empts us from many difeafes, to which other more fouthern nations are naturally fubject; and I can never be perfuaded, that being born near the north pole is a phyfi cal caule for felf-murder. Defpair, indeed, is the natural caufe of thefe fhocking actions; but this is commonly defpair brought on by wilful extravagance and debauchery. Thefe firft involve men into difficulties, and then death at once delivers them of their lives and their cares. For my part, when I fee a young profligate wantonly fquandering his fortune in bagnios or at the gaming-table, I cannot help looking on him as haftening his own death, and in a manner digging his own grave. As he is at last induced to kill himself by motives arising from his vices, I confider him as dying of fome difeafe, which thofe vices naturally produce. If his extravagance has been chiefly in luxurious eating and drinking, I imagine him poifoned by his wines, or furfeited by a favourite difh; and if he has thrown away his eftate in bawdy-houfes, I conclude him destroyed by rottennefs and filthy difeafes. Another principal caufe of the frequency of fuicide is the noble fpirit of free-thinking, which has diffufed itself among all ranks of people. The libertine of fashion has too refined a tafte to trouble himself at all about a foul or an hereafter; but the vulgar infidel is at wonderful pains to get rid of his Bible, and labours to perfuade himself out of his religion. For this purpose he attends contantly at the difputant focieties, where he hears a great deal about free-will, free agency, and predeftination, till at length he is convinced that man is at liberty to do as he pleases, lays his misfortunes to the charge of Providence, and comforts himself that he was inevitably destined to be tied up in his own garters. The courage of thefe heroes proceeds from the fame principles, whether they fall by their own hands, or thofe of Jack Ketch: the fuicide of whatever rank looks death in the face without fhrinking; as the gallant rogue affects an eafy unconcern under Tyburn, throws away the pfalm-book, bids the cart drive off with an oath, and fwings like a gentleman. Connoiffeur. § 83. An Enumeration of Superftitions ob Jerved in the Country. You must know, Mr. Town, that I am juft returned from a vifit of a fortnight to an old aunt in the North; where I was mightily diverted with the traditional fuperftitions, which are moft religiously preferved in the family, as they have been delivered down (time out of mind) from their fagacious grandmothers. When I arrived, I found the mistress of the house very bufily employed, with her two daughters, in nailing an horseshoe to the threshold of the door. This, they told me, was to guard against the spiteful defigns of an old woman, who was a witch, and had threatened to do the family a mifchief, because one of my young coufins laid two ftraws acrofs, to fee if the old hag could walk over them. The young lady affured me, that she had several times heard Goody Cripple muttering to herself; and to be fure he was faying the Lord's Prayer backwards. Befides, the old woman had very often asked them for a pin: but they took care never to give her any thing that was fharp, because the should not bewitch them. They afterwards told me many other particulars of this kind, the fame as are mentioned with infinite humour by the SPECTATOR: and to confirm them, they aflured me, that the eldest mifs, when he was little, used to have fits, till the mother flung a knife at another old witch (whom the devil had carried off in an high wind), and fetched blood from her. When I was to go to bed, my aunt made a thousand apologies for not putting me in the best room in the house; which (the faid) had never been lain in fince the death of an old washerwoman, who walked every night, and haunted that room in particular. They fancied that the old woman had hid money fomewhere, and could not reft till fhe had told fomebody; and my coufin affured me, that he might have had it all to herself; for the fpirit came one night to her bed-fide, and wanted to tell her, but he had not courage to fpeak to it. I learned alfo, that they had a footman once, who hanged himself for love; and he walked for a great while, till they got the parfon to lay him in the Red Sea. I had not been here long, when an accident happened, which very much alarmed the whole family. Towzer one night howled moft terribly; which was a fure fign, that fomebody belonging to them would die. The youngest mifs declared, that he had heard the hen crow that morning; which was another fatal prog 3 M 2 noftic. nolic. They told me, that, juft before uncle died, Towzer howled fo for feveral nights together, that they could not quiet him; and my aunt heard the dead-watch tick as plainly as if there had been a clock in the room: the maid too, who fat up with him, heard a bell toll at the top of the ftairs, the very moment the breath went out of his body. During this difcourfe I overheard one of my coufins whisper the other, that he was afraid their mamma would not live long; for fhe fmelt an ugly smell, like a dead carcafe. They had a dairy-maid, who died the very week after an hearfe had ftopt at their door on its way to church: and the eldest mifs, when the was but thirteen, faw her own brother's ghoft (who was gone to the West Indies) walking in the garden; and to be fure, nine months after, they had an account, that he died on board the hip, the very fame day, and hour of the day, that mifs faw his appari tion. : I need not mention to you the common incidents, which were accounted by them no lefs prophetic. If a cinder popped from the fire, they were in hafte to examine whether it was a purfe or a coffin. They were aware of my coming long before I arrived, because they had feen a ftranger on the grate. The youngeft mifs will let nobody ufe the poker but herfelf; because, when the ftirs the fire, it always burns bright, which is a fign fhe will have a brifk husband and the is no lefs fure of a good one, because the generally has ill luck at cards. Nor is the candle lefs oracular than the fire: for the 'fquire of the parish came one night to pay them a vifit, when the tallow winding-fheet pointed towards him; and he broke his neck foon after in a fox-chafe. My aunt one night obferved with great pleafure a letter in the candle; and the very next day one came from her fon in London. We knew when a fpirit was in the room, by the candle burning blue: but poor coufin Nancy was ready to cry one time, when fhe fnuffed it eut, and could not blow it in again; though her fifter did it at a whiff, and confequently triumphed in her fuperior virtue. We had no occafion for an almanack or the weather-glafs, to let us know whether it would rain or shine. One evening I propofed to ride out with my coufins the next day to fee a gentleman's houfe in the neighbourhood; but my aunt affured us it would be wet, she knew very well, from the shoot ing of her corn. Befides, there was a great fpider crawling up the chimney, and the blackbird in the kitchen began to fing; which were both of them as certain forerunners of rain. But the moft to be depended on in these cases is a tabby cat, which ufually lies basking on the parlour hearth. If the cat turned her tail to the fire, we were to have an hard froft; if the cat licked her tail, rain would certainly enfue. They wondered what ftranger they should fee; becaufe pufs wafhed her face over her left ear. The old lady complained of a cold, and her eldest daughter remarked it would go through the family; for the obferved that poor Tab had fneezed several times. Poor Tab, however, once flew at one of my coufins; for which fhe had like to have been deftroyed, as the whole family began to think he was no other than a witch. It is impoffible to tell you the feveral tokens by which they knew whether good or ill luck will happen to them. Spilling the falt, or laying knives acrofs, are everv where accounted ill omens; but a pin with the head turned towards you, or to be followed by a strange dog, I found were very lucky. I heard one of my coufins tell the cook-maid, that the boiled away all her fweethearts, because the had let her dishwater boil over. The fame young lady one morning came down to breakfaft with ber cap the wrong fide out; which the mother obferving, charged her not to alter it all day, for fear the thould turn luck. But, above all, I could not help remarking the various prognoftics which the old lady and her daughters used to collect from almost every part of the body. A white fpeck upon the nails made them as fure of a gift as if they had it already in their pockets. The elder fifter is to have one hufband more than the youngest, because fhe has one wrinkle more in her forehead; but the other will have the advantage of her in the number of children, as was plainly proved by fnapping their fingerjoints. It would take up too much room to fet down every circumftance, which I obferved of this fort during my ftay with them: I fhall therefore conclude my letter with the feveral remarks on other parts of the body, as far as I could learn them from this prophetic family: for as I was a relation, you know, they had lefs reserve. If the head itches, it is a fign of rain. If the head aches, it is a profitable pain. It you have the tooth-ache, you don't love true. If your eye-brow itches, you will fee a ftranger. a ftranger. If your right-eye itches, you will cry; if your left, you will laugh: but left or right is good at night. If your nofe itches you will thake hands with or kifs a fool, drink a glass of wine, run against a cuckold's door, or mifs them all four. If your right-ear or cheek burns, your left friends are talking of you; if your left, your right friends are talking of you. If your elbow itches, you will change your bedfellow. If your right-hand itches, you will pay away money; if your left, you will receive. If your ftomach itches, you will eat pudding. If your back itches, butter will be cheap when grafs grows there. If your fide itches, fomebody is withing for you. If your gartering-place itches, you will go to a frange place. If your foot itches, you will tread upon ftrange ground. Laftly, If you shiver, fomebody is walking over your grave. Connoiffeur. $89. Swearing an indelicate as well as a wicked Practice. As there are fome vices, which the vulgar have prefumed to copy from the great; to there are others, which the great have condefcended to borrow from the vulgar. Among thefe, I cannot but fet down the hocking practice of curfing and fwearing; a practice, which (to fay nothing at prefent of its impiety and prophanenefs) is low and indelicate, and places the man of quality on the fame level with the chairman at his door. A gentleman would forfeit all pretenfions to that title, who fhould chufe to embellish his difcourfe with the oratory of Billingf gate, and converse in the ftyle of an oysterwoman; but it is accounted no disgrace to him to use the fame coarfe expreflions of curfing and fwearing with the meaneft of the mob. For my own part, I cannot fee the difference between a By-gad or a Gad dem-me, minced and foftened by a genteel pronunciation from well-bred lips, and the fame expreffion bluntly bolted out from the broad mouth of a porter or hackney.coach man. I fhall purpofely wave making any reflections on the impiety of this practice, as I am fatisfied they would have but little weight either with the beau-monde or the canaille. The fwearer of either station devotes himself piecemeal, as it were, to deftruction; pours out anathemas against his eyes, his heart, his foul, and every part of his body: nor does he fcruple to extend the fame good wishes to the limbs and joints of his friends and acquaintance. This they both do with the fame fearless unconcern; but with this only difference, that the gentleman fwearer damns himfelf and others with the greateft civility and good-breeding imaginable. My predeceffor the Tatler gives us an account of a certain humourist, who got together a party of noted fwearers to dinner with him, and ordered, their difcourfes to be taken down in fhort-hand; which being afterwards repeated to them, they were extremely ftartled and furprifed at their own common talk. A dialogue of this nature would be no improper fupplement to Swift's polite converfation; though, indeed, it would appear too fhocking to be fet down in print. But I cannot help wifhing, that it were poffible to draw out a catalogue of the fashionable oaths and curfes in prefent ufe at Arthur's, or at any other polite affembly: by which means the company themselves would be led to imagine, that their conversation had been carried on between the lowest of the mob; and they would blufh to find, that they had gleaned the choiceft phrases from lanes and alleys, and enriched their difcourfe with the elegant dialect of Wapping and Broad St. Giles's. The legislature has indeed provided against this offence, by affixing a penalty on every delinquent according to his ftation: but this law, like those made against gaming, is of no effect; while the genteeler fort of fwearers put forth the fame execrations at the hazard-table or in the tennis-court, which the more ordinary gamefters repeat, with the fame impunity, over the fhuffle-board or in the fkittle alley. Indeed, were this law to be rigorously put in execution, there would appear to be little or no proportion in the punishment: fince the gentleman would efcape by depofiting his crown; while the poor wretch, who cannot raife a fhilling, must be clapt into the flocks, or fent to Bridewell. But as the offence is exactly the fame, I would alfo have no diftinction made in the treatment of the offenders: and it would be a most ridiculous but a due mortification to a man of quality, to be obliged to thrust his leg through the fame ftocks with a carman or a coal-heaver; fince he first degraded himself, and qualified himself for their company by talking in the fame mean dialect. I am aware that it will be pleaded in excufe for this practice, that oaths and curfes are intended only as mere expletives, which ferve to round a period, and give a grace and fpirit to converfation. But there are 3 M 3 ftill fill fome old-fashioned creatures, who adhere to their common acceptation, and cannot help thinking it a very ferious matter, that a man fhould devote his body to the devil, or call down damnation on his foul. Nay, the fwearer himself, like the old man in the fable calling upon death, would be exceeding loth to be taken at his word; and while he wishes deftruction to every part of his body, would be highly concerned to have a limb rot away, his nofe fall off, or an eye drop out of the focket. It would therefore be advisable to fubftitute fome other terms equally unmeaning, and at the fame time remote from the vulgar curfing and fwearing. It is recorded to the honour of the famous Dean Stanhope, that in his younger days, when he was chaplain to a regiment, he reclaimed the officers, who were much addicted to this vulgar practice, by the following method of reproof: One evening, as they were all in company together, after they had been very eloquent in this kind of rhetoric, fo natural to the gentlemen of the army, the worthy dean took occafion to tell a story in his turn; in which he frequently repeated the words bottle and glass, instead of the ufual expletives of Ged, devil, and damn, which he did not think quite fo becoming for one of his cloth to make free with. I would recommend it to our people of fashion to make ufe of the like innocent phrafes whenever they are obliged to have recourfe to thefe fubflitutes for thought and expreffion. "Bottle and glass" might be introduced with great energy in the tabletalk at the King's Arms or St. Alban's taverns. The gamefter might be indulged, without offence, in fwearing by the "knave of clubs," or the "curfe of Scotland;" or he might with fome propriety retain the old execration of the deuce take it." The beau fhould be allowed to fwear by his "gracious felf," which is the god of his idolatry; and the common expletives fhould confift only of" upon my word and upon my honour;" which terms, whatever fenfe they might formerly bear, are at prefent understood only as words of courfe without meaning. Connoiffeur. § 90. Sympathy a Source of the Sublime. It is by the paffion of fympathy that we enter into the concerns of others; that we are moved as they are moved, and are never fuffered to be indifferent fpectators of almoft any thing which men can do or fuffer. For fympathy must be confidered as a fort of fubflitution, by which we are put into the place of another man, and affected in a good measure as he is affected; fo that this paffion may either partake of the nature of thofe which regard felf-prefervation, and turning upon pain may be a fource of the fublime; or it may turn upon ideas of plea. fure, and then, whatever has been faid of the focial affections, whether they regard fociety in general, or only fome particular modes of it, may be applicable here. It is by this principle chiefly that poetry, painting, and other affecting arts, transfule their paffions from one breaft to another, and are often capable of grafting a delight on wretchedness, mifery, and death itself. It is a common observation, that objects, which in the reality would fhock, are, in tragical and fuch-like reprefentations, the fource of a very high fpecies of pleafure. This, taken as a fact, has been the cause of much reafoning. This fatisfaction has been commonly attributed, first, to the comfort we receive in confidering that fo melancholy a flory is no more than a fiction; and next, the contemplation of our own freedom from the evils we fee reprefented. I am afraid it is a practice much too common, in enquiries of this nature, to attribute the caufe of feelings which merely arife from the mechanical structure of our bodies, or from the natural frame and conflitution of our minds, to certain conclufions of the rea fouing faculty on the objects prefented to us; for I have fome reason to apprehend, that the influence of reafon in producing our paffions is nothing near fo extenfive as is commonly believed. Burke on the Sublime. $91. Effects of Sympathy in the Distresses of others. To examine this point concerning the effect of tragedy in a proper manner, we must previously confider, how we are af fected by the feelings of our fellow-crea tures in circumstances of real diftrefs. I am convinced we have a degree of delight, and that no fmall one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others; for, let the affection be what it will in appearance, if it does not make us thun fuch objects, if, on the contrary, it induces us to approach them, if it makes us dwell upon them, in this cafe I conceive we must have a delight or plea fure, of fome fpecies or other, in contem plating objects of this kind. Do we not read the authentic hiftories of fcenes of this na ture wich as much plea fure as romances of poems, where the incidents are fictitious? The The profperity of no empire, nor the grandeur of no king, can fo agreeably affect in the reading, as the ruin of the state of Macedon, and the distress of its unhappy prince. Such a catastrophe touches us in hiftory, as much as the destruction of Troy does in fable. Our delight in cafes of this kind is very greatly heightened, if the sufferer be fome excellent perfon who finks under an unworthy fortune. Scipio and Cato are both virtuous characters; but we are more deeply affected by the violent death of the one, and the ruin of the great cause he adhered to, than with the deferved triumphs and uninterrupted prosperity of the other; for terror is a paffion which always produces delight when it does not prefs too clofe, and pity is a paffion accompanied with pleafure, because it arifes from love and focial affection. Whenever we are formed by nature to any active purpofe, the paffion which animates us to it is attended with delight, or a pleasure of fome kind, let the fubject matter be what it will; and as our Creator has defigned we fhould be united together by fo strong a bond as that of fympathy, he has therefore twisted along with it a proportionable quantity of this ingredient; and always in the greatest proportion where our fympathy is moft wanted, in the diftreffes of others. If this paflion was fimply painful, we should shun, with the greatest care, all perfons and places that could excite fuch a paffion; as fome, who are fo far gone in indolence as not to endure any ftrong impreffion, actually do. But the cafe is widely different with the greater part of mankind; there is no spectacle we fo eagerly purfue, as that of fome uncommon and grievous calamity; fo that whether the misfortune is before our eyes, or whether they are turned back to it in hiftory, it always touches with delight; but it is not an unmixed delight, but blended with no fmall uneafinefs. The delight we have in fuch things, hinders us from fhunning fcenes of mifery; and the pain we feel, prompts us to relieve ourselves in relieving those who suffer; and all this antecedent to any reasoning, by an instinct that works us to its own purpofes, without our are defcribed lamenting their loft loves: Brifeis was taken away by force from the Grecian; Creufa was lot for ever to her hufband. But Achilles went roaring along the falt fea-fhore, and like a booby was complaining to his mother, when he thould have revenged his injury by his arms. Eneas took a nobler courfe; for, having fecured his father and fon, he repeated all his former dangers to have found his wife, if the had been above ground. And here your lordship may obferve the addrefs of Virgil; it was not for nothing that this paffage was related with all thefe tender circumftances. Eneas told it; Di do heard it. That he had been fo affectionate a husband, was no ill argument to the coming dowager, that he might prove as kind to her. Virgil has a thousand secret beauties, though I have not leisure to remark them. Segrais, on the fubject of a hero fhedding tears, obferves, that hiftorians commend Alexander for weeping, when he read the mighty actions of Achilles; and Julius Cæfar is likewife praifed, when, out of the fame noble envy, he wept at the victories of Alexander. But if we obferve more clofely, we fhall find that the tears of Eneas were always on a laudable occafion. Thus he weeps out of compaffion and tenderness of nature, when in the temple of Carthage he beholds the picture of his friends, who facrificed their lives in defence of their country. He deplores the lamentable end of his pilot Palinurus; the untimely death. of young Pallas his confederate; and the reft, which I omit. Yet even for thefe tears, his wretched critics dare condemn him. They make Eneas little better than a kind of St. Swithin's hero, always raining. One of these cenfors is bold enough to arraign him of cowardice, when, in the beginning of the first book, he not only weeps but trembles at an approaching storm: Extemplo Eneæ folvuntur frigore membra: Ingemit, et duplices tendens ad fidera primas, &c. But to this I have answered formerly, that his fear was not for himself, but his people. And what can give a fovereign a bettes commendation, or recommend a hero more to the affection of the reader? They were threatened with a tempeft, and he wept; he was promised Ialy, and therefore he prayed for the accomplishment of that promife. All this in the beginning of a form; therefore he fhewed the more early piety, and the quicker fenfe of com 3 M 4 paffion. |
