N° 72. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1750. Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res, In every various change of life the same; SIR, · TO THE RAMBLER. THOSE Who exalt themselves into the chair of instruction, without inquiring whether any will submit to their authority, have not sufficiently considered how much of human life passes in little incidents, cursory conversation, slight business, and casual amusements; and therefore they have endeavoured only to inculcate the more awful virtues, without condescending to regard those petty qualities, which grow important only by their frequency, and which, though they produce no single acts of heroism, nor astonish us by great events, yet are every moment exerting their influence upon us, and make the draught of life sweet or bitter by imperceptible instillations. They operate unseen and unregarded, as change of air makes us sick or healthy, though we breathe it without attention, and only know the particles that impregnate it by their salutary or malignant effects. You have shewn yourself not ignorant of the value of those subaltern endowments, yet have hitherto neglected to recommend good-humour to the world, though a little reflection will shew you that it is the balm of being, the quality to which all that adorns or elevates mankind must owe its power of pleasing. Without good-humour, learning and bravery can only confer that superiority which swells the heart of the lion in the desert, where he roars without reply, and ravages without resistance. Without good-humour virtue may awe by its dignity, and amaze by its brightness; but must always be viewed at a distance, and will scarcely gain a friend or attract an imitator. Good-humour may be defined a habit of being pleased; a constant and perennial softness of manner, easiness of approach, and suavity of disposition; like that which every man perceives in himself, when the first transports of new felicity have subsided, and his thoughts are only kept in motion by a slow succession of soft impulses. Good-humour is a state between gaiety and unconcern; the act or emanation of a mind at leisure to regard the gratification of another. 'It is imagined by many, that whenever they aspire to please, they are required to be merry, and to shew the gladness of their souls by flights of pleasantry and bursts of laughter. But though these men may be for a time heard with applause and admiration, they seldom delight us long. We enjoy them a little, and then retire to easiness and goodhumour, as the eye gazes awhile on eminences glittering with the sun, but soon turns aching away to verdure and to flowers. 'Gaiety is to good-humour as animal perfumes to vegetable fragrance; the one overpowers weak spirits, and the other recreates and revives them.. Gaiety seldom fails to give some pain; the hearers either strain their faculties to accompany its towerings, or are left behind in envy and despair. Good-. humour boasts no faculties which every one does not believe in his own power, and pleases principally by not offending. 'It is well known that the most certain wa give any man pleasure, is to persuade him that receive pleasure from him, to encourage him to f dóm and confidence, and to avoid any such app ance of superiority as may overbear and depr him. We see many that by this art only, spe their days in the midst of caresses, invitations, a civilities; and without any extraordinary qualit or attainments, are the universal favourites of bo sexes, and certainly find a friend in every plac The darlings of the world will, indeed, be general found such as excite neither jealousy nor fear, ar are not considered as candidates for any emine degree of reputation, but content themselves wit common accomplishments, and endeavour rather t solicit kindness than to raise esteem; therefore i assemblies and places of resort it seldom fails to happen, that though at the entrance of some parti cular person every face brightens with gladness and every hand is extended in salutation, yet ᎥᏝ pursue him beyond the first exchange of civilities, you will find him of very small importance, and only welcome to the company, as one by whom all conceive themselves admired, and with whom any one is at liberty to amuse himself when he can find no other auditor or companion, as one with whom all are at ease, who will hear a jest without criticism, and a narrative without contradiction, who laughs with every wit, and yields to every disputer. you 'There are many whose vanity always inclines them to associate with those from whom they have no reason to fear mortification; and there are times in which the wise and the knowing are willing to receive praise without the labour of deserving it, in which the most elevated mind is willing to descend, and the most active to be at rest. All therefore are at some hour or another fond of companions whom they can entertain upon easy terms, and who will relieve them from solitude, without condemning them to vigilance and caution. We are most inclined to love, when we have nothing to fear, and he that encourages us to please ourselves, will not be long without preference in our affection to those whose learning holds us at the distance of pupils, or whose wit calls all attention from us, and leaves us without importance and without regard. It is remarked by Prince Henry, when he sees Falstaff lying on the ground, that he could have better spared a better man. He was well acquainted with the vices and follies of him whom he lamented, but while his conviction compelled him to do justice to superior qualities, his tenderness still broke out at the remembrance of Falstaff, of the cheerful companion, the loud buffoon, with whom he had passed his time in all the luxury of idleness, who had gladded him with unenvied merriment, and whom he could at once enjoy and despise. You may perhaps think this account of those who are distinguished for their good-humour, not very consistent with the praises which I have bestowed upon it. But surely nothing can more evidently shew the value of this quality, than that it recommends those who are destitute of all other excellences, and procures regard to the trifling, friendship to the worthless, and affection to the dull. Good-humour is indeed generally degraded by the characters in which it is found; for being considered as a cheap and vulgar quality, we find it often neglected by those that having excellences of higher reputation and brighter splendour, perhaps imagine that they have some right to gratify themselves at the expense of others, and are to demand compli ance, rather than to practise it. It is by some unfortunate mistake that almost all those who have any claim to esteem or love, press their pretensions too little consideration of others. This mistake own interest, as well as my zeal for general ha ness, makes me desirous to rectify; for I ha friend, who, because he knows his own fidelity usefulness, is never willing to sink into a compan I have a wife whose beauty first subdued me, whose wit confirmed her conquest, but whose bea now serves no other purpose than to entitle he tyranny, and whose wit is only used to justify verseness. 'Surely nothing can be more unreasonable than lose the will to please, when we are conscious of power, or shew more cruelty than to choose any ki of influence before that of kindness. He that gards the welfare of others, should make his virt approachable, that it may be loved and copied ; a he that considers the wants which every man fee or will feel, of external assistance, must rather wi to be surrounded by those that love him, than those that admire his excellences, or solicit his f vours; for admiration ceases with novelty, and terest gains its end and retires. A man whose qualities want the ornament of superficial attraction is like a naked mountain with mines of gold, whic will be frequented only till the treasure is exhausted I am, &c. PHILOMIDES.' gre |