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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 |
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