of Turf and Wood, at some distance from each other, to fence themselves against the Inclemencies of the weather, which was severe beyond imagination. We soon observed, that in talking to one another we lost several of our words, and could not 5 hear one another at above two yards distance, and that too when we sate very near the fire. After much perplexity, I found that our words froze in the air before they could reach the ears of the person to whom they were spoken. I was soon confirmed in this conjecture, when, upon the increase of the cold, the whole company grew dumb, or rather deaf; for every man was sensible, as we afterwards found, that he spoke as well as ever; but the sounds no sooner took air, than they were condensed and lost. It was now a miserable spectacle to see us nodding and gaping at one another, every man talk15 ing, and no man heard. One might observe a Seaman, that could hail a ship at a league distance, beckoning with his hands, straining his lungs, and tearing his throat, but all in vain. 20 Nec vox, nec verba, sequuntur. We continued here three weeks in this dismal plight. At length, upon a turn of wind, the air about us began to thaw. Our Cabin was immediately filled with a dry clattering sound, which I afterwards found to be the crackling of consonants that broke above our heads, and were often mixed with a 25 gentle hissing, which I imputed to the letter S, that occurs so frequently in the English Tongue. I soon after felt a breeze of whispers rushing by my ear; for those being of a soft and gentle substance, immediately liquefied in the warm wind that blew across our Cabin. These were soon followed by syllables 30 and short words, and at length by entire sentences, that melted sooner or later, as they were more or less congealed; so that we now heard every thing that had been spoken during the whole three weeks that we had been silent, if I may use that expression. It was now very early in the morning, and yet, to my surprize, I heard some body say, Sir John, it is midnight, and time for the ship's Crew to go to bed. This I knew to be the Pilot's voice, and upon recollecting my self, I concluded that he had spoken these words to me some days before, though I could not hear them before the present thaw. My Reader will easily imagine how the whole Crew was amazed, to hear every man talking, and see no man opening his mouth. In the midst of this great surprize we were all in, we heard a volley of oaths and curses, lasting for a long while, and uttered in a very hoarse voice, which I knew belonged to the Boatswain, who was a very cholerick fellow, and had taken his opportunity of cursing and swearing at me when he thought I could not hear him; for I had several times given him the Strappado on that account, as I did not fail to repeat it for these his pious soliloquies when I got him on shipboard. I must not omit the names of several beauties in Wapping, which were heard every now and then, in the midst of a long sigh that accompanied them; as, Dear Kate! Pretty Mrs. Peggy! When shall I see my Sue again? this betrayed several amours which had been concealed till that time, and furnished us with a great deal of mirth in our return to England. ΙΟ 15 20 When this confusion of voices was pretty well over, though I was afraid to offer at speaking, as fearing I should not be heard, I proposed a visit to the Dutch Cabin, which lay about a mile further up into the country. My Crew were extremely 25 rejoiced to find they had again recovered their hearing, though every man uttered his voice with the same apprehensions that I had done : Et timide verba intermissa retentat. At about half a mile's distance from our Cabin, we heard the groanings of a Bear, which at first startled us; but upon enquiry we were informed by some of our company, that he was dead, and now lay in Salt, having been killed upon that 30 5 very spot about a fortnight before, in the time of the frost. Not far from the same place we were likewise entertained with some posthumous snarls and barkings of a Fox. We at length arrived at the little Dutch Settlement, and 5 upon entering the room, found it filled with sighs that smelt of Brandy, and several other unsavoury sounds that were altogether inarticulate. My Valet, who was an Irishman, fell into so great a rage at what he heard, that he drew his Sword; but not knowing where to lay the blame, he put it 10 up again. We were stunned with these confused noises, but did not hear a single word till about half an hour after ; which I ascribed to the harsh and obdurate sounds of that Language, which wanted more time than ours to melt and become audible. 15 20 25 30 After having here met with a very hearty welcome, we went to the French Cabin, who, to make amends for their three weeks Silence, were talking and disputing with greater rapidity and confusion than ever I heard in an Assembly even of that Nation. Their Language, as I found, upon the first giving of the weather, fell asunder and dissolved. I was here convinced of an Error into which I had before fallen; for I fancied, that for the freezing of the Sound, it was necessary for it to be [wrapped]1 up, and, as it were, preserved in breath; but I found my mistake, when I heard the sound of a Kit playing [a] 2 [minuet] over our heads. I asked the occasion of it; which one of the company told me, that it would play there above a week longer if the thaw continued; for, says he, finding our selves bereft of speech, we prevailed upon one of the company, who had this Musical Instrument about him, to play to us from morning to night; all which time we employed in dancing, in order to dissipate our Chagrin, et tuer le temps. upon 3 1 So S and C; T has "wapped." 2 So S and C; T has a blank space. 3 So S; C has "Minute," T has "minuit." Here Sir John gives very good Philosophical Reasons, why the Kit could be heard during the frost; but as they are something Prolix, I pass over them in silence, and shall only observe, that the honourable Author seems, by his Quotations, to have been well versed in the ancient Poets, which perhaps raised his fancy above the ordinary pitch of Historians, and very much contributed to the embellishment of his writings. 5 THE SPECTATOR. 5 ΙΟ 15 N° 1. Thursday, March 1. 1711. Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem I have observed, that a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure, till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or a fair man, of a mild or cholerick disposition, married or a batchelor, with other particulars of the like nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an Author. To gratify this curiosity, which is so natural to a reader, I design this Paper and my next as Prefatory discourses to my following writings, and shall give some account in them of the several Persons that are engaged in this work. As the chief trouble of compiling, digesting, and correcting will fall to my share, I must do my self the justice to open the work with my own History. I was born to a small Hereditary Estate, which, according to the tradition of the Village where it lies, was bounded by the same hedges and ditches in William the Conqueror's time that it is at present, and has been delivered down from Father to Son whole and entire, without the loss or acquisition of a single field or meadow, during the space of six hundred years. There runs a story in the family, that when my Mother was 20 gone with child of me about three months, she dreamt that she was brought to bed of a Judge: Whether this might proceed from a Law-suit which was then depending in the family, or my Father's being a Justice of the Peace, I cannot determine; |