[349] "Steele assisted in this paper" (Tickell).
[350] "Hamlet," act i. sc. i.
No. 112. [STEELE.
From _Saturday, Dec. 24_, to _Tuesday, Dec. 27, 1709_.
Accedat suavitas quædam oportet sermonum, atque morum, haudquaquam
mediocre condimentum amicitiæ. Tristitia autem, et in omni re
severitas absit. Habet illa quidem gravitatem, sed amicitia
remissior esse debet, et liberior, et dulcior, et ad omnem
comitatem facilitatemque proclivior.--CICERO, De Amicitia,
xviii. 66.
_Sheer Lane, Dec. 26._
As I was looking over my letters this morning, I chanced to cast my
eye upon the following one, which came to my hands about two months
ago from an old friend of mine, who, as I have since learned, was the
person that wrote the agreeable epistle inserted in my paper of the
third of the last month.[352] It is of the same turn with the other,
and may be looked upon as a specimen of right country letters.
"Sir,
"This sets out to you from my summer-house upon the terrace, where
I am enjoying a few hours' sunshine, the scanty sweet remains of
a fine autumn. The year is almost at the lowest; so that in all
appearance, the rest of my letters between this and spring will
be dated from my parlour fire, where the little fond prattle of
a wife and children will so often break in upon the connection
of my thoughts, that you will easily discover it in my style. If
this winter should prove as severe as the last, I can tell you
beforehand, that I am likely to be a very miserable man, through
the perverse temper of my eldest boy. When the frost was in its
extremity, you must know, that most of the blackbirds, robins,
and finches of the parish (whose music had entertained me in
the summer) took refuge under my roof. Upon this, my care was,
to rise every morning before day to set open my windows for the
reception of the cold and the hungry, whom at the same time I
relieved with a very plentiful alms, by strewing corn and seeds
upon the floors and shelves. But Dicky, without any regard to the
laws of hospitality, considered the casements as so many traps,
and used every bird as a prisoner at discretion. Never did tyrant
exercise more various cruelties: some of the poor creatures he
chased to death about the room; others he drove into the jaws
of a bloodthirsty cat; and even in his greatest acts of mercy,
either clipped the wings, or singed the tails, of his innocent
captives. You will laugh, when I tell you I sympathised with
every bird in its misfortunes; but I believe you will think me in
the right for bewailing the child's unlucky humour. On the other
hand, I am extremely pleased to see his younger brother carry a
universal benevolence towards everything that has life. When he
was between four and five years old, I caught him weeping over a
beautiful butterfly, which he chanced to kill as he was playing
with it; and I am informed, that this morning he has given his
brother three halfpence (which was his whole estate) to spare the
life of a tomtit. These are at present the matters of greatest
moment within my observation, and I know are too trifling to be
communicated to any but so wise a man as yourself, and from one
who has the happiness to be,
"Your most faithful,
And most obedient Servant."
The best critic that ever wrote, speaking of some passages in Homer
which appear extravagant or frivolous, says indeed that they are
dreams, but the dreams of Jupiter. My friend's letter appears to me
in the same light. One sees him in an idle hour; but at the same time
in the idle hour of a wise man. A great mind has something in it too
severe and forbidding, that is not capable of giving itself such little
relaxations, and of condescending to these agreeable ways of trifling.
Tully, when he celebrates the friendship of Scipio and Lælius,[353]
who were the greatest, as well as the politest, men of their age,
represents it as a beautiful passage in their retirement, that they
used to gather up shells on the seashore, and amuse themselves with
the variety of shape and colour which they met with in those little
unregarded works of nature. The great Agesilaus could be a companion to
his own children, and was surprised by the ambassadors of Sparta[354]
as he was riding among them upon a hobby-horse. Augustus indeed had no
playfellows of his own begetting; but is said to have passed many of
his hours with little Moorish boys at a game of marbles, not unlike
our modern taw. There is (methinks) a pleasure in seeing great men
thus fall into the rank of mankind, and entertain themselves with
diversions and amusements that are agreeable to the very weakest of
the species. I must frankly confess, that it is to me a beauty in
Cato's character, that he would drink a cheerful bottle with a friend;
and I cannot but own, that I have seen with great delight one of the
most celebrated authors[355] of the last age feeding the ducks in St.
James's Park. By instances of this nature, the heroes, the statesmen,
the philosophers, become as it were familiar with us, and grow the more
amiable the less they endeavour to appear awful. A man who always acts
in the severity of wisdom, or the haughtiness of quality, seems to move
in a personated part: it looks too constrained and theatrical for a man
to be always in that character which distinguishes him from others.
Besides that, the slackening and unbending our minds on some occasions,
makes them exert themselves with greater vigour and alacrity when they
return to their proper and natural state.
As this innocent way of passing a leisure hour is not only consistent
with a great character, but very graceful in it, so there are two sorts
of people to whom I would most earnestly recommend it. The first are
those who are uneasy out of want of thought; the second are those who
are so out of a turbulence of spirit. The first are the impertinent,
and the second the dangerous part of mankind.
It grieves me to the very heart when I see several young gentlemen,
descended of honest parents, run up and down hurrying from one end
of the town to the other, calling in at every place of resort,
without being able to fix a quarter of an hour in any, and in a
particular haste without knowing for what. It would (methinks) be some
consolation, if I could persuade these precipitate young gentlemen
to compose this restlessness of mind, and apply themselves to any
amusement, how trivial soever, that might give them employment, and
keep them out of harm's way. They cannot imagine how great a relief it
would be to them if they could grow sedate enough to play for two or
three hours at a game of pushpin. But these busy, idle animals are only
their own tormentors: the turbulent and dangerous are for embroiling
counsels, stirring up seditions, and subverting constitutions, out of a
mere restlessness of temper, and an insensibility of all the pleasures
of life that are calm and innocent. It is impossible for a man to be
so much employed in any scene of action as to have great and good
affairs enough to fill up his whole time; there will still be chasms
and empty spaces, in which a working mind will employ itself to its own
prejudice, or that of others, unless it can be at ease in the exercise
of such actions as are in themselves indifferent. How often have I
wished, for the good of the nation, that several famous politicians
could take any pleasure in feeding ducks. I look upon an able statesman
out of business like a huge whale, that will endeavour to overturn the
ship unless he has an empty cask to play with.
But to return to my good friend and correspondent, I am afraid we shall
both be laughed at, when I confess, that we have often gone out into
the field to look upon a bird's nest; and have more than once taken an
evening's walk together on purpose to see the sun set. I shall conclude
with my answer to his foregoing letter:
"DEAR SIR,
"I thank you for your obliging letter, and your kindness to the
distressed, who will, doubtless, express their gratitude to you
themselves the next spring. As for Dick the tyrant, I must desire
you will put a stop to his proceedings; and at the same time
take care, that his little brother be no loser by his mercy to
the tomtit. For my own part, I am excluded all conversation with
animals that delight only in a country life, and am therefore
forced to entertain myself as well as I can with my little dog
and cat. They both of them sit by my fire every night, expecting
my coming home with impatience; and at my entrance, never fail
of running up to me, and bidding me welcome, each of them in his
proper language. As they have been bred up together from their
infancy, and seen no other company, they have learned each other's
manners, so that the dog often gives himself the airs of a cat,
and the cat, in several of her motions and gestures, affects the
behaviour of the little dog. When they are at play, I often make
one with them; and sometimes please myself with considering, how
much reason and instinct are capable of delighting each other.
Thus, you see, I have communicated to you the material occurrences
in my family, with the same freedom that you use to me; as I am
with the same sincerity and affection,
"Your most faithful,
Humble Servant,
ISAAC BICKERSTAFF."
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