Power, to fcreen his Actions from publick Enquiry. His Sentiments of Honour and Virtue would make Him chufe to be the Victim even of publick Injustice, rather than live the Object of publick Indignation and Reproach; and He would more willingly be executed in Reality, than hang'd in Effigy.

Such were the Sentiments of Tully at a Time, when He enjoy'd the first Place in Rome, and when He was vefted with abfolute Power. He fays to Catiline.Quo tandem Animo hoc Tibi ferendum putas? Servi mebercle mei, fi Me ifto Pacto metuerent, ut Te metuunt omnes Cives tui, Domum meam relinquendam putarem, Tu Tibi urbem non arbitraris? Et fi Me meis Civibus Injuriâ fufpe&tum tam graviter, atque offenfum viderem; carere Me Afpectu Civium, quam infeftis omnium Oculis confpici mallem. Tu cum Confcientiâ fcelerum tuorum agnofcas odium omnium juftum, & jam Tibi diu debitum, dubitas quorum Mentes, Senfufque vulneras, eo rum Adfpectum Præfentiamque vitare? Si Te Parentes timerent atque odiffent tui, neque Eos ulla Ratione placare poffes; ut opinor, ab eorum Oculis aliquò concederes : nunc Te Patria, quæ communis eft omnium Parens, odit ac metuit; & jam diu de Te nihil judicat, nifi de Par ricidio fuo cogitare.

Thefe, I fay, were formerly the Sentiments of Tully, and fuch will be the Conduct of every honeft Man in a publick Station. They, who act differently, plead guilty to the publick Arraignment; confefs the worst, that can be fuggefted against Them; prove Themfelves convicted Criminals, and ought to be treated as such. C. I am, SIR, &c.

VOL. XI.

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SATURDAY,

FIGOODS & BODY

N° 389. SATURDAY, Dec. 15, 1733.

To CALEB D'ANVERS, Efq;

SIR,

H

AVING in my last confider'd the Na ture and Effects of publick Hatred, I may now follow it properly enough with fome Reflections upon publick Contempt and Ridicule.

I will affert in this Cafe, what I did in the former, that no Man was ever universally contemptible, or ridiculous, without deferving it. Wit and Humour may, indeed, heighten the Colouring; but can. not alter the Proportions. If the Cloaths don't fit, the Taylor, not the Wearer, will be blamed.

The late Lord Shaftsbury, in one of his Effays, afferts that Ridicule is the fureft Teft of Truth and real Worth; because it will never hold, where it is not juft; and, inftead of wounding the Object, recoils upon the Author. Wit and Humour can only discover and difplay Ridicule, but cannot create it; and though, perhaps, the Discovery was not very obvious, yet when once made, the Truth of it muft ftrike every Body, or it will pleafe Nobody.

Contempt and Ridicule are very near a-kin, with this Difference only, that a Man may be very contemptible, without being ridiculous, but cannot be very ridiculous, without being contemptible; Contempt arifing from a` Privation of good Qualities; Ridicule from an Affectation of them. No Man is ridiculous, though He may be contemptible, for being really what He is; but for thinking Himself, or endeavouring to be thought, what

He

He is not, and cannot be. Thus a Fool, or a Blockbead, is only contemptible, whilft He confines himself within his own Dominions of Ignorance and Dulness ; but if He prefumes to ftep into the Regions of Wit, or Learning, He immediately becomes ridiculous into the Bargain; and thus a Fellow of eminent Incapacity and illiberal Manners, who pretends to Business, or Politenefs, rifes from a folid Object of Contempt into a fhining one of Ridicule.

The greater the Distance between the real and the affected Qualifications, the ftronger is the Contrast, and the higher the Ridicule. The Afs in the Lyon's Skin was much more ridiculous than He would have been, if He had contented himself with affuming the kindred Appearance of an Horje. In that Cloathing, the Length of his Ears and the Flimfinefs of his Tail might poffibly have efcaped all but nicer Obfervation. This will ever be the Cafe of Thofe, who, being form'd by Nature for the meanest Functions of Life, abfurdly aim and fometimes unaccountably arrive at the greatest. Then Ridicule appears in its higheft. Meridian. The Deformity of a Beau, the Petulance of a Coxcomb, the Ignorance of a Pedant, and the Cowardice of a Bully, furnish only Entertainment and Laughter to private Circles, and particular Coteries; but the impenetrable Head and the porterly Manners of a Statefman and a Courtier are glaring Objects of a national and univerfal Mirth. There Ridicule feems enthroned, and adorn'd with all her Luftre.

I

It is certain, there are fome People born fo much below the relt of their Species, that it is ridiculous and even prefumptuous in Them to imitate, or rather mimick, the Actions of the common Run of Mankind. once knew a Man fo form'd by Nature for Dirt and ill Manners, that they almost became Him; and He grew ridiculous by putting on Civility and clean Linnen. Dr. South remarks, that many a Man hath run his Head (as He calls it) unsuccessfully against a PULPIT,

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who might have done bis Country good Service at a PLOUGH-TAIL. If this Observation holds true in the Church, as it certainly does, it is not lefs fo in the State; where We have fometimes feen the Country endanger'd by the Heads of Thofe, who were by Nature intended to have improved it with their Hands.

Let us fuppofe Men born with Talents below the Vulgar, and Thofe puzzled and perplex'd; not improved by a laborious Application, but like dirty Puddles grown more muddy by stirring; advanced to high Stations only by Birth, or fome whimfical Concurrence of Circumftances; rather bewilder'd in the Mazes, than engaged in the Dispatch of Business ; wallowing in Papers, of which They neither comprehend the Subftance, nor underfland the Language; whole bodily Hurry in vain endeavours to compenfate the Sluggishness of their Minds; whofe Eloquence is only a Profufion of misplaced and unconnected Words; and whofe Politenefs confifts in the Vehemence of a

ruftick and ungentlemanly Addrefs; when fuch People pretend to the Conduct of Affairs, the Dignity of Employments, or the good Breeding of a Court, They become the Objects of univerfal Contempt and Ridicule; their high Pofts are a Sort of political Pillory to Them, which invites Paffengers, without farther Enquiry, to club their rotten Egg and their Lump of Dirt at Heads, fo ridiculously exalted and exposed.

This is not the worst. They are not only the Cause of national Mirth, but of national Misfortunes too. The Adminiftration, which They fhare, finks into Contempt; grows ufelefs at beft, but commonly dange rous. All They do hath a Taint of Ridicule in it, and wants a certain Comeliness and Dignity, which is always neceffary to carry on publick Meafures with Sucrefs. Men, who can mistake Themselves fo grofly, are not only capable of mistaking molt other Things as much, but rather incapable of not mistaking every Thing. Where They mean to ftrike Terror, They

create

create Mirth. Harmless Squadrons convey their Threats, and filent Canons proclaim their Glory. Miftaken Interefts are the Bafis of their Negotiations, and inevitable War the neceffary and immediate Confequence of their Treaties of Peace.

Machiavel and all the political Writers lay it down for a Maxim, that nothing worfe can happen to a Government than to be turn'd into Ridicule, or to fink into Contempt. In fuch a Cafe, it can have no Weight abroad, nor any Strength at home. Men of Senfe and Character will not embark, under the Conduct of fuch Pilots, but take Care to keep difengaged from the Crew. This puts the final Stamp of Contempt and Ridicule upon Them; which afterwards paffes current with the reft of Mankind, and becomes the Fashion to fuch a Degree, that People are afhamed not to join in the Sentence, though They are often ignorant of the Fact.

An Administration, in fuch fhameful Circumstances, cannot fubfift long; but especially, if by an uncommon Fatality, fome Members of it join the publick Hatred to the publick Contempt acquired by the others. It muft then inevitably and immediately yield to the feldom-united Attacks of a national Ridicule and national Odium.

There is always a ftrange Awkwardness in a Government fo framed and circumftantiated. One fees a lazy, reluctant Co-operation in all the fubordinate Parts of it. Some discover the Consciousness of their Shame, by a filent Difcontent and a furly Concurrence. Others hope to leffen it, by a frank Confeffion, and pleading their Neceffity like Debtors, who skulk within the Verge, and fhelter Themselves under the Privilege of a Court. But all impatiently wait to be relieved from their opprobrious, or ridiculous Servitude.

I cannot conclude, without congratulating my Country and my Countrymen, that This is not our Cafe. On the contrary, our happy Administration is fo admirably

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