put us upon making Comparisons to their own Difadvantage. There is fome Pretence for boafting of Wit, Beauty, Strength or Wealth, because the Communicatron of them may give Pleasure or Profit to others; but we can have no Merit, nor ought we to claim any Refpest, because our Fathers acted well, whether we would or no. THE following Letter ridicules the Folly I have mentioned, in a new, and, I think, not difagreeable Light. 6 Mr. SPECTATOR, WERE the Genealogy of every Family referved, there would probably be no Man valued or defpis'd on Account of his Birth. There is fcarce a Beggar in the Streets, who would not find himself lineally • defcended from fome great Man; nor any one of the higheft Title, who would not discover several base and indigent Perfons among his Ancestors. It would be a plealant Entertainment to fee one Pedigree of Men appear together, under the fame Characters they bore ' when they acted their refpective Parts among the Living. Suppofe therefore a Gentleman, full of his illuftrious Family, fhould, in the fame manner as Virgil "makes Æneas look over his Defcendants, fee the whole Line of his Progenitors pass in a Review before his Eyes, with how many varying Paffions would he behold Shepherds and Soldiers, Statesmen and Artificers, Princes and Beggars, walk in the Proceffion of five ⚫ thousand Years! How would his Heart fink or flutter at the several Sports of Fortune in a Scene fo di⚫ verfified with Rags and Purple, Handicraft Tools and Sceptres, Enfigns of Dignity and Emblems of Difgrace; and how would his Fears and Apprehenfions, his Transports and Mortifications, fucceed one another, as the Line of his Genealogy appear'd bright or obfcure? IN most of the Pedigrees hung up in old ManfionHouses, you are fure to find the firft in the Catalogue a great Statesman, or a Soldier with an honou⚫rable Commiffion. The Honeft Artificer that begot him, and all his frugal Ancestors before him, are torn ⚫ off off from the Top of the Regifter; and you are not left to imagine, that the noble Founder of the Family ever had a Father. Were we to trace many boafted Lines farther backwards, we fhould lofe them in a Mob of Tradesmen, or a Croud of Rufticks, without hope of feeing them emerge again: Not unlike the old Appian Way, which after having run many Miles in Length, lofes it felf in a Bog. I lately made a Vifit to an old Country Gentleman, who is very far gone in this fort of Family Madness. I found him in his Study perufing an old Register of his Family, which he had juft then difcover'd, as it was branched out in the Form of a Tree, upon a Skin of Parchment. Having the Honour to have fome of his Blood in my Veins, he permitted me to cast my Eye over the Boughs of this venerable Plant; and asked my Advice in the Reforming of fome of the fuperfluous Branches. WE paffed flightly over three or four of our immediate Fore-fathers, whom we knew by Tradition, but were foon ftopped by an Alderman of London, who, I perceived, made my Kinfman's Heart go pita-pat. His Confufion increased when he found the Alderman's Father to be a Grafier; but he recovered his Fright upon feeing Justice of the Quorum at the end of his 'Titles. Things went on pretty well, as we threw our Eyes occafionally over the Tree, when unfortunately he perceived a Merchant-Tailor perched on a Bough, who was faid greatly to have increased the Eftate; he was juft a going to cut him off, if he had not feen Gent. after the Name of his Son; who was recorded to have mortgaged one of the Manors his honeft Father had purchased. A Weaver, who was burnt for his Religion in the Reign of Queen Mary, was pruned away without Mercy; as was likewife a Yeoman, who died of a Fall from his own Cart. But great was our Triumph in one of the Blood who was beheaded for High-Treafon: which neverthelefs was not a little allay'd by another of our Ancestors who was hanged for ftealing of Sheep. The Expectations of my good Coufin were wonderfully raifed by a Match 6 6 N° 612. Match into the Family of a Knight, but unfortunately for us, for this Branch proved barren: On the other hand Margery the Milk-maid being twined round a Bough, it flourished out into fo many Shoots, and bent with fo much Fruit, that the old Gentleman was quite out of Countenance. To comfort me, under this Difgrace, he fingled out a Branch ten times more fruitful than the other, which he told me, he valued 6 more than any in the Tree, and bade me be of good Comfort. This enormous Bough was a Graft out of a Welb Heirefs, with fo many Ap's upon it that it might have made a little Grove by it felf. From the Trunk of the Pedigree, which was chiefly compofed of Labourers and Shepherds, arofe a huge Sprout of Farmers; this was branched out into Yeomen; and ended in a Sheriff of the County, who was Knighted for his good Service to the Crown, in bringing up an Addrefs. Several of the Names that feemed to difparage the Family, being looked upon as Miftakes, were lopped off as rotten or withered; as, on the contrary, no fmall Number appearing without any Titles, my Coufin, to fupply the Defects of the Manufcript, added Efq; at the End of each of them. THIS Tree fo pruned, dreffed, and cultivated, was, within a few Days, tranfplanted into a large Sheet of Vellum and placed in the great Hall, where it attracts the Veneration of his Tenants every Sunday Morning, while they wait till his Worship is ready to go to Church; wondering that a Man who had fo many Fathers before him, fhould not be made a Knight, or at least a Juftice of the Peace. Friday, གད N° 613. Friday, October 29. I Studiis florentem ignobilis cti. Virg. T is reckoned a Piece of Ill-breeding for one Man to engrofs the whole Talk to himself. For this Rea fon, fince I keep three Vifiting-Days in the Week, I am content now and then to let my Friends put in a Word. There are feveral Advantages hereby accruing both to my Readers and my felf. As firft, Young and modeft Writers have an Opportunity of getting into Print Again, The Town enjoys the Pleature of Va riety; and Pofterity will fee the Humour of the prefent Age, by the help of thefe little Lights into private and domeftic Life. The Benefits I receive from thence, are fuch as thefe: I gain more Time for future Speculations; pick up Hints which I improve for the publick Good; give Advice; redrefs Grievances; and, by leaving commodious Spaces between the feveral Letters that I print, furnish out a Spectator with little Labour and great Oftentation. Mr. SPECTATOR, Was mightily pleafed with your Speculation of Friday. Your Sentiments are Noble, and the whole worked up in fuch a manner, as cannot but ftrike upon every Reader. But give me leave to make this Remark: That while you write fo pathetically on Contentment, and a retired Life, you footh the Paffion of Melancholy, and deprefs the Mind from Actions truly Glorious. Titles and Honours are the Re⚫ ward of Virtue: We therefore ought to be affected with them: And tho' light Minds are too much puffed up with exterior Pomp, yet I cannot fee why it is not as truly Philofophical, to admire the glowing VOL. VIII. Ruby, K Ruby, or the fparkling Green of an Emerald, as the fainter and lefs permanent Beauties of a Rofe or a Myrtle. If there are Men of extraordinary Capacities who lie conceal'd from the World, I fhould impute it to them as a Blot in their Character, did not I believe it owing to the Meannefs of their Fortune rather than of their Spirit. Cowley, who tells the Story of Aglaüs with fo much Pleasure, was no Stranger to Courts, nor infenfible of Praise. What shall I do to be for ever known, was the Refult of a laudable Ambition. It was not till after frequent Difappointments, that he termed himfelf the Melancholy Cowley; and he praised Solitude, when he defpair'd of fhining in a Court." The Soul of a Man is an active Principle. He therefore, who withdraws himself from the Scene before he has play'd his Part, ought to be hiffed off the Stage, and cannot be deemed Virtuous, because he refuíes to answer his End. I muft own I am fired with an honeft Am⚫bition to imitate every illuftrious Example. The Battles of Blenheim and Ramillies have more than once made me with my felf a Soldier. And when I have feen thofe Actions fo nobly celebrated by our Poets, I have fecretly afpir'd to be one of that diftinguifhed Clafs. But in vain I wish, in vain I pant with the Defire of Action. I am chained down in Obfcurity, and thẹ ⚫ only Pleasure I can take is in feeing fo many brighter Genius's join their friendly Lights, to add to the Splendor of the Throne. Farewel then dear Spec, and believe me to be with great Emulation, and no Envy, Your profefi'd Admirer, Will. Hopeless. SIR, |