prefent a Sum of Money, and am generally the first Subfidy that is granted to the Crown. I have now and then fupplied the Place of feveral Thousands of Land Soldiers, and have as frequently been employed in the • Sea-Service.

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Now, Sir, my Complaint is this, that I am only made ufe of to ferve a Turn, being always difcarded as foon as a proper Perfon is found out to fill up my Place.

IF you have ever been in the Play-houfe before the Curtain rifes, you fee moft of the Front-Boxes filled with Men of iny Family, who forthwith turn out and refign their Stations upon the Appearance of thofe for whom they are retained.

BUT the moft illuftrious Branch of the Blanks are those who are planted in high Pofts, till fuch time as Perfons of greater Confequence can be found out to fupply them. One of thofe Blanks is equally qualified for all Offices; he can ferve in time of Need for a Soldier, a Politician, a Lawyer, or what you please. I have known in my Time many a Brother Blank that has been born under a lucky Planet, heap up great Riches, and fwell into a Man of Figure and Importance, before the Grandees of his Party could agree < among themselves which of them fhould ftep into his. Place. Nay, I have known a Blank continue fo long. ⚫in one of these vacant Pofts, (for fuch it is to be reckon ed all the Time a Blank is in it) that he has grown too formidable and dangerous to be removed.

BUT to return to my felf. Since I am fo very commodious a Perfon, and fo very neceffary in all well-regulated Governments, I defire you will take my Cafe into Confideration, that I may be no longer ⚫ made a Tool of, and only employed to flop a Gap. Such Ufage, without a Pun, makes me look very blank. For all which Reafons I humbly recommend. my felf to your Protection, and am

Your most obedient Servant,

Blank.

P. S. I herewith fend you a Paper, drawn up by a Country-Attorney employed by two Gentlemen, whofe • Names

Names he was not acquainted with, and who did not think fit to let him into the Secret, which they were tranfacting. I heard him call it a Blank Inftrument, • and read it after the following Manner. You may fee by this fingle Inftance of what Ufe I am to the busy. • World.

I T. Blank, Efq; of Blank Town, in the County of Blank, do own my jelf indebted in the Sum of Blank, 6 to Goodman Blank, for the Service he did me in procuring for me the Goods following, Blank: And I do hereby promife the faid Blank to pay unto him the faid Sum of Blank, on the Blank Day of the Month of Blank nextenfuing, under the Penalty and Forfeiture of Blank.

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I fhall take Time to confider the Cafe of this my imaginary Correfpondent, and in the mean while fhall prefent my Reader with a Letter which feems to come from a Perfon that is made up of Flesh and Blood.

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Good Mr. SPECTATOR,

I

Am married to a very honeft Gentleman that is exceedingly good-natured, and at the fame time. very cholerick. There is no ftanding before him when. he is in a Paffion; but as foon as it is over he is the beft-humour'd Creature in the World. When he is angry he breaks all my China-Ware that chances to lie in his Way, and the next Morning fends me in. twice as much as he broke the Day before. I may pofitively fay, that he has broke me a Child's Fortune fince we were first married together.

AS foon as he begins to fret, down goes every thing that is within Reach of his Cane. I once prevailed upon him never to carry a Stick in his Hand, but. this faved me nothing; for upon feeing me do fomething that did not pleafe him, he kicked down a great Jarr, that coft him above Ten Pound but the Week before. I then laid the Fragments together in a Heap, and gave him his Cane again, defiring him that if he chanced to be in Anger, he would fpend his Paffion upon the China that was broke to • his Hand; but the very next Day upon my giving a

⚫ wrong

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wrong Meffage to one of the Servants, he flew into fuch a Rage, that he fwept down a Dozen Tea• Dishes, which, to my Misfortune, ftood very convenient for a Side-Blow.

• I then remov'd all my China into a Room which ⚫ he never frequents; but I got nothing by this neither, for my Looking-Glaffes immediately went to Rack.

IN fhort, Sir, whenever he is in a Paffion he is an'gry at every thing that is brittle; and if on fuch Occafions he had nothing to vent his Rage upon, I do not know whether my Bones would be in Safety. Let me beg of you, Sir, to let me know whether there be any Cure for this unaccountable Diftemper; or if not, that you will be pleafed to publish this Letter: For my Husband having a great Veneration for your Writings, will by that means know you do not approve of his Conduct.

I am,

Your most humble Servant, &c.

N° 564.

Wednesday, July 7.

Adfit

Regula, peccatis quæ pœnas irroget æquas:
Ne Scutica dignum horribili fectere flagello.

Hor.

T is the Work of a Philofopher to be every Day fub

Iduing his Palion, and laying a fide his Prejudices. I

endeavour at least to look upon Men and their Actions only as an impartial Spectator, without any Regard to them as they happen to advance or crofs my own private Intereft. But while I am thus employed my felf, I cannot help obferving, how thofe about me fuffer themfelves to be blinded by Prejudice and Inclination, how readily they pronounce on every Man's Character, which they can give in two Words, and make him either good

for

for nothing, or qualified for every thing. On the contrary, thofe who fearch thoroughly into human Nature, will find it much more difficult to determine the Value of their Fellow-Creatures, and that Mens Characters are not thus to be given in general Words. There is indeed no fuch thing as a Perfon intirely good or bad; Virtue and Vice are blended and mixed together, in a greater or lefs Proportion, in every one; and if you would fearch for fome particular good Quality in its most eminent Degree of Perfection, you will often find it in a Mind, where it is darkned and eclipfed by an hundred other irregular Paffions.

MEN have either no Character at all, fays a celebrated Author; or it is that of being inconfiftent with themfelves. They find it eafier to join Extremities, than to be uniform and of a piece. This is finely illuftrated in Xenophon's Life of Cyrus the Great. That Author tells us, that Cyrus having taken a moft beautiful Lady named Panthea, the Wife of Abradatus, committed her to the Cuftody of Arapas, a young Perfan Nobleman, who had a little before maintain'd in Difcourfe, That a Mind truly virtuous was incapable of entertaining an unlawful Paffion. The young Gentleman had not long been in Poffeffion of his fair Captive, when a Complaint was made to Cyrus, that he not only follicited the Lady Panthea to receive him in the Room of her abfent Husband, but that finding his Intreaties had no Effect, he was preparing to make use of Force. Cyrus, who loved the young Man, immediately fent for him, and in a gentle Manner reprefenting to him his Fault, and putting him in mind of his former Affertion, the unhappy Youth, confounded with a quick Senfe of his Guilt and Shame, burft out into a Flood of Tears, and fpoke as follows.

OH Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two Souls. Love has taught me this Piece of Philofophy. If I had but one Soul, it could not at the fame time pant after Virtue and Vice, wish and abhor the fame thing. It is certain therefore we have two Souls: When the good Soul rules, I undertake noble and virtuous Actions; but when the bad Soul predominates, I am forced to do Evil. All I

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can fay at prefent is, that I find my good Soul, encouraged by your Prefence, has got the better of my bad.

I know not whether my Readers will allow of this Piece of Philofophy; but if they will not, they must confefs we meet with as different Paflions in one and the fame Soul, as can be fuppofed in two. We can hardly read the Life of a great Man who lived in former Ages, or converse with any who is eminent among our Contemporaries, that is not an Inftance of what I am faying.

BUT as I have hitherto only argued against the Partiality and Injustice of giving our Judgment upon Men in grofs, who are fuch a Compofition of Virtues and Vices, of Good and Evil, I might carry this Reflexion ftill farther, and make it extend to most of their Actions. If on the one hand we fairly weighed every Circumftance, we fhould frequently find them obliged to do that Action we at firft Sight condemn, in order to avoid another we should have been much more difpleafed with. If on the other hand we nicely examined fuch Actions as appear most dazzling to the Eye, we fhould find most of them either deficient and lame in feveral Parts, pro duced by a bad Ambition, or directed to an ill End. The very fame Action may fometimes be fo oddly circumftanced, that it is difficult to determine whether it ought to be rewarded or punish'd. Those who compiled the Laws of England were fo fenfible of this, that they have laid it down as one of their firft Maxims, It is better fuffering a Mifchief than an Inconvenience, which is as much as to fay in other Words, That fince no Law can take in or provide for all Cafes, it is better private Men fhould have fome Injustice done them, than that a publick Grievance fhould not be redreffed. This is ufually pleaded in Defence of all thofe Hardfhips which fall on particular Perfons in particular Occafions, which could not be forefeen when a Law was made. To remedy this however as much as poffible, the Court of Chancery was erected, which frequently mitigates and breaks the Teeth of the Common Law, in Cafes of Mens Properties, while in Criminal Cafes there is a Power of pardoning ftill lodged in the Crown.

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