Venice, of great Experience in private Cures. Accommodations are provided, and Perfons admitted in their Mafquing Habits. HE has cured fince his coming thither, in less than a Fortnight, Four Scaramouches, a Mountebank Doctor, Two Turkish Bala's, Three Nuns, and a Morris-Dancer. Venienti occurrite Morbo. N. B. ANY Perfon may agree by the Great, and be kept in Repair by the Year. The Doctor draws Teeth without pulling off your Mask. N° 23. Tuesday, March 27. Sevit atrox Volfcens, nec teli confpicit ufquam Virg. Æn. 9. v. 420. Fierce Volfcens foams with Rage, and gazing round T HERE is nothing that more betrays a base ungenerous Spirit, than the giving of fecret Stabs to a Man's Reputation. Lampoons and Satires, that are writtten with Wit and Spirit, are like poifoned Darts, which not only inflict a Wound, but make it incurable. For this Reason I am very much troubled when I fee the Talents of Humour and Ridicule in the Poffeffion of an ill-natured Man. There cannot be a greater Gratification to a barbarous and inhuman Wit, than to ftir up Sorrow in the Heart of a private Perfon, to raife Uneafiness among near Relations, and to expose whole Familes to Derifion, at the fame time that he remains unfeen and undifcovered. If, befides the Accomplishments of being witty and ill-natured, a Man is vicious into the Bargain, he is one of the moft mifchievous Creatures that can enter into a Civil Society. His Satire will then chiefly fall upon those who ought to be the most exempt from it. Virtue Virtue, Merit, and every thing that is Praife-worthy, will be made the Subject of Ridicule and Buffoonry. It is impoffible to enumerate the Evils which arife from thefe Arrows that fly in the dark, and I know no other Excuse that is or can be made for them, than that the Wounds they give are only imaginary, and produce nothing more than a fecret Shame or Sorrow in the Mind of the fuffering Perfon. It must indeed be confefs'd, that a Lampoon or Satire do not carry in them Robbery or Murder; but at the fame time, how many are there that would not rather lofe a confiderable Sum of Money, or even Life it felf, than be fet up as a Mark of Infamy and Derifion? and in this Cafe a Man should confider, that an Injury is not to be measured by the Notions of him that gives, but of him that receives it. time. THOSE who can put the best Countenance upon the Outrages of this Nature which are offered them, are not without their fecret Anguifh. I have often obferved a Paffage in Socrates's Behaviour at his Death, in a Light wherein none of the Criticks have confidered it. That excellent Man; entertaining his Friends, a little before he drank the Bowl of Poifon, with a Difcourfe on the Immortality of the Soul, at his entring upon it, fays, that he does not believe any the most Comick Genius can cenfure him for talking upon fuch a Subject at fuch This Paffage, I think, evidently glances upon Ariftophanes, who writ a Comedy on purpofe to ridicule the Difcourfes of that Divine Philofopher. It has been obferved by many Writers, that Socrates was fo little moved at this piece of Buffoonry, that he was feveral times present at its being acted upon the Stage, and never expressed the leaft Refentment of it. But with Submission, I think the Remark I have here made fhews us, that this unworthy Treatment made an Impreffion upon his Mind, though he had been too wife to discover it. WHEN Julius Caefar was lampoon'd by Catullus, he invited him to a Supper, and treated him with such a generous Civility, that he made the Poet his Friend ever after. Cardinal Mazarine gave the fame kind Treatment to the learned Quillet, who had reflected upon his Eminence in a famous Latin Poem. The Cardinal fent for him, and after fome kind Expoftulations upon what what he had written, affured him of his Efteem, and difmiffed him with a Promife of the next good Abbey that fhould fall, which he accordingly conferred upon him in a few Months after. This had fo good an Effect upon the Author, that he dedicated the fecond Edition of his Book to the Cardinal, after having expunged the Paffages which had given him Offence. SEXTUS QUINTUS was not of fo generous and forgiving a Temper. Upon his being made Pope, the Statue of Pafquin was one Night dreffed in a very dirty Shirt, with an Excufe written under it, that he was forced to wear foul Linen, because his Laundress was made a Princefs. This was a Reflexion upon the Pope's Sifter, who, before the Promotion of her Brother, was in those mean Circumftances that Pafquin represented her. As this Pafquinade made a great Noife in Rome, the Pope offered a confiderable Sum of Money to any Person that fhould discover the Author of it. The Author relying upon his Holiness's Generofity, as alfo on fome private Overtures which he had received from him, made the Discovery himself; upon which the Pope gave him the Reward he had promised, but at the fame time, to disable the Satirift for the future, ordered his Tongue to be cut out, and both his Hands to be chopped of. Aretine is too trite an Inftance. Every one knows that all the Kings in Europe were his Tributaries. Nay, there is a Letter of his extant, in which he makes his Boafts that he had laid the Sophy of Perfia under Contribution, THOUGH in the various Examples which I have here drawn together, these feveral great Men behaved themfelves very differently towards the Wits of the Age who had reproached them; they all of them plainly fhewed that they were very fenfible of their Reproaches, and confequently that they recived them as very great Injuries. For my own part, I would never truft a Man that I thought was capable of giving these fecret Wounds; and cannot but think that he would hurt the Perfon whofe Reputation he thus affaults, in his Body or in his Fortune, could he do it with the fame Security. There is indeed fomething very barbarous and inhuman in the ordinary Scribblers of Lampoons. An innocent young Lady fhall be exposed, for an unhappy Feature. A Fa ther ther of a Family turned to Ridicule, for fome dome.tick Calamity. A Wife be made uneafy all her Life, for a mifinterpreted Word or Action. Nay, a good, a temperate, and a juft Man, shall be put out of Countenance by the Representation of thofe Qualities that fhould do him Honour. So pernicious a thing is Wit, when it is not tempered with Virtue and Humanity. I have indeed heard of heedlefs inconfiderate Writers, that without any Malice have facrificed the Reputation of their Friends and Acquaintance, to a certain Levity of Temper, and a filly Ambition of diftinguishing themfelves by a Spirit of Rallery and Satire: As if it were not infinitely more honourable to be a good-natured Man, than a Wit. Where there is this little petulant Humour in an Author, he is often very mischievous without defigning to be fo. For which Reafon I always lay it down as a Rule, that an indifcreet Man is more hurtful than an ill-natur'd one; for as the latter will only attack his Enemies, and thofe he wishes ill to; the other injures indifferently both Friends and Foes. I cannot forbear, on this Occafion, tranfcribing a Fable out of Sir Roger l'Eftrange, which accidentally lies before me. A Company of waggish Boys were watching of Frogs at the fide of a Pond, and ftill as any of 'em put up their Heads, they'd be pelting them down again with Stone". Children (fays one of the Frogs) you never confider that • tho' this may be Play to you, 'tis Death to us. AS this Week is in a manner fet apart and dedicated to ferious Thoughts, I fhall indulge my felf in fuch Speculations as may not be altogether unfuitable to the Seafon; and in the mean time, as the fettling in our felves a Charitable Frame of Mind is a Work very proper for the Time, I have in this Paper endeavoured to expofe that particular Breach of Charity which has been generally overlooked by Divines, because they are but few who can be guilty of it. C VOL. I. E Wednesday, N° 24. Wednesday, March 28. Accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantùm; Comes up a Fop (I knew him but by fame) T HERE are in this Town a great Number of infignificant People, who are by no means fit for the better fort of Converfation, and yet have an impertinent Ambition of appearing with thofe to whom they are not welcome. If you walk in the Park, one of them will certainly join with you, tho' you are in Company with Ladies; if you drink a Bottle, they will find your Haunts. What makes fuch Fellows the more burdenfom, is, that they neither offend nor please fo far as to be taken notice of for either. It is, I prefume, for this Reason, that my Correfpondents are willing by my Means to be rid of them. The two following Letters are writ by Perfons who fuffer by fuch Impertinence. A worthy old Bachelor, who fets in for his Dofe of Claret every Night at fuch an Hour, is teazed by a Swarm of them; who because they are fure of Room and good Fire, have taken it in their Heads to keep a fort of Club in his Company; tho' the fober Gentleman himself is an utter Enemy to fuch Meetings. Mr. SPECTATOR, TH HE Averfion I for fome Years have had to Clubs in general, gave me a perfect Relish for your Speculation on that Subject; but I have fince been extremely mortified, by the malicious World's ranking me amongst the Supporters of fuch impertinent Affemblies. I beg leave to ftate my Cafe fairly; and that done, I fhall expect Redress from your judicious Pen. 'I am |