particular manner to the court which pays the veneration to their friendship, and feems to express on fuch an occafion the sense of the uncertainty of human life in general, by affuming the habit of forrow, though in the full poffeffion of triumph and royalty. R*. N° 65. Tuesday, May 15, 1711. Demetri teque Tigelli Difcipulorum inter jubeo plorare cathedras. HOR. I Sat. x. 90. Demetrius and Tigellius, know your place; A Fter having at large explained what WIT is, and defcribed the falfe appearances of it, all that labour feems but an ufelefs enquiry, without fome time be spent in confidering the application of it. The feat of Wit, when one fpeaks as a man of the town and the world, is the playhouse; I fhall therefore fill this Paper with reflections upon the use of it in that place. The application of Wit in the theatre has as ftrong an effect upon the manners of our gentlemen, as the taste of it has upon the writings of our authors. It may, perhaps, look like a very presumptuous work, though not foreign from the duty of a SPECTATOR, to tax the writings of fuch as have long had the general applause of a nation; but I fhall always make reafon, truth, · By STEELE. See final Note to N° 6. and and nature the measures of praise and difpraife; if those are for me, the generality of opinion is of no confequence against me; if they are against me, the general opinion cannot long fupport me. Without further preface, I am going to look into fome of our most applauded plays, and fee whether they deserve the figure they at prefent bear in the imaginations of men, or not. In reflecting upon these works, I shall chiefly dwell upon that for which each refpective play is most celebrated. The prefent Paper shall be employed upon "Sir Fopling Flutter*." The received character of this play is, That it is the pattern of genteel comedy. Dorimant and Harriot are the characters of greatest confequence, and if these are low and mean, the reputation of the play is very unjust. I will take for granted, that a fine gentleman fhould be honeft in his actions, and refined in his language. Instead of this, our hero in this piece is a direct knave in his defigns, and a clown in his language. Bellair is his admirer and friend; in return for which, because he is forfooth a greater wit than his faid friend, he thinks it reafonable to perfuade him to marry a young lady, whofe virtue, he thinks, will last no longer than till fhe is a wife, and then she cannot but fall to his share, as he is an irresistible fine gentleman. "The Man of the Mode." Sir Fopling, was Beau Hewit, fon of Sir Thomas Hewit, of Pifhiobury in Hertfordshire, Bart.; and the author's own character was reprefented in Bellair. See No 175. The The falfhood to Mrs. Loveit, and the barbarity of triumphing over her anguish for lofing him, is another inftance of his honefty, as well as his good-nature. As to his fine language; he calls the orange-woman, who it feems, is inclined to grow fat, "An overgrown jade, with a flasket "of guts before her;" and falutes her with a pretty phrase of, "How now Double Tripe?" Upon the mention of a country-gentlewoman, whom he knows nothing of, (no one can imagine why) he "will lay his life fhe is fome auk"ward ill-fashioned country-toad, who not hav"ing above four dozen of hairs on her head, has "adorned her baldness with a large white fruz, "that she may look fparkifhly in the fore-front "of the king's box at an old play." Unnatural mixture of fenfelefs common-place! As to the generofity of his temper, he tells his poor footman, "If he did not wait better,"-he would turn him away, in the infolent phrase of, "I'll uncafe you." Now for Mrs. Harriot. She laughs at obedience to an absent mother, whofe tenderness Bufy describes to be very exquifite, for "that the is "fo pleafed with finding Harriot again, that she "cannot chide her for being out of the way." This witty daughter and fine lady, has fo little refpect for this good woman, that the ridicules her air in taking leave and cries, "In what ftruggle is my poor mother yonder! See, fee, "her head tottering, her eyes ftaring, and her "under lip trembling." But all this is atoned for, because she has more wit than is ufual in her "sex, and as much malice, though the is as wild "as you would with her, and has a demureness "in her looks that makes it fo furprising." Then to recommend her as a fit fpoufe for his hero, the poet makes her speak her sense of marriage very ingenuously: "I think," fays fhe," I "might be brought to endure him, and that is "all a reasonable woman fhould expect in an huf"band." It is methinks unnatural, that we are not made to understand how, fhe that was bred under a filly pious old mother, that would never truft her out of her fight, came to be fo polite. It cannot be denied, but that the negligence of every thing which engages the attention of the fober and valuable part of mankind, appears very well drawn in this piece. But it is denied, that it is neceffary to the character of a fine gentleman, that he should in that manner trample upon all order and decency. As for the character of Dorimant, it is more of a coxcomb than that of Fopling. He fays of one of his companions, that a good correfpondence between them is their mutual intereft. Speaking of that friend, he declares, their being much together "makes "the women think the better of his understand ing, and judge more favourably of my reputa"tion. It makes him pafs upon some for a "man of very good fenfe, and me upon others "for a very civil perfon." This whole celebrated piece is a perfect contradiction, to good manners, good fenfe, and common honesty; and as there is nothing in it but what is built upon the ruin of virtue and innocence, 2 innocence, according to the notion of merit in this comedy, I take the Shoemaker* to be in reality, the fine gentleman of the play: for it feems he is an atheist, if we may depend upon his character as given by the orange-woman, who is herself far from being the lowest in the play. She fays of a fine man who is Dorimant's companion, There" is not fuch another hea"then in the town, except the Shoemaker." His pretenfion to be the hero of the Drama appears ftill more in his own defcription of his way of living with his lady. "There is," fays he, "never a man in town lives more like a gentle"man with his wife than I do; I never mind "her motions; fhe never enquires into mine. "We speak to one another civilly, hate one ano"ther heartily; and because it is vulgar to lie "and foak together, we have each of us our fe"veral fettle-bed." That of foaking together is as good as if Dorimant had spoken it himself; and I think, fince he puts human nature in as ugly a form as the circumftance will bear, and is a ftaunch unbeliever, he is very much wronged in having no part of the good fortune bestowed in the laft act. To speak plainly of this whole work, I think nothing but being loft to a sense of innocence and virtue can make any one fee this comedy, without obferving more frequent occafion to move forrow and indignation, than mirth and laughter. At the fame time I allow it to be na • He also was a real perfon, and got vaft employment by the reprefentation of him in this play. ture, |
