"Nature's chief Master-piece is writing Well." To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, Such late was Walsh, (b) the muses judge and Friend, Content, if hence the Unlearned their wants may view, Not free from faults, nor yet too vain to mend. POPE. (a) Of Roscommon's works, the judgement of the public seems to be right. He is elegant, but not great; he never labors after exquisite beauties, and he seldom falls into gross faults. His versification is smoothe, but rarely vigorous; and his rhymes are remarkably exact. He improved taste, if he did not enlarge knowledge, and may be numbered among the benefactors to English literature. (b) Walsh is the best Critic in the nation. Roscommon b. JOHNSON. DRYDEN. d. 1684. Walsh b. 1663; d. 1709. Chesterfield. b. 1694; d. 1773. Chesterfield's Letters to his Son are translated into different languages; and various are the opinions respecting them. I am one of those who think bighly, very highly of them as a whole: for there are parts which are censurable, immoral, abominable; parts which render them altogether unfit for general perusal. In passing judgement on these Letters, the critic should (I.) never lose sight of their not having been written for the Public eye, (II.) of the Age of his Son when each particular Letter was penned, (III.) of the Son's habits and acquirements, (IV.) of the immediate object of his Education, (V.) of the Licentiousness of the age in which he lived, and, (VI.) of the Questionableness of several vile Letters which have been incorporated since the publication of Dodsley's Edition, 1774, in Two Volumes Quarto. In my humble opinion, these Letters · with the exception of the immoral passages, in the second volume ought to be placed in the hands of all liberally educated Youth. They contain much general instruction; are replete with useful lessons on Men and Manners; they unveil numerous stratagems of the Human heart; and constantly tend to make mankind Agreeable to each other: they embody so much worldly wisdom that every attentive reader may add something to his stock of knowledge by perusing them; and even the unthinking themselves, must be profited, however indolently they may read them, From Lord CHESTERFIELD to his Son. (The Son in his Seventeenth Year.) Dear Boy, London, September the 27th, O. S. 1749. A vulgar, ordinary way of thinking, acting, or speaking, implies a low education, and a habit of low company. Young people contract it at School, or among Servants, with whom they are too often used to converse; but after they frequent Good-company, they must want attention and observation very much, if they do not lay it quite aside. And, indeed, if they do not, Good company will be very apt to lay them aside. The various kinds of Vulgarisms are infinite; I cannot pretend to point them out to you; but I will give some samples, by which you may guess at the rest. A Vulgar man is captious and jealous, eager and impetuous about trifles. He suspects himself to be slighted, thinks everything that is said is meant at him; if the Company happens to laugh, he is persuaded they laugh at him; he grows angry and testy, says something very impertinent, and draws himself into a scrape, by showing what he calls a proper spirit, and asserting himself. A man of Fashion does not suppose himself to be either the sole or principal object of the thoughts, looks, or words of the Company; and never suspects that he is either slighted or laughed at, unless he is conscious that he deserves it. And if (which very seldom happens) the Company is absurd or ill-bred enough to do either, he does not care two-pence unless the insult be so gross and plain as to require satisfaction of another kind. As he is above Trifles, he is never vehement and eager about them; and wherever they are concerned, rather acquiesces than wrangles. A Vulgar man's Conversation always savors strongly of the lowness of his Education and Company. It turns, chiefly, upon his Domestic affairs; his servants, the excellent order he keeps in his own family, and the little anecdotes of the neigh bourhood; all which he relates with emphasis, as interesting matters. He is a Man-gossip. - Vulgarism in Language is the next, and distinguishing characteristic of Bad-company, and a Bad-education. A man of Fashion avoids nothing with more care than that. Proverbial expressions, and trite sayings, are the flowers of the rhetoric of a Vulgar man. Would he say, that Men differ in their Tastes he both supports and adorns that opinion, by the "good old saying", as he respectfully calls it, that What is one man's Meat is another man's Poison. If anybody attempts being "smart" (as he calls it) upon him he gives them Tit for Tat, aye, that he does He has always some favorite word for the time being, which, for the sake of using often, he commonly abuses such as vastly angry, vastly kind, vastly handsome, and vastly ugly. Even his Pronunciation of Proper words carries "the mark of the beast" along with it: he calls the earth, YEARTH; he is OBLIEGED not obliged to you, he goes To WARDS, and not towards such a place. He sometimes affects Hard words, by way of ornament, which he always mangles. &c. A man of Fashion never has recourse to Proverbs, and vulgar Aphorisms; uses neither favorite words nor hard words; but takes great care to speak very Correctly and Grammatically, and to pronounce properly that is, according to the Usage of the Best-Companies. An awkward Address, ungraceful Attitudes and Actions, and a certain Left-handedness (if I may use that word) loudly proclaim Low-education and Low-company; for it is impossible to suppose that a man can have frequented good-company, without having caught something, at least, of their air and motions. A new-raised man is distinguished in a Regiment by his Awkwardness; but he must be impenetrably dull, if, in a month or two's time, he cannot perform, at least, the common manual exercise, and look like a Soldier. The very Accoutrements of a man of fashion are grievous incumbrances to a Vulgar man. He is at a loss what to do with his Hat when it is not upon his head; his Cane (if unfortunately he wears one) is at perpetual war with every Cup of tea or coffee he drinks; destroys them first and then accompanies them in their fall. His sword is formidable only to his own legs, which would possibly carry him fast enough out of the way of any sword but his own. His Clothes fit him so ill, and constrain him so much, that he seems rather their prisoner than their proprietor. He Presents himself in company like a Criminal in a court of justice his very Air con demns him; and people of Fashion will no more connect themselves with the one, than people of Character with the other. This repulse drives and sinks him into Lowcompany a gulph from whence no man, after a cer tain age, ever emerged. Les Manières nobles et aisées, la Tournure d'un homme de condition, le Ton de la bonne compagnie, les Graces, le je ne sçais quoi, qui plait, are necessary to adorn and introduce your intrinsic merit and knowledge, as the Polish to the Diamond, which, without that polish, would never be worn, whatever it might weigh, Do not imagine that these Accomplishments are only useful with Women; they are much more so with Men. In a Public-assembly what an advantage has a Graceful speaker, with Genteel motions, a Handsome figure, and a Liberal air, over one who shall speak full as much good sense, but destitute of these ornaments! in Business how prevalent are the Graces-how detrimental is the want of them! By the help of these I have known some men refuse favors less offensively than others granted them. The utility of them in Courts, and Negociations, is inconceivable. You gain the Hearts, and, consequently, the Secrets, of nine in ten, that you have to do with, in spite even of their Prudence; which will, nine times in ten, be the Dupe of their hearts and of their senses. Consider the importance of these things as they deserve, and you will not lose one moment in the pursuit of them. You are travelling now in a country once so famous both for Arts and Arms, that (however degenerated at present) it still deserves your attention and reflection. View it therefore with care, compare its former with its present state, and examine into the causes of its rise, and its decay. Consider it classically and politically, and do not run through it, as too many of your young countrymen do, musically, and (to use a ridiculous word) knick-knackically. No Piping nor Fiddling, I beseech you; no days lost in poring upon almost imperceptible Intaglios and Cameos: and do not become a Virtuoso of small wares. Form a taste of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, if you please, by a careful examination of the works of the best ancient and modern artists; those are Liberal-arts, and a real taste and knowledge of them become a Man of Fashion very well. But, beyond certain bounds, the Man of Taste ends, and the Frivolous Virtuoso begins. &c. Pitt b. 1759; d. 1806. See an Account of Canning among the Pieces after the VII Lecture. Eulogy on PITT. If hushed the loud whirlwind that ruffled the deep, At the footstool of Power let Flattery fawn, Let Fashion her idols extol to the skies; To virtue, in humble retirement withdrawn, Unblamed may the accent of gratitude rise. And shall not His memory to Britons be dear, Whose example with envy all nations behold; A Statesman unbiased by interest or fear, By power uncorrupted, untainted by gold? Who, when terror and doubt through the universe reigned, Unheeding, unthankful, we bask in the blaze, While the beams of the sun in full majesty shine; When he sinks into twilight with fondness we gaze, And mark the mild lustre that gilds his decline So, Pitt! when the course of thy greatness is o'er, Thy talents, thy virtues, we fondly recal; Now justly we praise thee, whom lost we deplore, Admired in thy zenith, beloved in thy fall. " O, take then, for dangers by wisdom repelled, The thanks of a people thy firmness has saved. And oh! if again the rude whirlwind should rise, Shail turn to the Pilot that weathered the storm. CANNING. |