Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

tame Hussars, that were allowed in our cities, like the wild ones in our camp; who had all the privileges belonging to us, but at the same time were not tied to our discipline or laws.' Aletheus, who is a gentleman of too much virtue for the age he lives in, would not let this matter be thus palliated; but told my pupil, that he was to understand that distinction, quality, merit, and industry, were laid aside among us by the incursions of these civil hussars; who had got so much countenance, that the breeding and fashion of the age turned their way to the ruin of order and economy in all places where they are admitted.' But Sophronius', who never falls into heat upon any subject, but applies proper language, temper, and skill, with which the thing in debate is to be treated, told the youth, that gentleman had spoken nothing but was literally true; but fell upon it with too much earnestness to give a true idea of that sort of people he was declaiming against, or to remedy the evil which he bewailed: for the acceptance of these men being an ill which hath crept into the conversation-part of our lives, and not into our constitution itself, it must be corrected where it began: and consequently is to be amended only by bringing raillery and derision upon the persons who are guilty, or those who converse with them. For the Sharpers,' continued he, at present are not, as formerly, under the acceptation of pick-pockets; but are by custom erected into a real and venerable body of men, and have subdued us to so very particular a

[ocr errors]

6

h Addison being at this time in Ireland, it is offered merely as a conjecture, that Steele might mean under both the names of Aletheus and Sophronius, to testify his respect for the amiable manners and integrity of his ingenious auxiliary and friend John Hughes, esq. whose first contribution, in the letter signed Josiah Couplet, seems to justify this supposition. See Tatler, No. 64.

iSee the preceding note.

deference to them, that though they are known to be men without honour or conscience, no demand is called a debt of honour so indisputably as theirs. You may lose your honour to them, but they lay none against you: as the priesthood in Roman catholic countries can purchase what they please for the church, but they can alienate nothing from it. It is from this toleration, that Sharpers are to be found among all sorts of assemblies and companies; and every talent amongst men is made use of by some one or other of the society, for the good of their common cause: so that an unexperienced young gentleman is as often ensnared by his understanding as his folly; for who could be unmoved, to hear the eloquent Dromio explain the constitution, talk in the key of Cato, with the severity of one of the antient sages, and debate the greatest question of state in a common chocolate or coffee-house? who could I say, hear this generous declamator, without being fired at his noble zeal, and becoming his professed follower, if he might be admitted? Monoculus's* gravity would be no less inviting to a beginner in conversation; and the snare of his eloquence would equally catch one who had never seen an old gentleman so very wise, and yet so little severe. Many other instances of extraordinary men among the brotherhood might be produced; but every man, who knows the town, can supply himself with such examples without their being named.'-Will Vafer, who is skilful at finding out the ridiculous side of a thing, and placing it in a new and proper light, though he very seldom talks, thought fit to enter into this subject. He has lately lost certain loose sums, which half the income of his estate will bring in within

k Tatler, No. 36. and note, where it is said, that Monoculus was sup posed to mean sir Humphrey Moneux.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

seven years: besides which, he proposes to marry, to set all right. He was, therefore, indolent enough to speak of this matter with great impartiality. When I look around me,' said this easy gentleman, and consider in a just balance us bubbles, elder brothers, whose support our dull fathers contrived to depend upon certain acres, with the rooks, whose ancestors left them the wide world; I cannot but admire their fraternity, and contemn my own. Is not Jack Heyday much to be preferred to the knight he has bubbled? Jack has his equipage, his wenches, and his followers the knight, so far from a retinue, that he is almost one of Jack's. However, he is gay, you see, still; a florid outside. florid outside.His habit speaks the man-And since he must unbutton, he would not be reduced outwardly, but is stripped to his upper coat. But though I have great temptation to it, I will not at this time give the history of the losing side; but speak the effects of my thoughts, since the loss of my money, upon the gaining people. This ill fortune makes most men contemplative and given to reading; at least it has so happened to me; and the rise and fall of the family of Sharpers in all ages has been my contemplation.'

I find, all times have had of this people: Homer, in his excellent heroic poem, calls them Myrmidons', who were a body that kept among themselves, and had nothing to lose; therefore never spared either Greek or Trojan, when they fell in their way, upon a party. But there is a memorable verse, which gives

1 Strabon dit que l'on appelloit ainsi proprement les habitans de l'isle d'Egine, et la fable ajoûte qu'ils nommez du mot mirmex, qui veut dire fourmi, parce que c'etoit des fourmis que les Dieux changerent en hommes à la prière d'Eaque. Dans Homere, les Myrmydons etoient ceux qu' Achille et Patrocle commandoient au siege de Troye. Hom. Il. ii. 684. En Anglois, comme en François, le titre de Myrmydon est un terme de mepris, & c'est tout ce que l'auteur a voulu dire." Le N. P.

us an account of what broke that whole body, and made both Greeks and Trojans masters of the secret of their warfare and plunder. There is nothing so pedantic as many quotations; therefore I shall inform you only, that in this battalion there were two officers called Thersites and Pandarus": they were both less renowned for their beauty than their wit; but each had this particular happiness, that they were plunged over head and ears in the same water which made Achilles invulnerable; and had ever after certain gifts, which the rest of the world were never to enjoy. Among others, they were never to know they were the most dreadful to the sight of all mortals, never to be diffident of their own abilities, never to blush, or ever to be wounded but by each other. Though some historians say, gaming began among the Lydians" to divert hunger, I could cite many authorities to prove it had its rise at the siege of Troy'; and that Ulysses won the sevenfold shield at hazard. But be that as it may, the ruin of the corps of the Myrmidons proceeded from a breach between Thersites

mOn voit par ceci que tout ce recit n'est que par badinage. Car Thersite et Pandare n'etoient pas dans le même parti, le premier étant parmi les Grecs, et l'autre parmi les Troyens. Mais les filoux s'entendent au jeu quand ils font semblant du contraire. Homere peint Thersite, impudent, laid, sot, et lâche au possible; à la laideur près Pandare n'est guère réprésenté plus favorablement.' Le N. P.

n Herodote, qui attribue l'invention du jeu aux Lidiens, nous dit au même endroit, lib. i. que chez ce peuple toutes les filles se prostituent sans façon, et que le peché contre nature y étoit toleré par les loix. Je ne sais n'est pas honorable au jeu de devoir sa naissance à une nation de ce caractere. Le N. P.

• ‹ Meziriąc sur la Let. de Penelope à Ulysse, tom. i. p. 32, ed. 1726. Palamede, pour entretenir les soldats pendant qu'ils étoient de loisir, et les garder de se disbander, inventa le jeu Dez, &c.' Le N. P.

pLe bouclier d'Achille, qu' Ajax et Ulysse se disputerent après la mort de son possesseur. V. Ovid. Metam. lib, 13, Ce n'étoit pas le bouclier d'Achille mais celui d'Ajax qui avoit sept doubles. C'est pour badiner que l'autre met cet méprise dans la bouche de son nouveau savant,* Le N. P.

and Pandarus. The first of these was leader of a squadron, wherein the latter was but a private man; but having all the good qualities necessary for a partisan, he was the favourite of his officer. But the whole history of the several changes in the order of Sharpers, from those Myrmidons to our modern men of address and plunder, will require that we consult some ancient manuscripts. As we make these inquiries, we shall diurnally communicate them to the public, that the Knights of the Industry may be better understood by the good people of England. These sort of men, in some ages, were sycophants and flatterers only, and were endued with arts of life to capacitate them for the conversation of the rich and great; but now the bubble courts the impostor, and pretends at the utmost to be but his equal. To clear up the reasons and causes in such revolutions, and the different conduct between fools and cheats, shall be one of our labours for the good of this kingdom. How therefore pimps, footmen, fiddlers, and lacqueys, are elevated into companions in this present age, shall be accounted for from the influence of the planet Mercury on this island; the ascendency of which Sharper over Sol, who is a patron of the Muses and all honest professions, has been noted by the learned Job Gadbury', to be the cause, that cunning and trick are more esteemed than art and science.' It must be allowed also, to the memory of Mr. Partridge', late of Cecilstreet in the Strand, that in his answer to an horary question, At what hour of the night to set a fox-trap in June 1705? he has largely discussed, under the

¶ Mercury was the god of thieves, and was worshipped in this country by our heathen ancestors. See Verstegan passim.

Gadbury was an almanac-maker, an astrologer, and a brother conjurer of Mr. Partridge, who lived several years after he fell into the hands of Squire Bickerstaff's upholders, and died in reality about the end of June, or in the beginning of July, 1715. See Tatler, No. 59. et passim.

« ZurückWeiter »