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"P. S. I must do the poor girl the justice to let you know that this match was none of her own choosing, or indeed of mine either; in consideration of which I avoid giving her the least provocation; and indeed we live better together than usually folks do who hated one another when they were first joined: to evade the sin against parents, or at least to extenuate it, my dear rails at my father and mother, and I curse her's for making the match."

"MR. SPECTATOR,

"I like the theme you lately gave out extremely, and should be as glad to handle it as any man living: but I find myself no better qualified to write about money, than about my wife; for, to tell you a secret which I desire may go no further, I am master of neither of those subjects. Your's, August 8, 1712.

"MR. SPECTator,

"PILL GARLIC."

"I desire you would print this in Italic, so as it may be generally taken notice of. It is designed only to admonish all persons, who speak either at the bar, pulpit, or any public assembly whatsoever, how they discover their ignorance in the use of smiles. There are in the pulpit itself, as well as in other places, such gross abuses in this kind, that I gave this warning to all I know; I shall bring them for the future before your Spectatorial authority. On Sunday last, one, who shall be nameless, reproving several of his congregation for standing at prayers, was pleased to say, 'One would think, like the elephant, you had no knees.' Now I myself saw an elephant in Bartholomew Fair

kneel down to take on his back the ingenious Mr. William Penkethman.

T

"Your most humble servant."

No. 456. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1712.

BY STEELE.

De quo libelli in celeberrimis locis proponuntur, huic ne perire quidem tacite conceditur.

TULL

The man whose conduct is publicly arraigned, is not suffered even to be ruined quietly.

OTWAY, in his tragedy of Venice Preserv'd, has

described the misery of a man, whose effects are in the hands of the law, with great spirit. The bitterness of being the scorn and laughter of base minds, the anguish of being insulted by men hardened beyond the sense of shame or pity, and the injury of a man's fortune being wasted, under pretence of justice, are excellently aggravated in the following speech of Pierre to Jaffier:

"I pass'd this very moment by thy doors,

And found them guarded by a troop of villains :
The sons of public rapine were destroying.
They told me, by the sentence of the law,
They had commission to seize all thy fortune
Nay more, Priuli's cruel hand had sign'd it.
Here stood a ruffian with a horrid face
Lording it o'er a pile of massy plate,
Tumbled into a heap for public sale.
There was another making villanous jests
At thy undoing: he had ta'en possession
Of all thy ancient most domestic ornaments :
VOL. VIII.
3

Rich hangings intermix'd and wrought with gold,
The very bed which on thy wedding night
Receiv'd thee to the arms of Belvidera,

The scene of all thy joys, was violated
By the coarse hands of filthy dungeon villains,
And thrown amongst the common lumber.”

Nothing indeed can be more unhappy than the condition of bankruptcy. The calamity which happens to us by ill fortune, or by the injury of others, has in it some consolation; but what arises from our own misbehavior or error is the state of the most exquisite sorrow. When a man considers not only an ample fortune, but even the very necessaries of life, his pretence to food itself at the mercy of his creditors, he cannot but look upon himself in the state of the dead, with his case thus much worse, that the last office is preformed by his adversaries instead of his friends. From this hour the cruel world does not only take possession of his whole fortune, but even of every thing else, which had no relation to it. All his ndifferent actions have new interpretations put upon them; and those whom he has favored in his former life discharge themselves of their obligations to him by joining in the reproaches of his enemies. It is almost incredible that it should be so ; but it is too often seen that there is a pride mixed with the impatience of the creditor, and there are who would rather recover their own by the downfal of a prosperous man, than be discharged to the common satisfaction of themselves and their creditors. The wretched man, who was lately master of abundance, is now under the direction of others; and the wisdom, economy, good sense, and skill in human life before, by reason of his -present misfortune, are of no use to him in the dispo

sition of any thing. The incapacity of an infant or a lunatic is designed for his provision and accommodation: but that of a bankrupt, without any mitigation in respect of the accidents by which it arrived, is calculated for his utter ruin, except there be a remainder ample enough, after the discharge of his creditors, to bear also the expense of rewarding those by whose means the effect of all his labors was transferred from him. This man is to look on and see others giving directions upon what terms and conditions his goods are to be purchased, and all this usually done, not with an air of trustees to dispose of his effects, but destroyers to divide and tear them to pieces.

There is something sacred in misery to great and good minds; for this reason all wise lawgivers have been extremely tender how they let loose even the man who has right on his side, to act with any mixture of resentment against the defendant. Virtuous and modest men, though they be used with some artifice, and have it in their power to avenge themselves, are slow in the application of that power, and are ever constrained to go into rigorous measures. They are careful to demonstrate themselves not only persons injured, but also that to bear it longer would be a means to make the offender injure others, before they proceed. Such men clap their hands upon their hearts, and consider what it is to have at their mercy the life of a citizen. Such would have it to say to their own souls, if possible, that they were merciful when they could have destroyed, rather than when it was in their power to have spared a man they destroy, ed. This is due to the common calamity of human life, due in some measure to our very enemies. They

who scruple doing the least injury are cautious of exacting the utmost justice.

Let any one who is conversant in the variety of human life reflect upon it, and he will find the man who wants mercy has a taste of no enjoyment of any kind. There is a natural disrelish of every thing which is good in his very nature, and he is born an enemy to the world. He is ever extremely partial to himself in all his actions, and has no sense of iniquity but from the punishment which shall attend it. The law of the land is his gospel, and all his cases of conscience are determined by his attorney. Such men know not what it is to gladden the heart of a miserable man, that riches are the instruments of serving the purposes of heaven or hell, according to the disposition of the possessor. The wealthy can torment or gratify all who are in their power, and choose to do one or other as they are affected with love or hatred to mankind. As for such who are insensible of the concerns of others but merely as they effect themselves, these men are to be valued only for their mortality, and as we hope better things from their heirs. I could not but read with great delight a letter from an eminent citizen, who has failed, to one who was intimate with him in his better fortune, and able by his countenance to retrieve his lost condition.

"SIR,

"It is in vain to multiply words and make apologies for what is never to be defended by the best advocate in the world, the guilt of being unfortunate. All that a man in my condition can do or say will be received with prejudice by the generality of mankind, but

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