[Footnote 1: Scent bags. Ital. Polviglio; from Pulvillus, a little
cushion.]
* * * * *
No. 64. Monday, May 14, 1711. Steele.
'... Hic vivimus Ambitiosa
Paupertate omnes ...'
Juv.
The most improper things we commit in the Conduct of our Lives, we are
led into by the Force of Fashion. Instances might be given, in which a
prevailing Custom makes us act against the Rules of Nature, Law and
common Sense: but at present I shall confine my Consideration of the
Effect it has upon Men's Minds, by looking into our Behaviour when it is
the Fashion to go into Mourning. The Custom of representing the Grief we
have for the Loss of the Dead by our Habits, certainly had its Rise from
the real Sorrow of such as were too much distressed to take the proper
Care they ought of their Dress. By Degrees it prevailed, that such as
had this inward Oppression upon their Minds, made an Apology for not
joining with the rest of the World in their ordinary Diversions, by a
Dress suited to their Condition. This therefore was at first assumed by
such only as were under real Distress; to whom it was a Relief that they
had nothing about them so light and gay as to be irksome to the Gloom
and Melancholy of their inward Reflections, or that might misrepresent
them to others. In process of Time this laudable Distinction of the
Sorrowful was lost, and Mourning is now worn by Heirs and Widows. You
see nothing but Magnificence and Solemnity in the Equipage of the
Relict, and an Air [of [1]] Release from Servitude in the Pomp of a Son
who has lost a wealthy Father. This Fashion of Sorrow is now become a
generous Part of the Ceremonial between Princes and Sovereigns, who in
the Language of all Nations are stiled Brothers to each other, and put
on the Purple upon the Death of any Potentate with whom they live in
Amity. Courtiers, and all who wish themselves such, are immediately
seized with Grief from Head to Foot upon this Disaster to their Prince;
so that one may know by the very Buckles of a Gentleman-Usher, what
Degree of Friendship any deceased Monarch maintained with the Court to
which he belongs. A good Courtier's Habit and Behaviour is
hieroglyphical on these Occasions: He deals much in Whispers, and you
may see he dresses according to the best Intelligence.
The general Affectation among Men, of appearing greater than they are,
makes the whole World run into the Habit of the Court. You see the Lady,
who the Day before was as various as a Rainbow, upon the Time appointed
for beginning to mourn, as dark as a Cloud. This Humour does not prevail
only on those whose Fortunes can support any Change in their Equipage,
not on those only whose Incomes demand the Wantonness of new
Appearances; but on such also who have just enough to cloath them. An
old Acquaintance of mine, of Ninety Pounds a Year, who has naturally the
Vanity of being a Man of Fashion deep at his Heart, is very much put to
it to bear the Mortality of Princes. He made a new black Suit upon the
Death of the King of _Spain_, he turned it for the King of _Portugal_,
and he now keeps his Chamber while it is scouring for the Emperor. [2]
He is a good Oeconomist in his Extravagance, and makes only a fresh
black Button upon his Iron-gray Suit for any Potentate of small
Territories; he indeed adds his Crape Hatband for a Prince whose
Exploits he has admired in the _Gazette_. But whatever Compliments may
be made on these Occasions, the true Mourners are the Mercers, Silkmen,
Lacemen and Milliners. A Prince of merciful and royal Disposition would
reflect with great Anxiety upon the Prospect of his Death, if he
considered what Numbers would be reduced to Misery by that Accident
only: He would think it of Moment enough to direct, that in the
Notification of his Departure, the Honour done to him might be
restrained to those of the Houshold of the Prince to whom it should be
signified. He would think a general Mourning to be in a less Degree the
same Ceremony which is practised in barbarous Nations, of killing their
Slaves to attend the Obsequies of their Kings.
I had been wonderfully at a Loss for many Months together, to guess at
the Character of a Man who came now and then to our Coffee-house: He
ever ended a News-paper with this Reflection, _Well, I see all the
Foreign Princes are in good Health_. If you asked, Pray, Sir, what says
the _Postman_ from _Vienna_? he answered, _Make us thankful, the_ German
_Princes are all well_: What does he say from _Barcelona_? _He does not
speak but that the Country agrees very well with the new Queen_. After
very much Enquiry, I found this Man of universal Loyalty was a wholesale
Dealer in Silks and Ribbons: His Way is, it seems, if he hires a Weaver,
or Workman, to have it inserted in his Articles,
'That all this shall be well and truly performed, provided no foreign
Potentate shall depart this Life within the Time above-mentioned.'
It happens in all publick Mournings, that the many Trades which depend
upon our Habits, are during that Folly either pinched with present Want,
or terrified with the apparent Approach of it. All the Atonement which
Men can make for wanton Expences (which is a sort of insulting the
Scarcity under which others labour) is, that the Superfluities of the
Wealthy give Supplies to the Necessities of the Poor: but instead of any
other Good arising from the Affectation of being in courtly Habits of
Mourning, all Order seems to be destroyed by it; and the true Honour
which one Court does to another on that Occasion, loses its Force and
Efficacy. When a foreign Minister beholds the Court of a Nation (which
flourishes in Riches and Plenty) lay aside, upon the Loss of his Master,
all Marks of Splendor and Magnificence, though the Head of such a joyful
People, he will conceive greater Idea of the Honour done his Master,
than when he sees the Generality of the People in the same Habit. When
one is afraid to ask the Wife of a Tradesman whom she has lost of her
Family; and after some Preparation endeavours to know whom she mourns
for; how ridiculous is it to hear her explain her self, That we have
lost one of the House of _Austria_! Princes are elevated so highly above
the rest of Mankind, that it is a presumptuous Distinction to take a
Part in Honours done to their Memories, except we have Authority for it,
by being related in a particular Manner to the Court which pays that
Veneration to their Friendship, and seems to express on such an Occasion
the Sense of the Uncertainty of human Life in general, by assuming the
Habit of Sorrow though in the full possession of Triumph and Royalty.