you up. But you must do me then the Juftice to own, ⚫ that nothing can be more useful or laudable, than the ⚫ Scheme we go upon. To avoid Nicknames and Witti⚫cifms, we call ourselves The Hebdomadal Meeting: Qur • Prefident continues for a Year at least, and sometimes four or five: We are all Grave, Serious, Defigning • Men, in our Way: We think it our Duty, as far as in us lies, to take care the Constitution receives no Harm Ne quid detrimenti Res capiat publica Το ⚫ cenfure Doctrines or Facts, Perfons or Things, which we don't like; To fettle the Nation at home, and to carry on the War abroad, where and in what manner we fee fit. If other People are not of our Opinion, we can't help that. "Twere better they were. Moreover, we now and then condefcend to direct, in fome measure, the little Affairs of our own University. VERILY, Mr. SPECTATOR, we are much of⚫fended at the Act for importing French Wines: A Bottle or two of good folid Edifying Port at honeft George's, • made a Night chearful, and threw off Reserve. But this plaguy French Claret will not only cost us more Money, but do us lefs Good: Had we been aware of it, before it had gone too far, I must tell you, we would have petitioned to be heard upon that subject. But let that pass. I must let you know likewife, good Sir, that we ⚫ look upon a certain Northern Prince's March, in Conjunction with Infidels, to be palpably againft our Goodwill and Liking; and for all Monfieur Palmquist, a moft dangerous Innovation; and we are by no means yet fure, that fome People are not at the Bottom on't. At least my own private Letters leave room for a Po⚫litician, well verfed in matters of this Nature, to fufpect as much, as a penetrating Friend of mine tells me. WE think we have at laft done the Bufinefs with the Malecontents in Hungary, and fhall clap up à • Peace there. WHAT the Neutrality Army is to do, or what the Army in Flanders, and what two or three other Princes, is not yet fully determined among us; and we wait impatiently for the coming in of the next Dyer's, who, you must know, is our Authentick Intelligence, our our Ariftotle in Politicks. And 'tis indeed but fit there 'fhould be fome Dernier Refort, the abfolute Decider of all Controverfies. WE were lately informed, that the Gallant Train'dBands had patroll'd all Night long about the Streets of • London: We indeed could not imagine any Occafion for it, we gueffed not a Tittle on't aforehand, we were in nothing of the Secret; and that City Tradefmen, or their Apprentices fhould do Duty, or work, during the Holidays, we thought abfolutely impoffible. But Dyer being pofitive in it, and fome Letters from other People, who had talked with fome who had it from those 'who should know, giving fome Countenance to it, the • Chairman reported from the Committee, appointed to ⚫ ex amine into that Affair, That 'twas Poffible there ⚫ might be something in't. I have much more to say to you, but my two good Friends and Neighbours, Dominick and Slyboots, are just come in, and the Coffee's ready. I am, in the mean time, Mr. SPECTATOR, Your Admirer and Humble Servant, Abraham Frothe YOU may obferve the Turn of their Minds tends only to Novelty, and not Satisfaction in any thing. It would be Difappointment to them, to come to Certainty in any thing, for that would gravel them, and put an end to their Inquiries, which dull Fellows do not make for Information, but for Exercife. I do not know but this may be a very good way of accounting for what we frequently fee, to wit, that dull Fellows prove very good Men of Bufinefs. Bufinefs relieves them from their own natural Heaviness, by furnishing them with what to do; whereas Bufinefs to Mercurial Men, is an Interruption from their real Exiftence and Happiness. Tho' the dull Part of Mankind are harmless in their Amusements, it were to be wifhed they had no vacant Time, because they ufually undertake fomething that makes their Wants confpicuous, by their manner of fupplying them, You fhall feldom find a dull Fellow of good Education, but if he happens to have any Leisure H 4 upon upon his Hands) will turn his Head to one of those two Amusements, for all Fools of Eminence, Politicks or Poetry. The former of these Arts, is the Study of all dull People in general; but when Dulnefs is lodged in a Perfon of a quick Animal Life, it generally exerts it felf in Poetry. One might here mention a few Military Writers, who give great Entertainment to the Age, by reafon that the Stupidity of their Heads is quickned by the Alacrity of their Hearts. This Conftitution in a dull Fellow, gives Vigour to Nonfenfe, and makes the Puddle boil, which would otherwife ftagnate. The British Prince, that Celebrated Poem, which was written in the Reign of King Charles the Second, and defervedly called by the Wits of that Age Incomparable, was the Effect of fuch an happy Genius as we are fpeaking of. From among many other Diftichs no lefs to be quoted on this Account, I cannot but recite the two following Lines ; A painted Veft Prince Voltager had on, HERE if the Poet had not been Vivacious, as well as Stupid, he could not, in the Warmth and Hurry of Nonfenfe, have been capable of forgetting that neither Prince Voltager, nor his Grandfather, could ftrip a Naked Man of his Doublet; but a Fool of a colder Conftitution would have ftaid to have Flea'd the Pict, and made Buff of his Skin, for the Wearing of the Conqueror. TO bring thefe Obfervations to fome ufeful Purpose of Life, what I would propofe fhould be, that we imitated thofe wife Nations, wherein every Man learns fome Handicraft-Work. Would it not employ a Beau prettily enough, if inftead of eternally playing with a Snuff-box, he fpent fome part of his Time in making one? Such a Method as this would very much conduce to the publick Emolument, by making every Man living good for fomething; for there would then be no one Member of Human Society, but would have fome little Pretenfion for fome Degree in it; like him who came to Will's Coffee-houfe, upon the Merit of having writ a Pofy of a Ring. R Friday N° 44. Friday, April 20. Tu, quid ego & populus mecum defideret, audi. Hor. Ars Poet. v. 153. Now hear what ev'ry Auditor expects. A ROSCOMMON.. MONG the feveral Artifices which are put in. Practice by the Poets to fill the Minds of an Audience with Terror, the firft Place is due to Thunder and Lightning, which are often made ufe of at the Defcending of a God, or the Rifing of a Ghoft, at the Vanishing of a Devil, or at the Death of a Tyrant. I have known a Bell introduced into several Tragedies with good Effect; and have feen the whole Affembly in a very great Alarm all the while it has been ringing. But there is nothing which delights and terrifies our English Theatre fo much as a Ghoft, efpecially when he appears in a bloody Shirt. A Spectre has very often faved a Play, though he has done nothing but stalked across the Stage, or rofe through a Cleft of it, and funk again without fpeaking one Word. There may be a proper Seafon for these feveral Terrors; and when they only come in as Aids and Affiftances to the Poet, they are not only to be excused, but to be applauded. Thus the founding of the Clock in Venice Pre Jerved, makes the Hearts of the whole Audience quake;: and conveys a stronger Terror to the Mind than it is. poffible for Words to do. The Appearance of the Ghost in Hamlet is a Master-piece in its kind, and wrought up with all the Circumstances that can create either Attention or Horror. The Mind of the Reader is won-derfully prepared for his Reception by the Discourses that precede it: His Dumb Behaviour at his first Entrance, ftrikes the Imagination very ftrongly; but every time he: enters, he is still more terrifying. Who can read the Speech with which young. Hamlet accofts him,, without trembling? H. S Hor. Hor. Look, my Lord, it comes! Ham. Angels and Minifters of Grace defend us! Be thou a Spirit of Health, or Goblin damn'd'; Bring with thee Airs from Heav'n, or Blafts from Hell; Be thy Events wicked or charitable; Thou com'ft in fuch a questionable Shape That I will speak to thee. I'll call thee Hamlet, 4 Hath op'd his ponderous and marble Faws I do not therefore find fault with the Artifices abovementioned when they are introduced with Skill, and accompanied by proportionable Sentiments and Expressions in the Writing. FOR the moving of Pity, our principal Machine is the Handkerchief; and indeed in our common Tragedies, we should not know very often that the Perfons are in Diftrefs by any thing they fay, if they did not from time to time apply their Handkerchiefs to their Eyes. Far be it from me to think of banishing this Inftrument of Sorrow from the Stage; I know a Tragedy could not fubfift without it: All that I would contend for, is to keep it from being mifapplied. In a word, I would have the Actor's Tongue fympathize with his Eyes. A difconfolate Mother, with a Child in her Hand, has frequently drawn Compaffion from the Audience, and has therefore gained a Place in feveral Tragedies. A Modern Writer, that obferved how this had took in other Plays, being refolved to double the Diftrefs, and melt his Audience twice as much as those before him had done, brought a Princefs upon the Stage with a little Boy in one Hand and a Girl in the other. This too had a very good Effect. A third Poet being refolved to out-write all his Predeceffors, a few Years ago introduced three Children |