gentleman will be exposed to, who writes any thing for the stage, must certainly prevent every man of a generous and free spirit from attempting any thing in that way, and, as the stage has always been the proper channel for wit and hu mor, therefore, my lords, when I speak against this bill, I must think, I plead the cause of wit, I plead the cause of hu mor, I plead the cause of the British stage, and of every gentleman of taste in the kingdom. But, it is not, my lords, for the fake of wit only ; even for the fake of his majesty's lord chamberlain, I must be against this bill. The noble duke who has now the honor to execute that office has, I am sure, as little inclination to disoblige as any man; but if this bill passes, he must disoblige, he may disoblige some of his most intimate friends. It is impossible to write a play, but some of the characters, or some of the satire, may be interpreted so as to point at some person or another, perhaps as some person in an eminent station. AVhen it comes to be acted, the people will make the ap plication, and the person against whom the application is made will think himself injured, and will at least private ly resent it : at present this resentment can be directed on ly against the author ; but when an author's play appears with my lord chamberlain's passport, every such resent ment will be turned from the author, and pointed direct ly against the lord chamberlain, who by his stamp made the piece current. What an unthankful office are we there fore by this bill to put upon hismajesty's lord chamberlain ! an office which can no way contribute to his honor or pro fit, and such a one as must necessarily gain him a great deal of ill-will, and create him a number of enemies. The last reason I shall trouble your lordsoips with, for my being against the bill, is that, in my opinion, it will in no way | 252 | 0.825 | 0.16 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | LORD CHESTERFIELD'S 250 It is evident, my lords, from daily observation, and de- monstrable from the papers upon the table, that every year, since the enacting of the last law, that vice has in- creased which it was intended to repress, and that no time has been so favourable to the retailers of spirits as that which has passed since they were prohibited. It may therefore be expected, my lords, that, having agreed with the ministers in their fundamental proposition, I soall concur with them in the consequence which they draw from it ; and, having allowed that the present law is ineffectual, soould admit that another is necessary. But, my lords, in order to discover whether this con- sequence be necessary, it must first be inquired why the present law is of no force ? For, my lords, it will be found upon reflection, that there are certain degrees of corrup tion, that may hinder the effect of the best laws. The magistrates may be vicious, and forbear to enforce that law by which themselves are condemned ; they may be indolent, and inclined rather to connive at wickedness by which they are not injured themselves, than to repress it by a laborious exertion of their authority ; or they may be timorous, and, instead of awing the vicious, may be awed by them. In any of these cases, my lords, the law is not to be condemned for its inefficacy, since it only fails by the de fect of those who are to direct its operations. The best and most important laws will contribute very little to the security or happiness of a people, if no judges of integri ty and spirit can be found amongst them. Even the most beneficial and useful bill that ministers can possibly imagine a bill for laying on our estates, a tax of the fifth part of their yearly value, would be wholly without effect, if col lectors could not be obtained. I am therefore, my lords, yet doubtful, whether the in efficacy of the law now subsisting necessarily obliges us to provide another ; for those that declared it to be useless owned at the fame time that no man endeavoured to en force it ; so that perhaps its only defect may be, that it will not execute itself. Nor, though I soould allow that the law is at present impeded by difficulties which cannot be broken through but 'by | 262 | 0.82 | 0.165 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
003477688 | 1777-01-01T00:00:00 | 1777 | Miscellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: consisting of letters to his friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life. ... By M. Maty [Edited by J. O. Justamond.] | Dublin | false | MISCELLANEOUS PIECES. XLVIII. 251 by men of more spirit and dignity than the ministers may be inclined to trust with commissions of the peace, yet it can only be collected, that another law is necessary, not that the law now proposed will be of any advantage. Great use has been made of the inefficacy of the present law, to decry the proposal made by the noble lord, for laying a high duty upon these pernicious liquors. High duties have already, as we are informed, been tried with out advantage ; high duties are at this hour imposed upon those spirits which are retailed, yet we see them every day sold in the streets, without the payment of the tax requir ed ; and therefore it will be folly to make a second essay of means which have been found, by the essay of many years, unsuccessful. It has been granted on all sides in this debate, nor was it ever denied on any other occasion, that the consumption of any commodity is most easily hindered by raising its price ; and its price is to be raised by the imposition of a duty. This, my lords, which is, I suppose, the opinion of every man, of whatever degree of experience or under standing, appears likewise to have been thought of by the authors of the present law ; and therefore they imagined that they had effectually provided against the increase of drunkenness, by laying, upon that liquor which soould be retailed in small quantities, a duty which none of the in ferior classes of drunkards would be able to pay. Thus, my lords, they conceived that they had reform ed the common people, without infringing the pleasures of others, and applauded the happy contrivance, by which spirits were to be made dear only to the poor, while every man who could afford to purchase two gallons was at li berty to riot at his ease, and, over a full flowing bumper, look down with contempt upon his former companions, now ruthlessly condemned to disconsolate sobriety. But, my lords, this intention was frustrated, and the project, ingenious as it was, fell to the ground : for though they had laid a tax, they unhappily forgot this tax would make no addition to the price unless it was paid, and that it would not be paid unless some were empowered to col lect it. Here, my lords, was the difficulty ; those who made the law were inclined to lay a tax from which themselves soould be exempt, and therefore would not charge the liquor | 263 | 0.813 | 0.147 | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of | Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of, 1694-1773 [person] ; Justamond, John Obadiah [person] | W. Watson | Ireland | Ireland | 3 volumes (8°) | English | null | null | null | false |
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